The Cadillac CTS-V will be coming to the UK as Cadillac relaunches in the European market
Cadillac are returning to the UK and Europe this year and will display the CTS and SRX at the Geneva Motor Show. But there will be no diesel engines on offer. A big mistake?
Last month we reported that Cadillac were about to make a return to Europe after effectively losing their UK and European dealer network last year when Kroymans got in to trouble. And we’d expected that by the time the Geneva Motor Show arrived Cadillac would have decided how their new network was going to operate.
Well, Geneva is almost upon us and Cadillac have shoved out a press release telling us they’ll be back in Europe. What they’ve actually said is that a newly created organisation – Cadillac Europe – will handle import, distribution and marketing of s selected range of Cadillac models. But they still don’t know – or aren’t ready to say – exactly how buyers will get to be hands-on with European Cadillacs.
What they do say is that Cadillacs will be retailed through “…a fully authorized Cadillac sales and service network in key European markets”. Which probably means they are going to do exactly what we suggested they should last month – appoint a number of Vauxhall and Opel dealers in the existing GM network to handle sales. But I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out for sure.
At Geneva Cadillac will be showing the CTS Sport Wagon (Estate), CTS Sport Sedan (Saloon) and the very appealing CTS-V. The new CTS Sport Wagon will be available later in 2010, but the CTS Sport Sedan and the CTS-V are available now. Also on offer is the Cadillac SRX Crossover.
Sadly, for it’s going to impact on sales in Europe, Cadillac has binned the plans they had for a 2.9 litre diesel lump. Which makes the big CTS saloon and Estate something of a dead loss in Europe. Cadillac doesn’t have the credibility to compete with Mercedes, BMW and Audi in the big saloon and estate market, except perhaps with the CTS-V, which is truly remarkable.
It’s going to be an interesting journey for Cadillac. Their cars are more relevant to the UK and European market than ever, but they’re going to have an uphill battle to sell their wares without a diesel engine option.
Except for the Cadillac CTS-V. Especially the Coupe. Now that will sell.
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