The ATS is currently Cadillac’s base model but, as company President Johan de Nysschen said, its sales have been seriously hurt by more compact, and less expensive, premium saloons.
Talking on the sidelines of the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, de Nysschen commented that the ATS (pictured here) “is being compared to the new entrants that have come on this exploding market segment populated by the CLA and the A3 sedan. Suddenly, you have access to a Mercedes-Benz for US$30,000, whereas the ATS is starting several thousand dollars higher”.
Cadillac’s response to this is the development of a new entry-level sedan that will sit below the ATS in the range and which de Nysschen told Autonews is “a big priority”.
The ATS starts at US34,985 including destination fee, while the base price of the CLA and the A3 Sedan is US$31,750 and US$31,690 respectively.
Although it beat both German rivals on the sales front last year, selling 29,890 units to the Merc’s 27,365 and the Audi’s 22,250, ATS deliveries were down 22 percent compared to 2013.
Cadillac will build its new entry-level model on the same “Alpha” rear-wheel drive platform as the ATS, eschewing the cheaper to manufacture and more space-efficient front-wheel drive of the CLA.
“The cost and packaging advantages of front-wheel dive are appealing. But Cadillac is the challenger brand”, explained de Nysschen. “We want to build our reputation as a purveyor of high-performance driver’s cars, so it’s better that we do it off a rear-wheel drive architecture.”
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