New Cadillac Flagship to Be Named 'CT6'

Cadillac announced today that its answer to the Mercedes S-Class will be called the CT6 as part of a broader restructuring for how it names products.

“This Cadillac will be the lightest and most agile car in the class of top-level large luxury sedans,” said CT6 executive chief engineer Travis Hester. “Using the lessons learned from our dynamic ATS and CTS product lines, we have developed an entirely new vehicle architecture for the CT6. It will employ a mixed material philosophy that combines the best and most efficient components optimized for each area of this new top-of-the-range car.”

Mechanical details about the car are still unofficial, but Cadillac is expected to outfit the CT6 with the same twin-turbo 3.6-liter V6 and eight-speed automatic transmission that it uses in the CTS Vsport. In the CTS, the engine makes 420 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque.

The CT6 is the first car to use a new naming structure that will use a “CT” prefix for all of its car models and a number to indicate its size and position in the brand’s lineup. This is one of several major announcements by the brand this month following the confirmation that production for the CT6 will take place in GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck facility starting in late 2015 and that Cadillac will re-locate its headquarters to New York City.

“As we expand the portfolio, we can assist consumers in placing the cars within a structure, as they compare cars both within our showroom and across the market generally,” Ellinghaus said. “However, this will be an evolutionary process – we will only change a product’s name when the product itself is redesigned or an all-new model is created, as in this instance.”

The sweeping changes at Cadillac are directly the result of former Audi and Infiniti boss Johna de Nysschen taking control of the company in late August. During his brief time with Nissan’s luxury brand, the company also separated its headquarters and adopted a completely new and simplified naming structure for its models. de Nysschen is also credited with steering Audi to its current level of global recognition and success.

Apart from introducing a new flagship sedan, the company is also expected to make a greater push into the Chinese automotive market in an effort to expand volume while remaining flat in its home market. Following that, de Nysschen says he will seek to fill out the brand’s portfolio with more crossovers.