2013 Cadillac ATS, revealed today for the North American International Automobile Show in Detroit next week. Official press photo, above,
B R E A K I N G N E W S — The production version of Cadillac's new small car, the ATS has been revealed. This is Caddy's rear wheel drive BMW 3-series fighter. Rendered earlier in the year for Automobile magazine, I used Cadillac's Platinum concept for the base. I made it smaller, gave it rear wheel drive proportions, and shortened the rear overhang and rear seat area. If I had only moved the door handles into the side swage, and used the extended headlights from my even earlier Seville rendering, below, I'd have been 95% there!
My rendering of what I thought the ATS might look like, commissioned by Automobile magazine for its July 2011 issue.
If I had incorporated the exaggerated headlights from my rendering of a future Seville I did almost 18 months ago, September 2010, I'd have been that much closer to the production ATS. Enlarge the image to see how I extended the headlights along the fender top past the halfway mark of the front wheel, exactly like the production ATS. Which came first—my Seville headlights or the production ATS, lol? Original Seville link, here.
This profile of the new ATS shows how they stole my Seville's headlight design, lol. Just kidding Mr. Welburn, you've done a GREAT job with this new compact Cadillac!
- Ed Welburn is GM's VP of Design, and has a very cool list of GM's top designs, here.
I've never been much of a Cadillac person over the years, but I tell you they are doing something different at GM Design. These new ones grab my eye. Sign... just when I'm about to give up driving and cars, curses.
ReplyDeleteSee -- they are watching you!!
ReplyDeleteI like this a lot -- can't wait to see it in person either in Atlanta or in New York. I understand that they are going to broaden the lineup beyond just the sedan and I can't wait to see what they do with coupe, wagon and convertible versions -- I would be especially interested in a convertible version. I hope Bob Cumberford will analyze this one in an upcoming issue of Automobile. I much prefer his analyses of production cars rather than show cars.
Paul, NYC
thanks! I think it's interesting they showed it first in a very similar shade of red, too!
ReplyDeleteI'VE ALWAY LOVE THE LOOK OF CADILLACS. WE'VE OWNED 4 LINCOLNS A65 TWO 69S AND ONE 92. MISSED OUT ON OWNING A CADILLAC. I ALWAYS WANTED ONE. WE OWNED OVER 50 CARS IN OUR MARRIAGE. CARS WERE GRAMPS HOBBIE. IT KEPT HIM OFF THE BAR STOOL.I ONLY CRIED WHEN HE SOLD MY AUSTIN HEALY SPRITE. WE BOUGHT IT BRAND NEW. GRAMPS CALED ME HENRETTA HOTROD. I WAS COOL BACK IN THE DAY. I'D PUT THAT TOP DOWN AND LET THE WIND BLOW THROUGH MY LONG BLONDE HAIR AND THOUGHT I OWNED THE WORLD. IT WAS SO FUN. HE WAS ALWAY BUILDING CARS OR SELLING THEM WHEN HE'D GET TIRED OF THE ONE HE DROVE. THE FUNNY THING IS HE NEVER LOST MONEY ON ANY OF HIS DEALS. EVEN ALL THE MOTORHOMES WE HAD . WE ALWAY BROKE EVEN OR MADE A PROFIT. THOSE WERE THE FUN DAYS. GOD IS SO GOOD.TODAYS WORLDS IT'S HARD TO TELL ONE CAR FROM ANOTHER.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS FOR SHARING. LOVE THE RED COLOR.
GRANNY
Thanks Granny. I've lost so much money on every car I've ever owned, I've evened out your average, lol.
ReplyDeleteExcellent work, Casey! You hit the nail on the head with this one.
ReplyDeleteI was very happy to see the ATS .It is a very handsome car. Its a nice combination of the first and second gen CTS.
Great work-- as always !
Andy
Malibu
OOh, Good work Casey...am a Lincoln gal myself, but this is a VERY nice looking cadillac!
ReplyDeleteMare
Hi Mare! Well you'll be happy, I have a Lincoln piece for tomorrow! The new MKZ concept car was revealed and they've used bits and pieces of some of my Lincolns, lol.
ReplyDeleteYour Lincoln is much nicer, someone goofed up in the design studio there. The less expensive Fusion is SO much nicer!
ReplyDeleteHi, Casey. I am surprised to see so many lincolns in a spot where i normally find photos and articles about your world. Thanks. The little black area at the bottom of the rear windshield may have something to do with a huge sliding glass roof ( ala: Porsche 911 Targa ) that one source swears will make it to production. Beautiful cars - your and theirs.
ReplyDeleteI believe there is a problem on your main page. If you access the comments section under a car photo you get stuck there. You cannot leave a comment and cannot go back.
BobF
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteSorry you had a problem commenting. I don't seem to be able to replicate it this morning, but maybe it was a glitch in the blogger software. There are some sites like Autoblog that I have to clear my cache and history every time I go there for the page to render. I hope that's not becoming the case with my blog!
As far as where I put articles, if it's a brand new chop, it definitely goes on my car blog. If it's something about the way I do those chops, or somehow "news" about those cars, I tend to put them on my main blog. But it's all a crapshoot about how I feel that day I guess, lol.
You might be right about that black panel on the Lincoln. It was until a day or two after I wrote that that I found out about the glass retracting roof possibility. I've since seen the spy shots at Autoblog, and the production car seems to be shaping up to look quite a bit different from the concept, especially in the rear window and roof area to accomodate that big piece of glass. So now we're really going to have to get excited about it until April!
I just tried it again and had the same result. If you enter the comments section on any photo in your regular car section you are frozen there. You cannot make ( or read ) a comment and you cannot go back. I have to leave your site completely and go back in. Thought you would want to know.
ReplyDeleteSo now that you have seen photos of both - Lincoln and Cadillac - which do you prefer?
BobF
HI Bob,
ReplyDeleteYeah, the car site is acting wonky now. I looked through a few of the Admin pages, but I don't think it's within my control. I think the Blogger software might be being updated or changed or something. It's a newer template than my main site. If it goes on much longer, I'll have to do some searching online to see if other bloggers are having problems.
It's hard to say about which of the new cars I prefer, Caddy or Lincoln. I like the muscular looks of the ATS, and it's classic RWD, but I like the outright modernism of the Lincoln. I'm not crazy about the horizontal grille bars, or the weird rear aspect of the Lincoln concept, but I'll have to wait until the production version comes out to see how watered down the interior is and how that glass roof, or hatchback, looks in reality.
Bob: I changed the format of the commenting system at the car blog. It's a popup like this one. I think it's working better now. Not sure why it was wonky though, but as I said, I think it was the Blogger software. Sometimes things change and I have no idea why. They don't ever email blog "owners" and let them know when they're going to change the formats. thanks for letting me know, though.
ReplyDelete