These are the best spy pictures yet of the new Cadillac CTS. General Motors’ BMW 5-series rival is tipped to be unveiled next year, and will form a key part of Cadillac’s latest attempts to crack the European market.
The new CTS will be the latest model to be based on GM’s new rear-wheel-drive Alpha platform after the smaller ATS saloon, which has just been launched in America.
GM officials confirmed at the ATS’s launch at the Detroit motor show earlier this year that the Alpha platform had been engineered with right-hand drive right from the start.
In its styling and proportions, the CTS will closely resemble the 3-series-sized ATS. The looks will build on Cadillac’s ‘Art and Science’ design language, and feature the larger front grille from the ATS.
Longer and wider than the current CTS, the new model is expected to be offered with GM’s new turbocharged 270bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine. Expect Cadillac to also offer a 200bhp 2.5-ltre four-pot and a range-topping 318bhp 3.6-litre V6.
Cadillac will initially launch the ATS in Europe without a diesel engine, and it is understood to be at least two years away from launching a diesel. So expect the CTS to initially be sold in Europe without a diesel engine when it goes on sale in 2014.
A CTS-V powered by a 6.2-litre V8 will be the flagship model in the line-up although it won’t be offered from launch. A coupé CTS-V is again planned, and like the saloon it will be offered in right-hand drive, something GM’s marketing chief Joel Ewanick confirmed to Autocar earlier this year.
