Cadillac Will Build Big Rear-Wheel Drive Flagship After All

Despite adding the competitive Cadillac ATS to its lineup recently, the Cadillac lineup as a whole is, well, rather sparse. Especially lacking is a big, rear-wheel drive sedan, though rumors have been circulating for years that GM’s luxury division was working on just such a car. Then word through the grapevine that Caddy was scrapping the project to focus its efforts elsewhere.

Well we finally have a clear-cut answer from GM’s top brass, CEO Dan Akerson himself. Akerson told USA Today that a big rear-drive Caddy sedan was indeed in development, and the only question is whether the car deserves a coupe version or not.

Akerson made it clear that the next big Cadillac would definitely be rear-wheel drive, but would not use the Holden Commodore chassis underpinning the Chevrolet SS sedan. Rather, it would be based on a stretched version of the new Cadillac CTS. The unnamed large sedan would complement, rather than compete with, the Cadillac XTS, the largest Cadillac currently offered.

A large rear-drive Cadillac sedan will come to market in the next two years, though questions remain as to whether or not to build a specialty-coupe model. With the end of the current-generation CTS, Cadillac will once again be without a coupe model. With the Cadillac CTS moving up-market, it remains to be seen whether coupe or wagon models will be offered again. It could be up to a large halo car to lead Caddy forward in the 21st century.