Cadillac has long been known as an older persons' car - not something exciting, impressive and certainly not worthy of any design awards in the last 50 years. The Allante may have been the nicest looking Cadillac in a looong time but since it was Pininfarina-designed - it never semed to fit in.
So when the first Cadillac CTS arrived, it was sporting their new "Art and Science" design language. And as often happens, it may take a while for a new design language to be massaged and refined. The first CTS was a bit awkard and had a very tall and narrow feeling overall. All of the graphics were oriented vertically which highlighted the narrow stance. It was often "under-wheeled" which made these characteristics worse.
But after seeing them on the road for a while, the latest CTS is actually a very nice design. It maintains the Art and Science aesthetic but is fuller and more dynamic than the previous CTS or the XLR.
The latest CTS works because of a few main points:
1. Though a bit taller, the CTS2 is also a couple inches wider than its predecessor. This always helps with proportion issues and we all know - we cheat the width first if we can.
2. Both cars have the standard Cadillac vertically oriented graphics. The difference is the CTS1's graphics extend up, over and then back. This extends the graphics and makes them seem even taller than they are. The Buick Rendevous is famous (at least in my mind) for this very thing. Tall graphics shouldn't be put on a tall package - whenever possible, the graphics should help alleviate a bad package. The CTS1's rear plate cluster also contributes to the perceived height of the rear end because it extends all the way to the rear deck.
3. Another very important difference is the centerline and shoulder relationship. The CTS1's centerline is lower than its haunches. This particularly makes the car taller but also seem more square - this then pulls in whatever section the bodyside has. This maybe could've been overcome with an obscene dose of crown in the bodyside - if only they had those extra 2 inches in the first car! The CTS2 has a better relationship in these areas and though still quite angular, it results in a softer, more dynamic design language. The CTS2's full hood powerbulge is the main example of this improvement.
4. In an ironic turn of events, some of the character lines that may have been designed to alleviate some of the height, are actually working against the CTS1. There are 3 main character lines on the CTS1's bodyside. These are meant to break up the tall bodyside but because there are so many, they actually highlight its height acting like light steps. Another car with this problem is the 5-series BMW. It has 4 highlights and a cut line at the rear quarter panel nearly equidistant to eachother. If you notice, the CTS2 only has the one bodyside line similar to many other cars at around door handle height. The second highlight comes from the trunk line but the key to why this isn't distracting is because the CTS2's DLO does not extend back and overlap the trunk highlight.
5. The last somewhat mysterious detail is the DLO shape of the CTS1. The bottom line really does seem flat. This again accentuates the height of the front quarter panel made worse by the diving bodyside character line. The CTS2's DLO is more dynamic diving downward with the bodyside character line.
Cadillac has worked hard to jazz itself up and market itself to the young Baby Boomers instead of the WWII vets. They started out quite extreme but are definitely getting the hang of this aesthetic. There's been a CTS wagon shown as well as the CTS Coupe concept which could very well inject some more American excitement into the Cadillac brand which begs the question:
Is the Cadillac CTS GM's best current American design?
3 comments:
Cadillac has kept itself relevant and interesting when other brands merely seem to date themselves.
The dual attraction--a price point below the foreign luxury brands and styling which is recognizably unique--have served it well.
I don't own a Cadillac, but I could imagine buying one--something I could never imagine doing with the current Mercedes or Infinity, for example.
I think that this set of designs wears well on the road, save for the SUV. The SUV, like most SUVs, is just a bland dinosaur.
Gurdonark, you are correct about Cadillac staying relevant. But this is only recently and at the risk of dying altogether. GM pushed the majority of the older generation's business over to Buick which is now hurting them badly to near extinction.
The "Art and Science" aesthetic while sometimes a bit unrefined has definitely injected some excitement into the Cadillac lineup.
I completely forgot to mention the SRX. The SRX hurts from the definition of an SUV - the main word being Utility. This aspect of these vehicles generally dumbs them down to be square and boring. The SRX though at least has some connection to the brand for sure as opposed to the Escalade which is still just a Tahoe/Suburban with lipstick on - sorry, I had to throw in the lipstick thing!
I also agree that, while I probably would not buy one, the CTS Coupe would be a welcome addition to the road.
The CTS is definitely GM's best US offering. At least from a design standpoint.
The designers still had to deal with its tall proportions, which has always been the CTS' biggest weakness. Park any CTS side by side with the same model year 3 series, and you'll see what I mean. Just look at the difference in cowl height between the 2. It's like parking a truck next to a car. And even though the newest iteration of the CTS does a good job of hiding this, it still looks a bit on the heavy side when compared directly to a better packaged vehicle.
Having said that, it doesn't take away from the fact that imo, it's GM's best US design effort, and is a car they can be proud of. It's not perfect, but it's definitely a great effort and earns some well deserved praise.
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