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<\/p>\n<\/div>For Cadillac, 2018 may be the Year of the SUV \u2014 but it\u2019s also the Year of Performance.<\/p>\n
GM\u2019s luxury brand is playing catch-up to SUV-rich BMW, Mercedes and Audi with the first of three new crossovers to be introduced by 2021. But even as Cadillac announced this week the cancellation of its ATS sedan \u2014 billed as its BMW 3-series fighter \u2014 it also made clear that its goal to be the American alternative to the Teutonic threesome is about more than five-door family-haulers.<\/p>\n
Despite the revamping of its sedan lineup and dismissal of product architect and CEO Johan de Nysschen, Cadillac says it has its pedal-to-the-metal on a long-term strategy promoting the brand\u2019s athleticism.<\/p>\n
Cadillac is accelerating its performance programs as it goes wheel-to-wheel against some of the world\u2019s greatest track marques. The premium automaker has a new halo CT6 V-Sport sedan, new ad campaign and special Championship Edition V-series cars to celebrate the brand\u2019s historic world endurance racing championship in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an overall product ladder to continue filling out,\u201d said Matt Russell, Cadillac\u2019s marketing manager for racing and its V-series performance-car lineup. \u201cBut I want to make a clear statement that we are \u2014 particularly in the effect we get from motorsports and building sporty cars \u2014 committed to the sport-luxe compact car business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continued Russell: \u201cWe may be entering a period of generation change for those models \u2014 particularly for the ATS sedan \u2014 but we are not walking away from those segments. Racing is an accelerant for conversation for our compact and midsize performance cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
As if to punctuate the point, Cadillac race driver Jordan Taylor campaigned the IMSA 2017 Championship Edition CTS-V across Michigan this week, leading up to the home team\u2019s defense of its\u00a0IMSA Weathertech Sportscar win here last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n CTS is a poster child for how closely Cadillac\u2019s engineers work with their racing programs. V-series development programs have translated racing technology to the street with features like traction-assisting Performance Traction Management.<\/p>\n Only 200 Championship Edition vehicles \u2014 encompassing the CTS-V, the ATS-V sedan and ATS-V coupe \u2014 have been made for sale in the U.S., Canada and Middle East. They are distinguished by special graphics including an outline of the sleek, IMSA DPi racing prototype that won last year\u2019s championship.<\/p>\n And while the ATS-V Championship Edition represents the last hurrah for the small sedan, expect more performance cars like the\u00a0550-horsepower, twin-turbo V-8 CT6 V-Sport unveiled at this year\u2019s New York Auto Show<\/a>.<\/p>\n Race-driver and Cadillac ambassador Taylor left Belle Isle in the Championship Edition CTS-V for Grand Rapids on Monday afternoon to wow dealers and customers. Cadillac says the racing program has attracted new customers and younger people. Twenty-somethings come out to see Taylor, 26, sign autographs in the \u201cCadillac Corral\u201d at races like Detroit.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of similarities between the race car and street car,\u201d says Taylor who arrived in Detroit fresh from a fifth-place showing Sunday at the the IMSA Weathertech series\u2019 stop at Mid-Ohio race track. \u201cThey have the same wheel design, same push-rod V-8 and same rear camera mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n The race car and CTS-V share center stage \u2014 alongside the new XT4 crossover and Super Cruise self-driving technology \u2014\u00a0in the new Cadillac ad campaign, \u201cThe Future is Here.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0The DPi V.R racer and the CTS-V roar across the screen on a race track accompanied by blaring rock music.<\/p>\n Russell says the emphasis on racing is part of a conscious decision by GM to break the Cadillac mold.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re 116 years old, there are certain elements of your brand and product that are established,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople know we can do comfortable. So where do we stretch our legs? We demonstrate that we have engineers that compete with all other engineers when it comes to safety, connectivity and racing.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor and steed will return to Belle Isle\u00a0June 1-3 for Detroit Grand Prix weekend<\/a>. Acura, Mazda and Nissan have all joined the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar prototype class with similar winged 600-horsepower beasts.\u00a0Troy-based Team Penske\u00a0<\/a>manages the Acura team that won its first race at Mid-Ohio. The series also features production-based GT cars from BMW, Audi, Lexus, Ford, Ferrari and Porsche. Chevrolet is a GT competitor but will miss Detroit as it ships its Corvette racers across the pond to June\u2019s 24 Hours of LeMans.<\/p>\n Cadillac cut its teeth in GT racing back in 2004 before taking the leap to prototype racing last year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had won so much on the GT front with the V-series, you can\u2019t allow it to become old news that you are good at something,\u201d says Russell of the brand\u2019s successful move to the DPi format last year. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to keep ourselves relevant using racing as that stimulant for our street car business.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor finds his new CTS-V Championship Series plenty stimulating. Indeed, the supercharged, 6.2-liter V\u2019s 650 horsepower actually exceeds that in his race car (competition rules limit power to 600 ponies).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s funny driving my street car around and lighting up the tires by accident, and then getting in the race car with so much (aerodynamic) down-force you don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re going anywhere sometimes,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome to see Cadillac developing this side of the brand again and using racing to develop it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Cadillac, 2018 may be the Year of the SUV \u2014 but it\u2019s also the Year of Performance. GM\u2019s luxury brand is playing catch-up to SUV-rich BMW, Mercedes and Audi with the first of three new crossovers to be introduced by 2021. But even as Cadillac announced this week the cancellation of its ATS sedan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22285,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284\/revisions\/22285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}