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Weekly Recap: GM scales back as Russian auto market teeters

General Motors' extensive plans to scale back its Russian operations are the latest sign the automotive market in the former superpower is collapsing – and there are few signs of recovery. GM said Wednesday it will stop selling mainstream Chevrolets and shutter the entire Opel brand in Russia. The moves leave GM with a luxury-focused presence consisting of Cadillac and Chevrolet's Corvette, Camaro and Tahoe. The cutbacks will be completed by the end of the year. The automaker will also idle its factory in St. Petersburg and end a contract-assembly agreement with Russian manufacturer GAZ. "We had to take decisive action in Russia to protect our business," Opel Group CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann said in a statement. "We confirm our outlook to return the European business to profitability in 2016 and stick to our long-term goals." GM is the latest automaker to scale back in Russia as the economic conditions, volatile currency and uncertainty over the conflict in the Ukraine all have sandbagged new car sales. Last month, vehicle sales collapsed 38 percent in Russia to 128,298 units, according to the Association of European Business, which records sales. Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB automobile manufacturers committee, didn't even feign optimism in a statement announcing the figures. "The market is entering a very difficult phase now, and February is only the beginning," he said. "Industry sentiment is the next few months will be extremely difficult and the market bottom has yet to be found." The dovetails with industry experts, who predict the Russian auto sector will remain in the doldrums. IHS said earlier this year it expects Russia's sales to slip to just 1.8 million units in 2015, which is a 40-percent drop from 2012. Other News & Notes Chief leads Jeep's Easter Safari stable Jeep is bringing seven attention-getting concepts to Moab for its annual Easter Safari off-roading celebration in Utah, but the Chief is perhaps the standout of the group. It salutes the 1970s Cherokee with a throwback appearance and surfer styling cues. The Chief has a custom modified razor grille made famous by the Wagoneer, and it rolls on 17-inch slotted mag wheels. The surf theme comes in with ocean blue paint, floral cloth and leather seats and a tiki-style shifter handle. Based on the Jeep Wrangler, the Chief has removable sides, a 3.6-liter V6 engine and a six-speed manual gearbox.

2020 Cadillac CT4 spy shots reveal sedan-heavy approach in age of SUVs

You're looking at some pictures of the 2020 Cadillac CT4, which will be smaller than the upcoming CT5. And since they're both smothered in similar-looking camouflage, which is specifically intended to confuse, you might think they look pretty similar. In isolated photos, it's sometimes hard to tell which sedan you're looking at. In fact, when we first saw this car recently, we also thought it was a CT5. Here's how we know they're actually two different cars. Some background: The CT5 is slated to replace the CTS, and to try and find the balance that the old car couldn't achieve in the lineup. Cadillac's former CEO previously stated that this car would also fill in for the ATS, which is on its way out. Whatever it ends up being, it'll have to make a clear case for itself against the CT6 — it can't be too close in size and opulence, or they'll hurt each other in sales. And the CT5 can't be too small, or it will struggle against traditional midsize luxury cars. The CT4 could further complicate matters for the exact same reasons, just in a smaller package. How small can Cadillac make it? It seems poised to replace the wonderful-to-drive ATS, which was as allergic to sales as the XTS. This will give Cadillac a three-sedan lineup: CT4, CT5, and CT6. Let's hope there's enough differentiation between them to prevent consumer confusion and sales cannibalization — and that consumers understand the CT6's promotion via attrition to top dog in the sedan lineup. With all that out of the way, let's look more closely at the CT4 (above left) and CT5 (right). The CT4's greenhouse stops closer to the centerline of the rear wheels than the CT5's. That gives the CT5 a visually longer, leaner look, more of a semi-fastback arrangement. The CT5's rear vanity window should resemble the CT6's, with a glass element behind the door opening. The CT4 will have a more conventional vanity window in the door, like the ATS. Perhaps the quickest "tell" is the size of the side-view mirrors, which are rounder in the CT4 and leaner in the CT5. Out back, the CT4 has a lower cutout for the license plate than the CT5. The exhaust outlets are also different, although that may change for production. Remember, the big full-width rear lights are probably misdirection on the part of the GM camo team. The entire rear decklid of the CT4 has more roundedness to it, while the CT5's extra width gives it more room up top to spread the decklid out a little flatter.

2020 Cadillac CT5 finally appears, hopes you think it's a Charger

This is our first look at what we expect to be the 2 020 Cadillac CT5 sport sedan, a one-to-rule-them-all replacement for the ATS, CTS and XTS. The name follows the scheme set by the CT6 and XT5. The first thing that jumps out about the CT5 is the big hood scoop. We sincerely doubt that scoop will make it to production, and when combined with the scalloped shapes on the car's flanks, we and the spy photographer feel they're probably there to dupe people into thinking it's a weird Dodge Charger. The disguise isn't working, but the scoop surprisingly looks pretty good. Maybe Cadillac should consider putting one on an inevitable V model. Moving past the fake bodywork, we can see that this CT5 takes inspiration from the Cadillac Escala concept. It has the long, almost fastback cabin and extra rear quarter window of that concept. The headlights are slim horizontal units, too, though they still sweep back a bit to bridge the gap between current models and the Escala. We also see that there's a decent amount of distance between the front axle and the base of the A-pillar, so we suspect that the sedan will retain rear-drive and optional all-wheel-drive drivetrains. We don't have any other cars in the image to compare it to, but considering the cars the Cadillac CT5 will replace, we expect it's roughly the size of a CTS, maybe even a touch smaller to satisfy those who want a 3 Series/A4/C-Class size luxury sedan. It will also probably use one or more of the existing powertrains in the Cadillac sedan fleet, which include a turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder, naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V6, and a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. We'll also probably see the production model sometime in 2019 since that's when the CTS and ATS will go to the big garage in the sky. Related Video: Featured Gallery Cadillac CT5 spy shots Image Credit: Chris Doane Automotive Spy Photos Cadillac GM Luxury Sedan cadillac ct5