The Cadillac Elmiraj coupe study wowed the crowds at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this past weekend and will no doubt be one of the showstoppers at the Frankfurt Auto Show next month, if the Detroit company brings it in. I hope that it will become more than a design exercise, as one of Cadillac’s top executives acknowledged.
Bob Ferguson, senior vice president of global Cadillac, told Automotive News that the Elmiraj coupe “is very doable” adding that, “sometimes you go through these exercises to make a design statement.”
“This car is marketable. It’s practical enough to be put through the production process. Our dealers really want a vehicle like this,” he added.
This is very good news indeed for Cadillac fans and for car aficionados in general, as a production version of the Elmiraj coupe study will no doubt give the upcoming Mercedes S-Class Coupe and (hopefully) the BMW 8-Series a run for their money.
Ferguson added that if Cadillac decides to build the Elmiraj, it will be based on the brand’s upcoming rear-wheel-drive large sedan that is expected to arrive in about two years. However, any coupe variant will launch only after Cadillac’s S-Class rival will be on the market.
The Elmiraj concept is powered by a 4.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8 delivering around 500 horsepower. At 205 inches (5,207mm), the big luxury coupe is 3 inches (76.2mm) longer than the front-wheel-drive XTS, Cadillac’s biggest car on sale at the moment.
By Dan Mihalascu
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