Cadillac’s first next-generation crossover will sport a longer and lighter chassis than the outgoing SRX, the company announced Monday.

The XT5, which will be shown first in Dubai, will be unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. The car will go on sale next year.

In addition to shaving nearly 300 pounds from the chassis, Cadillac announced that the car would be powered in the U.S. by the same 3.6-liter V-6 found in the ATS and CTS. Only a 2-liter turbocharged model will be available in China for the car’s first year. The XT5 will also sport an 8-speed automatic transmission and available all-wheel drive.

Read More >

The United Auto Workers union announced late Friday that, while the majority of its 52,000 membership voted “Yes” to the tentative agreement, skilled trades workers voted 59.5 percent against the deal.

“The UAW has not deemed the tentative agreement ratified,” said the union.

It was previously reported the tentative agreement may not be ratified due to skilled trades workers voting down the agreement.

UAW production members voted 58.3-percent in favor of the proposed contract and 55.43-percent of total voting members agreed to the proposal, but the contract can not be ratified until it is passed by skilled trades members. Read More >

United Auto Workers at General Motors’ Fort Wayne, Indiana facility overwhelmingly agreed to a proposed contract with the automaker that would raise wages and eventually close the gap between veteran workers and employees hired after 2007, Reuters reported.

Workers at the facility, who build full-size trucks for GM, approved the contract by nearly 60 percent. Workers at other GM facilities, including Wentzville, Missouri and Spring Hill, Tennessee, approved the deal by similar margins, paving the way for ultimate approval for the labor contract.

Read More >

Cadillac announced Monday that deliveries of its 2016 Cadillac Touring 6 sedan — or CT6 — will begin in March with a starting price of $54,490 when equipped with a 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

The new top-of-the-range Cadillac sedan will also be available with a 3.6-liter V-6 paired with all-wheel drive and a $56,490 price tag or Cadillac’s new 3-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 sporting all-wheel drive and a $65,390 MSRP. A crème de la crème CT6 Platinum will sticker for $84,460.

All CT6s will send power to the wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission and all prices include a $995 destination fee because you’re definitely paying that.

But what of the CTS?

Read More >

A proposed contract between the United Auto Workers and General Motors will eventually end a tiered pay system divided between veteran auto workers and employees hired after 2008, and provide annual bonuses and substantial raises for the first time in a decade. The automaker has offered an $8,000 signing bonus to approve the deal.

The proposed deal outlines the automaker’s $8.3 billion investment in American plants — above its $6.4 billion improvements already announced — over the life of the contract. The deal was posted on the UAW website Thursday.

The deal for GM workers, which is sweeter than the deal hammered out between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, will be reviewed and voted on in coming weeks.

Read More >

General Motors and the United Auto Workers union reached a deal Sunday night, minutes before the union’s midnight deadline, averting any strike for now, according to the automaker.

The deal will be sent to the union’s UAW National GM Council for discussion and vote on Wednesday. The union’s national council is composed of local leaders. If approved, the agreement would head to workers for ratification.

Neither the UAW or GM released specific details of the agreement.

“We believe that this agreement will present stable long-term significant wage gains and job security commitments to UAW members now and in the future,” UAW President Dennis Williams said in a statement. “We look forward to presenting the details of these gains to local union leaders and the membership.”

Read More >

11:59 p.m. Sunday.

That’s when the union said Saturday that their contract with General Motors will be terminated and they should be looking at a tentative deal outlining their labor conditions for the next four years.

The contract between the UAW and GM originally expired Sept. 14, but was extended as the UAW targeted Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to set the tone for the rest of the contract negotiations.

Read More >

Speaking Wednesday at the 10th annual J.D Power Automotive Marketing Roundtable in Las Vegas, Cadillac CEO Johan de Nysschen didn’t mince words regarding Silicon Valley’s infatuation with fully autonomous driving.

The luxury brand chief, while standing before an image of Google’s autonomous prototype, said: “Many autonomous car (prototypes) emphasize sheer functionality. It would be a mind-numbing experience going from point A to B. My goodness, you might as well take the bus.”

De Nysschen said Cadillac’s upcoming Super Cruise strikes a balance between fully autonomous driving and driving yourself.

Read More >

It’s easy to get caught up in the BMW-Mercedes-Audi hyperbole. Those automakers swap spec superlatives in generational battles for supremacy that, in all reality, won’t matter when it comes time for most of those buyers to pull the proverbial trigger.

In many ways, the Cadillac ATS gets left out in the cold. It doesn’t have the history, drama or marketing machine that the 3 Series and C-Class beat us over the head with everyday.

In fact, when Cadillac announced that it would take head-on those vaunted cars, most people laughed as long as it took for them to drive one. Then it became very real. Although the ATS competes with the Germans on price, it also competes in capability. The underpinnings are rock solid. The engine lineup is comparable. And the performance ATS-V is really damn good.

For 2016, little has changed with the ATS, but incremental improvements in interior tech and its top-of-the-range engine bring the car ever closer to being on par with — or in some cases better than — its German counterparts.

And for a lot of people, it’ll be an awkward, angular shaped pill to swallow for the future. Read More >

If you looked into the Manhattan skyline last night, you may have caught a glimpse of Cadillac’s newest crossover flying through the air like a Swiss cow airlifted out of the Alps.

That was for fashion writers to see the car’s style (and aerodynamic properties?) and to announce Cadillac’s new partnership with design firm Public School, an Austin, Texas-based studio that’s probably hopelessly cool.

The car didn’t touch the ground, no one drove it, its powertrain is still somewhat of a mystery, and here’s why (via AdAge):

Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus said the goal is to gain the attention of fashionistas, rather than cater to car buffs, auto journalists and other petrolheads. Because in his view, younger customers are less interested in the technical details of cars, and don’t read car magazines as often as they used to. But “they are very interested in fashion. They are very interested in design,” he said.

Read More >

Cadillac will release later this week the first “official” looks at its replacement for the SRX — the XT5 — before unveiling the car first in Dubai, and then shortly after in Los Angeles. Autoblog first reported that the XT5 would be shown in Dubai.

The Dubai International Auto show will be held Nov. 10-14, and the Los Angeles Auto Show will be held Nov. 20-29 for the public, with a preview for media on Nov. 17.

The XT5 has already been extensively photographed in the wild before (See above. And go ahead, Google it if you want to see more, we’ll wait right here) so the reveals this week and in November may be a little anticlimactic.

Read More >

Farmers are the ultimate craftsman when it comes to small-scale production. The level of management needed to stay competitive and above the high water line is, simply put, astounding. Consolidation in certain areas of agriculture has lead to factory farming, the widespread adoption of automation and genetically modified seeds that keep seed producers competitive. Private farmers are constantly at war with the market and their own budgets.

The agriculture industry has wholly transformed itself over the last 100 years. The automotive industry, which has only really existed for that same period of time, has seen similar levels of change. We are now building more cars, trucks, SUVs, crossovers, trikes and quadracycles than ever before, just like we are growing more food than we’ve ever seen in human history.

But, there’s one major stumbling block ahead — and Sergio Marchionne sees it.

Read More >

Cadillac CEO Johan de Nysschen said future Cadillac cars in the U.S. will have diesel powertrains, Automotive News is reporting (via Autoblog).

De Nysschen told journalists that oil burners would make their way to the States after they’re launched in Europe, presumably around 2019. He said engineers at Cadillac were working on 4- and 6-cylinder models, but wouldn’t specify what cars those engines would power.

Audi, BMW and Mercedes offer diesel power plants in their compact or mid-size sedans that would compete with the theoretical Cadillac.

Read More >

About three years ago, a friend of mine who lives in Dallas called me to ask my opinion on cars he should buy.

He was cross-shopping a C-Class and 3-Series before the inevitable question came up:

“What do you know about the Cadillac ATS?” he asked.

“I like them. It’s a good start for Cadillac,” I said.

“But isn’t it just a glorified Cavalier or something?” he replied. Read More >

Cadillac likely won’t push to sell more cars in Europe before 2020, the company’s CEO Johan de Nysschen told analysts on Tuesday.

“We’ll go to that market when we have the right powertrains and the right cars,” he said Tuesday, according to the Detroit News.

Previously, Cadillac had planned some right-hand drive models and diesel powertrains to help it gain a foothold in European markets. According to the report, Cadillac has sold only 838 cars in Europe so far this year. Cadillac wants to sell 500,000 cars globally by 2020, de Nysschen said.

Read More >