is a really pretty car.
It's very nicely proportioned, with a cab sat far rearward on the wheelbase but still scooping out space for a real rear deck (no idiot "coupelike" pretense here, it's a real, grown-up sedan). The dash-to-axle ratio is surprisingly long. The roofline is clean and sharp. The "teardrops" below the headlights are a little odd, but don't do a lot of harm on the whole. Visually, it is strikingly long, low, and wide in a proper big-sedan kind of way (something that the CTS, despite its excellence, never really managed, because it's most definitely NOT a big sedan).
But the styling (despite being exactly what Cadillac needs) is not the most important thing.
The important thing is what this car means for Cadillac.
It means Cadillac is REALLY back in the game. The CTS might have been critically transformational for the brand, but it couldn't raise the ceiling. It sold a lot, converted opinions, and carved a foothold, but you can't sell a luxury brand without a big sedan.
The CT6 is being labelled in articles as Caddy's new halo car, but it's not. That'll be the CT8. But the CT6 is topping the lineup for now, and being compared to the 7 series and S-class (despite being, like the CTS and STS before it, a bit smaller than those German counterparts).
What matters, then? That this is an architectural stepping stone to a Cadillac that actually matters at the TOP end, not just the volume (bottom) end, and in multiple ways.
Firstly, it's based on an all-new but Alpha-inspired lightweight full-size platform (called Omega, and to be shared with the CT8).
Secondly, it brings two new hugely-relevant engines that Cadillac can NOT more forward without.
The CT6 has an interesting engine linup. It's a tad smaller and a lot lighter than a 7 series, but the base engine is a four-banger. The turbo four model supposedly weighs a little over 3600lb, which means its power:weight is a little crummier than my LS8, but not by a ton.
Sitting in the middle of the engine options is the GM-standard, normally-aspirated 3.6 liter High Feature V6 offering. A fantastic engine, but nothing groundbreaking.
What's exciting, though, are the car's two new engines (again, likely to be shared with the CT8).
The first is a TT 3.0 V6. It's based on an updated high-feature V6 architecture, so it's still closely related to the current 3.6. It's rated at 400hp. It'll be the top-tier engine in the CT6 for a bit. Cadillac says there will be a 3.6 liter version of this engine as well, but no word on whether it'll make it into the CT6. The 3.0 makes a lot of sense given the car's weight.
The engine that will follow later and top off the range down the road will be an all-new, high-tech DOHC TT V8 displacing 4.2 liters. 4.2 is interesting because it's actually quite big by modern standards (nearly everyone else is working with 3.8-4.0 liters for V8s at this point--except for Jaguar who are still using the big 5.0 AJ). Cadillac claims it'll make "high 400 range" horsepower, but that sounds extremely conservative to me. However--and this is the important part--this engine isn't being touted as the new V-series ultraperformance powerplant. It's being used for the one thing V8s do that no amount of boost or performance in other formats can match: refinement. The new V8 is being designed to allow Cadillac to sell a car that appeals to people who actually know what a real car should be. This is a huge change. The ATS has brash 4-bangers as its base engines that are defended as light-but-potent while overlooking their behavioral issues. It's a way to sell cars to less discerning entry-level buyers who couldn't tell a 4-cylinder Camry from a Maserati at idle.
The CT6 is for people like me. People to whom the thrumming herk and jerk of even a modern V6 at idle is offensive. People who want an engine that scales usably from idle at ~600rpm all the way up to 7000+rpm without a hiccup. People who require their luxury cars to actually deliver refinement, not merely look "upscale" and come with fancy leather.
This TT V8 is going to be a big deal for GM as a whole, but especially for Cadillac. You can't sell a car the size or the CT6 (or bigger--CT8) without a V8 option. And, as Acura and Lincoln continue to prove, no amount of teching around bad architecture (wrong wheel drive and V6-only) will actually earn you any buyers in that market.
Imagine what other cars GM could work this engine into. Future SS models? Maybe a Zora Corvette? The SBC is a hell of a motor, but this new option opens a ton of new doors.
But, all this stuff accounted for, the most important thing about the CT6 is that IT IS NOT THIS UNFORGIVABLE MONSTROSITY:
The XTS was the wrong answer to the wrong question at the wrong time and did absolutely nothing positive for Cadillac. It was a no-alternative placeholder for a brand without a fullsize car. It was lazy, cheap, unattractive, and had none of the attributes Cadillac needs to improve its reputation as a gobal brand. Cadillac themselves defended it as a temporary stopgap on the way to a real car.
With the CT6, Cadillac can throw the XTS in the dumpster where it belongs and start selling real cars that aren't three steps backward from where they so carefully climbed with the CTS and ATS. If I were Johan DeNysschen (which I know we've firmly established I most definitely am not), I would cease XTS production last month, crush every unit still on lots, cancel all marketing for the car, and offer a hefty bonus to every employee who swears to never speak of it again.
The ATS is neat. The CTS is a great car. The CT6 is the Cadillac I've been waiting for for over a decade. It's about time it got here. And it's not some dumbass naming scheme or a hilariously meaningless move of the corporate headquarters to New York City that's going to take Cadillac to the next level. It's building a car people who buy luxury cars actually want to own. The CT6 is the first Cadillac to meet that criterion since probably the DeVille of the mid-90s, when the luxury market was a very different place.
If Cadillac somehow miraculously led the industry in reliability, you think they wouldn't promote the hell out of that?