The Canadian National Post reports that the GM plant in Oshawa is slated to build the new Cadillac XTS sedan.   The XTS is the notional large sedan that will replace the current FWD DTS and RWD STS models with a single highly desirable luxury sedan.

Cadillac went to 3-letter “Euro” names with the CTS/DTS/STS swap.  The names don’t “mean” anything, or do mean things, depending on the day and press release.  For example, CTS means “C-class Touring Sedan”, the C-class Mercedes being the size and competitive range the CTS is aimed at.

The convertible XLR is ‘eXperimental Luxury Roadster’, here using experimental in the ‘has the latest technology’ and not ‘it might blow up’ sense.

So, the new XTS would be an  ‘eXperimenal Touring Sedan’.  Cadillacs have often been GM’s pilot brand for new technologies.  It makes sense to add the very latest options to the premium brand, where customers are willing to pay for premium equipment.  It also allows the manufacturer to prove out technologies on shorter production runs, then release them to higher production models to follow.

I suppose I don’t object to the experimental moniker as long as the sedan that bears the name is experimental, and has some ‘reach’ to it.