Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept

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What is it?
Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept

What's special about it?
It's so special that Clay Dean, Cadillac's global design director, calls the CTS coupe concept the breakthrough design of the decade. "The CTS coupe concept is the next great design, carrying the baton from the Evoq concept that ushered in the Art and Science era in 1999," he says.

Well, the Evoq turned into the XLR, a sales disaster, but this CTS coupe should fare much better when it eventually goes into production. For one, its CTS roots are solid and it doesn't stray too far from them. The CTS coupe rides on the same wheelbase as the sedan, yet it's 2 inches shorter in both height and overall length. The windshield has been laid back a few degrees, while the B-pillar has been eliminated to further clean up the profile as well. Unfortunately, the C-pillars seem to have grown abnormally large in response, giving the CTS coupe an almost hatchback-style profile.

Surprisingly, most of the sheet metal is new, as the grille, headlights and front fenders are the only direct sedan carryovers. According to John Manoogian, director of exterior design for Cadillac, typical exterior bodywork enhancements like extended moldings and a spoiler were kept out of the mix to maintain the purity of the overall design. Instead, only smaller details have been changed, like slimmer side mirrors, revised quarter-panel vents and hidden door handles.

Manoogian said special attention has been paid to the rear of the car, which he compares to the look of a carefully cut diamond. The white LEDs at the bottom of the rear fascia might pass for diamondlike, but it's a bit of a stretch to include the chrome license-plate header. We're not sure how the center-outlet exhaust fits into the whole diamond thing, but it doesn't look half bad.

Changes to the CTS's interior have been less dramatic. It gets the same leather-upholstered dashboard with exposed stitching as the sedan, but features a more dramatic black-and-ochre color scheme. Yes, that's ochre, a subtle shade that fits the coupe's refinement, says Cadillac.

All four seats are Recaro buckets to underscore the idea of the CTS coupe as a grand touring car. A full-length center console with carbon-fiber trim runs down the center and new door panels with microfiber armrests replace the stock trim.

Few details have been given about the hardware under the skin of this concept. Cadillac said the coupe will easily accommodate the current crop of CTS engines as well as the 2.9-liter diesel V6 intended for use in Europe. Even less has been said about its prospects for production, but we expect to see it on the road by the end of next year.

What's Edmunds' take?
The right addition to the CTS lineup if they can clean up the odd styling before it gets to showrooms. — Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor