Our colleagues from Car and Driver have spoken to Uwe Ellinghaus, Cadillac marketing chief and he confirmed that the U.S. brand is preparing a small rear-wheel drive sedan which will compete against the mighty Mercedes-Benz CLA, Audi A3 and BMW 1-Series and 2-Series.
According to Uwe, Cadillac won’t follow the German rivals and will offer a rear wheel drive model.
“Our future is rear-wheel drive and, of course, all-wheel drive where appropriate. My personal crusade is to spare us a hell of a lot of dilution of our emerging brand image by moving to front-wheel drive for potential smaller cars,” Ellinghaus said.
According to rumors, the upcoming sub-ATS sedan will be based on the current GM Alpha platform and will be powered entirely by four-cylinder engines. As a result, the lineup will include a 2.0 liter turbo unit and smaller and less-powerful engines to lower the model’s price. The naturally aspirated 2.5 liter 4-cylinder unit will probably be dropped.
According to Uwe, the new luxury sedan won’t be unveiled until 2016 with sales starting in 2017.
Source: Car and Driver
