"We’ve got multiple proposals along all those lines and we’ll make a decision soon. I’d like to be at Geneva with a solution,” said Cadillac general manager Bryan Nesbitt.
Cadillac needs a new distributor because its previous arrangement came to an end last year when its Dutch partner, Kroymans hit financial trouble. As a result sales are mothballed while Cadillac sorts out its future plans, but the company desperately needs new and solid distribution arrangements in Europe because a new range of cars with a more subtle design language are on their way.
These will more obviously target the three major executive car segments – in BMW terms, 3, 5 and 7 Series.
The 5.1m long XTS saloon concept shown at Detroit is the first sighting of this evolved design language which takes the heavily-creased Art and Science theme developed in the late 1990s. Although the XTS is sized around the Mercedes S-Class, it won’t necessarily be the flagship of Cadillac new range. Most immediately it will replace both the DTS and STS, but in pricing and positioning it still leaves room above for a super-luxury Cadillac saloon in the mould of the V16-powered Sixeen concept of a few years back.
“A real luxury flagship is still on our wishlist,” says Clay Dean, Cadillac design chief.