Cadillac
CTS
For release: Jan. 8, 2007, 9:40 a.m. EST
DETROIT – The new 2008 Cadillac CTS luxury sports sedan combines advanced technologies and electronics with the elegance of old-world craftsmanship that honors the best attributes of Cadillac’s past.
“The all-new 2008 Cadillac CTS embodies a contemporary revival of two of the brand’s great traditions: innovative technology and precise craftsmanship,” said Jim Taylor, Cadillac general manager. “Whether motoring in the United States , Germany , China or Dubai , today’s luxury consumer wants both the convenience of advanced electronics, with the distinctive quality and elegance of hand-crafted furnishings.”
From safety to entertainment, the new CTS incorporates a wide array of useful, intuitive and advanced technologies.
Integrated iPod/MP3 capability
Designed in consultation with the engineers behind the iPod and other computer and entertainment industry experts, the center console of the CTS is tailored for MP3 players. iPods or other digital music devices can be charged via a USB port, which also enables playlists to appear on the car’s touch-screen and steering wheel controls to be used to advance tracks. Both the USB and auxiliary audio jacks are located conveniently within the console, providing an easy storage location and eliminating cords hanging from the audio system.
Adaptive forward lighting system
When equipped with the uplevel high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamps, the CTS also includes an advanced forward lighting system that automatically adjusts headlamp direction for improved nighttime driving visibility. The system uses software algorithms to compute speed and steering wheel angle input in determining how fast and how far to turn the headlamps. The system is capable of turning the headlamps a maximum of 15 degrees inboard and 5 degrees outboard on each lamp.
Easy Key™ system with Smart Remote Start
The optional Easy Key™ system enables passive vehicle and trunk entry and keyless ignition via a personalized keyless fob. With the fob in a pocket or purse, a person can approach a locked vehicle, pull the door handle and open the door or trunk.
To start the vehicle, the fob must be inside the vehicle, and the brake pedal depressed – a process that combines engine immobilization and anti-theft protection. The system works via five ferrite stick antennas located in the front door handles, headliner, center console and in the rear of the car. Upon pulling either exterior front door handle, the door handle antennae communicate with the key fob, and within 240 milliseconds, authorize the identity of the driver and unlock the door or trunk.
The optional Smart Remote Start system – which operates from as far as 200 feet – not only starts the vehicle via fob activation, but also activates the climate control and the optional heated and cooled seats, depending on temperatures outside and inside the car.
Bose 5.1 Cabin Surround™ audio system
The new CTS can be equipped with a true digital surround sound audio system – developed by Bose – that provides concert-quality sound normally reserved for home theaters. The 300-watt, 10-speaker system incorporates the exclusive Bose Centerpoint technology, which makes two-channel audio information very rich and spacious. Even the base audio system is a Bose unit, and will include an eight-speaker arrangement.
DVD-based navigation with telescoping touch-screen
The DVD-based navigation system conducts route calculation 30 percent faster than current systems, displays freeway exit information (such as service stations, restaurants) via expandable icons, and covers all roads and streets in the U.S. and Canada (nearly seven million miles) on a single DVD. The system allows route planning to items stored in memory via voice commands and/or voice tags. The optional system utilizes a telescoping eight-inch diagonal high-resolution full VGA infotainment display head with full touch-screen. The display head – which rises up out of the top of the vehicle’s integrated center stack – provides outstanding clarity enabled by 800- by 480 pixel resolution. A large viewable area (approximately 104- by 174 mm) contributes to its easy interface.
Other useful and significant electronic systems include a heated windshield washer system, rear ultrasonic park assist, heated and ventilated front seats and power rake/telescoping steering column.
Hand-crafted luxury in the cabin; focus on quality throughout
Though it features modern exterior design and advanced technologies, the CTS also borrows a page from Cadillac’s rich and elegant past. CTS incorporates a hand-crafted luxury interior that brings Cadillac tradition into the modern world of the luxury sports sedan.
The new cabin utilizes Cadillac’s new “cut-and-sew” interior process that combines advanced technology with the hand-rendered precision of expert craftsmen. Coverings for components such as the instrument panel, center console and door trim are cut, sewn and wrapped by hand. This enables details such as decorative French stitching, and the near elimination of gaps and seams for a superbly tailored appearance. This is the same painstaking process applied to Cadillac’s limited-production STS-V and XLR-V models, and the revised 2007 SRX, bringing old-world craftsmanship into the heart of the luxury marketplace.
Since its inception in 2002, CTS has been assembled at the award-winning GM Lansing Grand River Assembly Center. The subject of benchmarking visits from dozens of other top manufacturers across many industries, this Cadillac-specific assembly plant is among the finest in the world.
For the 2008 CTS, great attention was paid during the car’s design and development to incorporate further refinements to the car’s body structure and precision manufacturing.
The use of advanced laser-brazing on the exterior roof surface delivers an uninterrupted, class-A surface across the top of the vehicle, free of ditch joints that are common on other vehicles. Areas such as the windshield and backlight are precisely installed and eliminate external appliques that are used on many other vehicles.
Detailed analysis of sound and vibration was lavished on the CTS, targeting the sound levels found in elite prestige luxury sedans. This analysis reduces overall cabin noise, via improved body sealing and sound insulation. It also focused on tuning the quality of the remaining sound, including – in some cases – adding to sound levels. A perforated pattern has been added to the inside of the tailpipes to increase resonance, adding more pleasing, low-frequency sounds to counteract high-frequency noise. Inside the cabin, tones were added to a few otherwise-silent switches and controls.
The hood includes sealing techniques normally used on vehicle doors for greater noise and vibration control.
Contact:
David Caldwell
Cadillac Communications
Phone: 313-665-7252
E-mail: david.caldwell@gm.com