The Cadillac XTS is the American luxury automaker’s new flagship sedan, and priced at $44,995 it’s poised to do a fine job competing against the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6, Lexus GS, BMW 5-Series, and Infiniti M37.

Available in three trim levels, Luxury, Premium, and Platinum, the XTS will also feature Cadillac’s new CUE infotainment system and the American automaker’s new “directional tactile sensation” system, which is a fancy way naming a seat that vibrates to alert the driver of any eminent danger.

The XTS should be hitting dealerships any day now and to stir up some excitement, Cadillac has released dozens of photos of its flagship sedan, giving us a look at it from all different angles. Those interested in buying one up will have access to a 3.6-liter V6 powerplant with 300 hp mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive is standard while all-wheel drive is available as an option.

The front-wheel drive XTS has an estimated fuel economy of 17 mpg city and 28 mpg highway while the all-wheel drive will see just a slight decrease at 27 mpg highway, with city economy remaining the same.

GALLERY: 2013 Cadillac XTS

Rap lovers won’t be pouring any Olde English out over the Cadillac Escalade just yet because the brand has decided to keep it alive.

Despite the re-imagined brand image starting with the ATS entry-level luxury sedan and the high-end XTS, GM will continue to produce the full-sized Escalade SUV based on the Chevrolet Silverado. As one of the few remaining body-on-frame SUVs, the truck will be one of the last bastions of the once wildly popular American sport utility vehicle.

Until recently, it seemed the Escalade, perceived to be gaudy and unpalatable to most luxury buyers, would be scrapped to help the brand compete with companies like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. While the Escalade has long been a popular seller, the hard truth was that for every one buyer, four potential clients walked away because of the growingly ridiculous hip-hop culture cropping up around General Motors’ luxury badge.

As fuel prices continue their merciless rise, and industry analysts predict a hike to $5 per gallon within a year’s time, the ponderous Escalade began to increasingly like a thirsty dinosaur marching to extinction much like the Hummer.

Despite that, demand for the Escalade remained strong, persuading Cadillac to keep it in the ranks despite pervious hesitation. It isn’t clear yet when you can expect to see a new version, but a 2015 model appearing sometime in 2014 seems like a reasonable date to expect given the age of the current model and how much the automaker already has to worry about with new model introduction.

[Source: The Detroit Bureau]

Tucked away behind the list of new cars in Cadillac’s lineup like the upcoming XTS seen above, the Omega platform that could underpin a new rear-wheel drive flagship for the American luxury marque seems to be gathering steam.

While details have been hazy about the new platform, and in some senses still are, our friends at GM Inside News, have learned that the company is sourcing parts for the structure.  While that doesn’t necessarily mean the project is green lit completely, it’s bigger news toward an actual product than has otherwise surfaced.

Still, a car built on the Omega architecture isn’t likely until 2015 at the earliest. It takes about four years to develop a new platform and car simultaneously. That said, if such a does end up on the assembly line, it will mean a mega sedan.

[Source: GM Inside News]

The One Lap of America race event looks to pit race teams against each other in a variety of automotive challenges, one of which saw this Cadillac CTS-V Wagon end up on its roof. 

The CTS-V Wagon was stock from the factory, although it was covered in decals for the race. The driver must have been moving with a considerable amount of speed, as rolling a heavy car that sits so low to the ground is no easy feat, especially since apparently the CTS-V jumped over a retaining wall.

Now there is one less CTS-V Wagon out there, pushing the already elusive car that much closer to extinction.

GALLERY: Wrecked CTS-V Wagon

[Source: Matt Farrah Twitter]

The Cadillac XTS may be hitting showrooms soon as the American luxury automaker’s flagship luxury sedan, but a rear-wheel drive successor is already on the drawing board for a possible 2015 debut.

Based on the Epsilon platform, the XTS will be a front-wheel drive sedan when it finally makes it on the market, with criticism already brewing for not being rear-wheel drive. The XTS successor however will be based on Cadillac’s new Omega platform and is expected to underpin Cadillac’s top-end offerings within the next three years.

While General Motors‘ Sigma platform has been more than successful for Cadillac’s lineup – including the CTS, STS, and SRX models – its limitation in size has been a constraint for Cadillac with some of its newer models migrating to the more versatile, lighter Alpha platform. The need for a larger rear-wheel drive platform has brought the Omega platform to reality and could be used to build vehicles ranging from a BMW 5 Series competitor all the way to a long-wheelbase 7 Series model.

The versatility of the new platform allows Cadillac to build the XTS it’s always wanted to. The successor based on the Omega platform will be the first product from the line and will either supplant or replace the upcoming XTS model. But the successor may not be Cadillac’s flagship for long; the Omega platform may serve to bring a true, larger Cadillac flagship to reality.

As for what will be powering the XTS successor, it’s expected to have GM’s 3.6-liter DOHC V6 with around 310 hp under the hood as the standard powerplant mated to an all-new 8-speed automatic transmission that will eventually find its way on the CTS and ATS models.

[Source: Car & Driver]

Cadillac is doing everything it can to prepare customers for the launch of its upcoming CUE (Cadillac User Experience) infotainment system. That includes throwing in an iPad with every 2013 Cadillac XTS.

The iPad not only will get customers accustomed to using a touch-screen interface like CUE, but also includes an app that mimics the look and functions of the new Linux-based operating system.

To some the promise of an iPad might be reason enough to check out the Cadillac XTS, which is expected to go on sale later this spring. Cadillac isn’t the first company to give out iPads with a new vehicle. Hyundai did the same when it launched its Equus luxury sedan.

Cadillac is using the iPad to help provide “An extensive network of services,” which means that the tablet will also have pre-installed MyCadillac and OnStar RemoteLink Apps to allow owners to schedule service as well as see diagnostics about the car.

By providing  a dedicated staff-member at each Cadillac dealership to deal with CUE questions, the automaker is ensuring that it has the resources to help set the expectations with its new system.

The reason for concern is that CUE is one of the first in-vehicle systems that uses a capacitive touch-screen, which is capable of recognizing multi-touch gestures that users might not be used to.

Have an appetite for Cadillac’s CTS-V Racecar? Now might be your chance to satisfy that hunger, with the cars official series in the iRacing.com online video game.

This virtual CTS-V was made in cooperation with Cadillac engineers, so that iRacing.com and players can get the most accurate representation of the American sports car.

“You will race live against other drivers from around the world, competing for a variety of Cadillac and iRacing branded prizes. Race as much as you want, with races beginning every two hours.” states the Cadillac Cup Racing web site.

iRacing.com is a racing simulation game, which allows players from all over the world to compete with one another with super accurate and super detailed cars and tracks. It’s subscription based, and races occur every two hours, meaning you can take your virtual CTS-V racer for a spin up to 12 times a day. Register at the Cadillac Cup Racing Website.

Check out the video below to learn more about Cadillac Cup Racing, as well as how much detail is put into the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe Racecar.

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Source: Cadillac Cup Racing

Cadillac is releasing its new XTS sedan to market soon, and to preview the car to the public the company has released a new commercial. 

The spot highlights the new driver seat vibration system, which rumbles the seat to alert the driver of unseen hazards. This is an industry first for physical sensor warning systems.

Watch the spot below.

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Welfare, food stamps and a revolving door of sex scandals are among the many things the U.S. government provides its citizens on a regular basis, but you might be pleased to know they have a hand in used exotic car sales too.

That’s right. When drug lords, smugglers other illegitimate businessmen are arrested, their assets are often seized. At some point, the high-end toys that inevitably collect are auctioned off — perhaps to buy hookers for the Secret Service.

In any case, one such auction is upon us and true to form there are some fantastic finds for sale. The list includes two Lamborghini Murcielagos, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Maserati Quattroporte and a Ferrari F430 among several others.

While most of them seem to be reasonably well kept, there are a few defects. For example, the Maserati’s instrument panel doesn’t work. There are also a couple of beaten-up Cadillacs: an Escalade with a leaking transmission among other problems, and and Escalade EXT with an inoperable dash panel. Most of the interesting cars seem fine, though.

The auction takes place May 16 in Riverside Calif. Have a look through our gallery below to see what’s available. Every one of the cars available was seized by a government agency including the U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, and Secret Service.

GALLERY: Government-Auctioned Exotic Cars

Overlooked in all the excitement surrounding the Chevrolet ‘SS Performance’ slip earlier this week in an OnStar app is the possibility that the Cadillac ELR could also bow in 2014.

The Volt-based Cadillac ELR was originally revealed as the Converj Concept in 2009 and was already expected to be in dealerships, but GM’s financial woes caused it to be shelved. In August 2011, GM announced that the ELR was back on the table and the plug-in would be produced but little has been heard about it until now.

The same OnStar app that revealed the Chevy ‘SS Performance’ model also has the ELR listed under Cadillac as a 2014 model. Hardly definitive proof that the vehicle will make its production debut next year, but it’s the closest hint we have.

Will an upmarket version of the Volt fare better among consumers than its bow tie bearing predecessor? A boost in power and range could surely help its cause.

[Source: HybridCars]

Cadillac is prepping a new member to its stable. No, it’s not the Nurburgring-tested ATS we’ve heard oh-so much about. It’s also not the XTS flagship sedan that Cadillac has desperately needed these past few years. In fact, it’s not a car at all.

Get ready to say ‘Hello’ to the Cadillac User Experience, or CUE, which will be a new staple for the company moving forward. CUE is an infotainment system brought up to today’s ultra-modern high-tech standards.

Cadillac makes sure to mention that this isn’t a separate entity from the car, but an integrated piece that will be as reliable and comfortable to use as the vehicle itself.

Speaking to the CUE program engineering manager Jeff Massimilla, he describes CUE as “harmonious in design to the whole Cadillac experience.”

How did he come to this conclusion? Well, it started all the way back on the drawing board. Massimilla tells us that the user interface and industrial design came first and that they got together with the design studio and outlined what they wanted to do with CUE. “It’s a very design driven process,” he said. “User elements was a goal.”

Cadillac collected feedback from customers about infotainment systems across the industry to find that people felt frustrated with complex systems that had too many buttons.

From there, they studied consumer electronics like iPads; “stuff you could get from Best Buy,” he said. The CUE team modelled its interface to reflect how these gadgets worked. “We heard a lot of ‘Don’t teach me something new,’ from the customers.” Using these popular devices helped the team identify what will feel natural to the drivers.

“There are a number of input methods in CUE. [Multitouch] gestures are one of them,” Massimilla said. “Our thought on this was that with things like the iPad and iPhone, customers expect a touchscreen to [have gestures] like this.”

Readers may start to have flashbacks to the criticism of other touch screen based infotainment systems like MyFord Touch. Drivers complained that it was liable to crashes, freezing and needed system reboots in extreme cases.

Cadillac said that unreliable experiences are something they’re planning to avoid, but if problems do arise, they’re ready. “We will have a support hotline, website, maybe even apps in the future, to help if something comes up” Massimilla said.
In order to reduce the chance of issues affecting the CUE system, the engineering team tested interoperability of many devices that consumers are going to be connecting to the system, though an exact number of compatible devices was unavailable.

“We could have just used the two most popular mobile systems: iOS (Found in Apple devices), and Android devices, and covered about 80 percent of what the user would be connecting.” But covering most of the market wasn’t enough to satisfy the Cadillac team.

“We tested beyond just those guys. We test to a very higher percentage in the market,” he said, something that will continue as technology evolves. “We’ll test ‘X’ number of devices to make sure we maintain our high percentage of users.”

At CUE’s heart is an open-source operating system popular among computer programmers called Linux. Still the system design is all proprietary according to the company. “We started with what’s available, and expanded upon it.”

“The decision to customize the system was driven by security,” Massimilla said. “The idea of Linux and open source is great, but the security is a concern. You need to protect yourself.”

There are some other reasons to use a Linux base though. Apps are a huge part of the technology industry — almost all popular cellphones have them and Cadillac is looking to include apps into the core CUE experience. That doesn’t mean Angry Birds or other off-the-wall apps will be available in your new car.

“We have an internal team that is responsible for add-ins to CUE,” the company said. Instead it plans to develop apps in-house that will be purpose-built for Cadillac drivers.

This parallel to the experience of other gadgets like cellphones and tablets extended to the hardware design choices of CUE as well. Mike Hichme, Cadillac’s engineering manager, told us that they share many of the same constraints as cellphone makers. In fact, CUE will use processors similar to what you’d find in your iPad.

“Using these processors keeps [electrical] consumption low,” Hichme said. Any additional power savings on the electronics system can help with gas consumption. He also mentioned it’s important to have a lean computer system to work well with electric vehicles as they launch.

We’re not quite sure what vehicle Cadillac may be producing as an EV or when to expect it, but the CUE team was eager to tell me that the first CUE system will be found in the XTS sedan coming late this Spring. Later this year CUE will also be seen in the new ATS sports-sedan and SRX crossover.

It’s called “Super Cruise” and is essentially a semi-autonomous technology that enables a vehicle to incorporate fully automatic steering, braking and lane centering under certain driving conditions. Furthermore, Cadillac says this technology could be ready for production by mid-decade. 

Some of the fundamentals of this Super Cruise technology can already be found in existing Cadillac models, notably the 2013 XTS and ATS, as part of the Driver Assist Package. Notable features within this umbrella include adaptive cruise control at all speed ranges, lane departure warning, intelligent brake assist, automatic rear braking, automatic collision preparation and rear vision camera with dynamic guidelines.

Super Cruise will essentially take this technology to the next level and according to Cadillac, has been designed to ease driving stress on the freeway by gleaning information from ultrasonic sensors, radar, cameras and GPS map data.

“Super Cruise has the potential to improve driver performance and enjoyment,” remarked vice president of Cadillac marketing Don Butler. “Our goal with advanced technologies, like this and our CUE system, is to lead in delivering an intuitive user experience.”

However, even GM acknowledges there will still be limitations with the system. Because it relies on positioning data, namely forward looking cameras to detect lane markings and GPS data to examine road curvature, in poor weather, such as fog or heavy rain, it won’t be able to operate and drivers will still have to do the steering themselves.

John Capp, GM’s director of Global Active Safety Electronics and Innovation, believes the fundamental concept behind Super Cruise and other autonomous vehicle programs is safety. “In the coming years,” he said, “autonomous driving systems paired with advanced safety systems could help eliminate the crash altogether by interceding on behalf of drivers before they’re even aware of a hazardous situation. More than ever, consumers will be able to trust their car to do the right thing.”