Cadillac XTS Named Connected Car of the Year

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Honored for balance of safety, convenience, infotainment

DETROIT – Connected World magazine awarded the Cadillac XTS a Connected Car of the Year award in the luxury category.  Available in late spring 2012, the new XTS will debut Cadillac CUE, a comprehensive in-vehicle experience that merges intuitive design with auto industry-first controls and commands for information and media.

Cadillac CUE (Cadillac User Experience) Program Manager Jeff Massimilla (left) demonstrates the Cadillac CUE technology at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in Los Angeles, California. CUE is a full suite of infotainment, navigation and communication tools that combines natural voice recognition, fewer buttons, larger icons and greater customization to provide a more intuitive connected driving experience. CUE has 3.5 times more processing power than current auto industry systems. (Photo by Steve Fecht for Cadillac)

“Rather than just looking for power, speed, and performance, a connected car means turn-by-turn directions, voice-activated controls, and precollision systems,” says Peggy Smedley, editorial director, Connected World. “Car buyers now want it all under one hood and in the cabin.”

CUE, which stands for Cadillac User Experience, is a highly customizable user interfaces including a standard eight-inch (203 mm) screen in the “center stack.” CUE features several auto industry firsts, including capacitive-touch control with proximity sensing, gesture recognition and natural voice recognition.

The intuitive touch interface used in CUE is the same technology employed by many of today’s most popular handheld phones and tablets. Designed for both tech savvy and tech averse users, it allows consumers to securely store those mobile devices while channeling the information on those devices, along with navigation tools, weather maps with Doppler radar and AM/FM and XM radio.

In addition to CUE, the XTS will debut a network of safety cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors to bolster driver vision and awareness of road hazards and intervene to help avert potential crashes.  In some cases, Cadillac’s enhanced vision and sensing systems will act without the driver, such as though automatic braking based on information indicating potential obstacles.

The Connected Car of the Year awards honor vehicles with technology that strike the right balance of safety, convenience, and infotainment. Chosen by the editorial team at Connected World magazine, the 2012 winners were named in   small, mid-size, luxury, and ultra-luxury categorie

Cadillac ATS LTG 2L Turbo vs BMW 328i N20 2L Turbo?

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Cadillac has added this comparative info to the ATS site:

The BMW 328i uses the N20 engine (2L, 4 cylinder turbo) and appears to be clearly under-rated from the factory, making around 226-240 hp at the wheels in dyno tests. That makes it a 280+ hp engine as delivered; compare to the 270hp from the ATS LTG.  Some test drivers prefer the 328i to the 335i because the 328i has better balance and similar power.

Meanwhile, the upcoming ATS engine is a brand new 2L turbo version of the new 2.5L normally aspirated 4. But if the new ATS engine (LTG) is as tunable as its LHU and LNF cousins, it will quickly be tuned to 300+ hp as they are.  Of course the BMW engine can be tuned as well.

Same weight, similar engine power, BMW has an 8 speed transmission, while the Cadillac ATS arrives with the 6-speed because the 8-speed isn’t ready yet.

What about the Premium ATS and the BMW 335i?

On paper, the 318 hp Cadillac ATS engine also appears to have more power than the 3L Turbo 335i’s engine which is rated at 300 hp.   On paper.

Be sure that the BMW 335i’s engine output is also suspect, and likely makes 320+ hp.  The 335i uses the N55 3L V6, with a dual-scroll turbo instead of the dual turbos from the N54 3L V6.  In comparative tests, the 335i’s N55 V6 made 276 hp at the wheels on the dyno, or 320+ hp at the crank.

Stay tuned!

Cadillac Most Desired Auto Brand in U.S.

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2012 consumer survey measures emotional connections to brands

DETROIT – Cadillac is the most-desired automotive brand in the United States by men, according to results of a market research test by a company that studies emotional connections.

CTS is the centerpiece of Cadillac's lineup. The CTS Sedan is focused on excellent driving dynamics and technology, competing strongly against many of the world's finest midsized luxury cars.

The 2012 “Most Desired Brands in the U.S.” survey was conducted by the global strategic neuro-insight firm Buyology Inc and uSamp, which measured personal and emotional connections to 220 well-known brands across 10 industries.

Cadillac saw retail sales growth of 6.8 percent in 2011, led by the CTS family of cars, which were up 19 percent over 2010, and the mid-size luxury SRX crossover, which increased sales by more than 9.6 percent last year.

Cadillac is poised to further extend sales in 2012 with the introduction of the XTS full-size luxury sedan and the ATS compact luxury sedan, which will be released in the spring and summer of 2012 respectively.