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<\/p>\n<\/div>The 2020 Cadillac CT5 – shown here in Sport trim – will compete against the BMW 3-series in the compact car class.\u00a0(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n New York \u2014\u00a0<\/em>Cadillac is shaking up its luxury sedan lineup by taking its mid-size car down market.<\/p>\n General Motors Co.’s\u00a0luxury brand is replacing its CTS sedan with a similarly sized compact car aimed squarely at the German trio of BMW 3-Series, Mercedes C-Class\u00a0and Audi A4. Badged the CT5, the new Caddy was unveiled Tuesday\u00a0ahead of its appearance at this week\u2019s New York auto show.<\/p>\n Pricing will likely be thousands of dollars less than the current CTS while retaining its mid-sized proportions and adding exotic technologies like the Super Cruise limited hands-free driving system also\u00a0found on Cadillac\u2019s large CT6 sedan. With all-new skin, interior\u00a0and engines, the 2020 Cadillac CT5 marks a bold re-positioning of GM\u2019s luxury maker to take on its compact German competition with a bigger, more luxurious car than the current ATS.<\/p>\n The ATS replacement expected later this year \u2014\u00a0the CT4 \u2014\u00a0also will likely go down-market against subcompact luxury cars like the BMW M2 and Mercedes A-class. Its small-for-compacts rear seat should be more competitive in that class.<\/p>\n The CTS badge is retiring after nearly two decades as Cadillac\u2019s premier sedan \u2014\u00a0a model that set a new, 21st-century course for the tired brand by introducing the angular Art & Science design language.<\/p>\n The CT5 will contrast most notably from the CTS in its console and grille designs. The console sheds the CTS\u2019\u00a0controversial, haptic-touch Cadillac User Experience for an all-new system introduced earlier this year on the XT6 mid-size SUV. The new CUE system enables users to choose from multiple controllers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be a class-leading user interface,\u201d said Cadillac Chief Designer Andrew Smith. \u201cWe made the most logical system so that customers get to choose how to use it: by voice, rotary dial, or touch.\u201d<\/p>\n The sophisticated console complements a cabin lush with natural materials and optional tech features pioneered by Cadillac like a head-up display and Super Cruise \u2014 technology that allows hands-free highway driving\u00a0while the car monitors the driver\u00a0via steering-wheel-mounted sensors.<\/p>\n Outside, the CT5\u2019s front fascia and racy fastback distinguish it as a CTS successor. The narrow, LED headlights are integrated with the big pentagon grille while the brand\u2019s signature, vertical running lights frame the fascia. The grille can be had in chrome for the Premium Luxury models or black for the Sport model \u2014\u00a0the two trims available above the base Luxury model on Cadillac\u2019s new \u201cY-trim\u201d strategy. A Platinum package available on both.<\/p>\n The CT5\u00a0is four inches shorter than the CTS, which gives it a more coupe-like appearance in the rear. But the 116-inch wheelbase actually expands by two inches, bringing mid-size rear legroom to the compact class.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a vehicle I\u2019ve really been wanting to show you,\u201d smiled Smith. \u201cWe wanted to make a car that looks like it drives.\u201d<\/p>\n To that end the CT5 still will be based on the athletic, rear-wheel-drive-based Alpha platform that has undergirded the CTS and ATS. But\u00a0in addition to its new wardrobe, it will also get a remade suspension and engine lineup to compete against its nimble class rivals. Cadillac engineers took the CT5 to race tracks including Virginia International Raceway, Colorado\u2019s high Plains Raceway, and GM\u2019s epic Milford facility.<\/p>\n The multi-link front and five-link rear suspension get new bushings, springs\u00a0and dampers. The Sport model gets performance Brembo brakes. The CT5 features four drive modes standard on both RWD and all-wheel-drive models.<\/p>\n The compact Caddy debuts an all-turbo engine lineup with a standard, 2.0-liter turbo-4 making 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, while a bigger, 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 will crank out 335 ponies and 400 pound-feet of torque. The torque numbers \u2014\u00a0when translated to Newton meters of torque (a nod to Cadillac’s coming wave of electric vehicles) \u2014\u00a0will distinguish the two cars with a trunk badge.<\/p>\n Befitting the CT5\u2019s downsizing to the compact class, both engines get less power than current CTS offerings \u2014\u00a0and will likely gain in fuel economy when EPA figures are finalized as the car approaches its fourth quarter sale date. No electrified powertrain has been announced \u2014\u00a0nor is there evidence yet of a V-sport performance variant to replace the Corvette-powered, supercharged CTS-V.<\/p>\n Both engines will be married to GM\u2019s 10-speed automatic transmission. The CT5 will be built in Lansing. It will be on public display here at the New York show April 19-28 and will be available to order this fall.<\/p>\n Despite an overall industry decline in luxury compact sales of 15 percent in 2018, Cadillac Marketing Chief Jason Sledjewski says sedans like the CT5 remain important: \u201cSedans are a part of our DNA. They move consumers into our brand.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n