Cadillac's award-winning CTS sedan will likely get a coupe companion in mid-2008, and the two-door version of the luxury four-door has been previewed at the 2008 Detroit auto show in the form of the CT Coupe Concept.
The CT is the latest iteration of the Cadillac "Art & Science" design theme, but Cadillac says this rendition is distinctly new, with all the sheetmetal from the front pillars back being new. While it shares the CTS' wheelbase, the CT Coupe Concept is about four inches shorter than the sedan, and has a faster (more sloped) windshield than does the sedan.
It also shares the instrument panel with the four-door and the console, but otherwise the interior is a newly trimmed piece. Inside, the CT Coupe study wears black leather and Alcantara microfiber trim, with ochre-color inserts and leather seat stitching.
Other features of the concept are 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels; hidden door handles like those on the XLR sportscar; a new lower front fascia with brake vents; LED taillamps; a rear spoiler; and a faceted radio antenna. Inside the four-seat CT Coupe gets carbon-fiber trim, XM and navigation system, and a Bose stereo with a 40GB hard drive.
The 2+2 concept gets its power from a version of Cadillac's 3.6-liter direct-injection V-6, but in a release, the GM brand says that the 2.9-liter turbodiesel headed for European-market CTS sedans will also fit in the coupe. The diesel will make about 250 horsepower in production form. A six-speed manual gearbox is fitted to the concept, as are six-piston front and four-piston rear brakes.
"It is emotion on four wheels and the very essence of what defines Cadillac today," says design director Ed Welburn.
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