Spy Photos: Front Drive 2013 Cadillac XTS Large Sedan Spied *With Interior Shot

That's an awfully sporty wheel/brake/tire package for a FWD large luxo-cruiser. It kinda looks like a pretty agressive looking chin spoiler out front. Maybe Caddy's plan is to scare all the rest of the competition sufficiently to be the winner. I would be pretty happy with a Caddy that can flat Bully a BMW or AMG.

What is with the stance of the car in the last photo. Was the car braking from 60-0 or something?? Why is the butt up in the air and has a huge gap between the wheel and the body?

Looks good all around, and the wheels look particularly sharp. I'd be surprised if Cadillac didn't make AWD standard. FWD just doesn't fly in this segment, though I imagine most buyers in this segment wouldn't know (or care about) the difference between FWD-based AWD and RWD-based AWD.

@cincygt2009: I think it might be a combination of the angle of the shot, the downhill-slope the car is on, and that it does appear to be braking to some extent. The car does appear to have something of a forward slanting stance in the other pictures, but nothing like that last one.

The front of this car looks massive! Like an escalade sedan...which is good! Interior is typical caddy, also good. I'm betting its downfall will be pricing, but here's hoping its not too outrageous. Definitely something to look forward to...I wonder if there is V potential to go against the S AMG!

csubowtie says:

"I would be pretty happy with a Caddy that can flat Bully a BMW or AMG."

They've already done that...

CTS-V is the answer!

Why do they keep calling this the "flagship"? It's not...

ahightower: the A8 is FWD based.
Anyway, this car does look big as someone else said. I applaud Cadillac. We now know that they are working on two cars to be released in the next 1-2 years. Yes this car does look big and cadillac needs that just like they need the new ATS under the CTS. Good Job Caddy.

Man stuff like this makes me really wish sometimes I had been able to get into automotive research and development as an engineer. I still have a good job now, but designing cars like this seems like it would be heaven.

Just remember this isn't a "big" car. It's based on the Malibu chassis, so I'd say it's smaller than a Chrysler 300.
Cadillac really needs a truly big car to go up against the 300 and Eqqus.

This car isn't meant to go against the German's big cars, its meant to save face with the early bird special crowds.

By killing the STS and DTS, Cadillac will have no sedan for Grandpa to buy. And after GM figured out those buyers won't downgrade to a Buick they needed to build a car so old people didn't swarm to Lexus. This is that car. A big, comfortable, FWD (awd optional) old man's car.

Cadillac is still developing a true 7series/S-class/A8 fighter from the ground up. A dedicated chassis, RWD, V8 sedan that will probably have a V trim level. Its not due out until at least 2014 though.

@stoppre75 says:

"This car isn't meant to go against the German's big cars, its meant to save face with the early bird special crowds."

With Brembos, and dubs? Don't think so.

altimadude05 says:
01:13 PM, 03/11/11
"Just remember this isn't a "big" car. It's based on the Malibu chassis, so I'd say it's smaller than a Chrysler 300."

Until you mentioned that, I thought the pictures show a HUGE car, but it could be due to the camo, or the tiny female driver . . .

"Just remember this isn't a "big" car. It's based on the Malibu chassis, so I'd say it's smaller than a Chrysler 300.
Cadillac really needs a truly big car to go up against the 300 and Eqqus."

The XTS is based on a LWB Epsilon II platform , which is why its speculated to also have AWD potential . The Malibu rides on the regular Epsilon platform with the G6 and Aura.

This car would be slightly bigger than the 300, which is needed to fill the gap for the cars it replaces. The size is hard to distinguish because of lack of reference. But from a "what criteria this car has to meet" stand point, this would have to be a big car.

http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2011/02/spy-photos-rear-drive-gm-caught-is-this-the-cadillac-ats.html

In this article about the ATS, they have a photo of the XTS at the very bottom. There is an Equinox on the side of it for a size reference, but the photo was taken at an angle, so it could be throwing off the perspective here too.

The interior better be on par with a Lexus LS, and nicer than a Hyundai Equus. And hopefully it will handle decently, too, despite being a large fwd sedan. The Taurus SHO drives nicely.
I'm a GM fan, but you guys really have to pull through for me this time.

@jlh3: All Audis except the A3 and TT are rear biased. The A8 is 40:60 (F/R).

FWD doesn't make sense in this segment considering most other cars in this class are rear or all-wheel drive. The small hints of the car you can see through the camo look promising however, as of right now, it is shapped very much like a Lincoln MKS. The interior looks pretty good, predictably Cadillac. I hope GM is careful about using the same stying theme throught its brands. That steering wheel design looks awfully similar to the Chevy Cruze.....don't like that part one bit!!!

There is a lot to like on this prototype. Not so sure about the looks of the steering wheel however. Is this really an old man's car? The wheels and brake calipers seem to hint otherwise unless there is going to be a high performance option. The writer says "full-size" really? The small woman might give that impression. I'm not convinced. Anyway, I like what I see so far.

FWD and luxury don't go together. This had better be AWD, else this will just be another geezermobile. How could Caddy put down enough power through FWD to be competitive with their competition - 300 or so is the practical limit.

This is based on the Epsilon II platform, though its on the similar long wheelbase version which is shared with the Buick LaCrosse. The Buick LaCrosse is 196.9 inches long and 73.1 inches wide while the 300 is 198.6 inches long and 75 inches wide. Though it wouldn't be too hard to make this car slightly longer on the ep II platform though in modern cars its not about the exterior size but the interior space.

They are working on a true Mercedes S class, BMW 7 series, and Audi A8 competitor as they have acknowledged internally that the XTS doesn't cut it. Think of it as a vehicle for a slightly different market or a stop gap to replace both the STS and DTS.

This is based on the Epsilon II platform, though its on the similar long wheelbase version which is shared with the Buick LaCrosse. The Buick LaCrosse is 196.9 inches long and 73.1 inches wide while the 300 is 198.6 inches long and 75 inches wide. Though it wouldn't be too hard to make this car slightly longer on the ep II platform though in modern cars its not about the exterior size but the interior space.

They are working on a true Mercedes S class, BMW 7 series, and Audi A8 competitor as they have acknowledged internally that the XTS doesn't cut it. Think of it as a vehicle for a slightly different market or a stop gap to replace both the STS and DTS.

Meh. Looks okay, but I wouldn't bet on those Brembos being present when the car debuts (DTS replacement, remember). Nice to see that they're going to use a real shift lever instead of a joystick, though.

This may be FWD based, and everyone is all worried about it only putting out 300hp because "that's about the limit." Everyone here seems to be forgetting one important fact: Cadillac surprised everyone with the 300hp FWD Northstar V-8 equipped STS back in '93 (Allante before that, if you want to get technical). For the time, that was a massive amount of power to manage through the front wheels only.

GM pioneered FWD with huge power. I wouldn't be surprised if this car comes with AWD and 350+hp in the form of a turbo 3.6. Who knows? Maybe they secretly pulled the Northstar replacement off the shelf and have been tweaking it for this car. AWD powered by a 4.2 32-valve V-8 putting out 400+hp, and still getting 26MPG? Anything's possible.

GM isn't exactly known for greatness, but they are known for pulling off a few surprises when it comes to Cadillac.

I can't wait to see this and the ATS in production form. They're both looking pretty good so far.

My mouth is watering. I hope there is a "V" version.

Much better looking , even with the camo, than the posure-mobiles from Recall motors (toyota) and Gold Chain Crowd nissan (infinity)

I think Cadillac XTS will fleet for funeral hearse , funeral limo . regular limo stretch like nothing standard, livery cab and old people's own XTS . it will nothing luxury cars like DTS is FWD. I know Cadillac or GM policies not allow high performance V-Cadillac from DTS to XTS and original Seville and Eldorado. I knew V-Cadillac for CTS, STS and EXR for RWD. It will allow ATS will performance V.

@syrax

I guess I was being missunderstood. What I mean is that, as far as I know, the A8 platform is FWD based meaning that the car starts life as a FWD vehile and the AWD system is added later. I don't know about the current A8 but the I think the previous generation was available as a FWD base model in europe only. Here in america we only get the AWD versions.

Look at the rear view picture (3rd down) look closely up by the rear bumper you can see a rear transaxle with an aluminim diff cover, just saying, there could be a awd/rwd platform to be made here, just not sure.

"Just remember this isn't a "big" car. It's based on the Malibu chassis, so I'd say it's smaller than a Chrysler 300."

It definitely wont be smaller than a 300 and I wouldnt be surprised if AWD is standard. This car will be close in size to the Lacrosse but expect a larger trunk and far more features. This wont be an S class competitor, it will be way cheaper. Think of it as competition for the A6, RL, MKS, Genesis R spec, etc. It will probably cost as much as an E class but have considerably more interior space. I would expect a twin turbo V6 at some point, if not at launch.

I do think that this will be S, 7, and A8 size. It wouldn't make sense for this car to compete with the A6, Rl, MKS when the CTS is very close in size to those sizes already. The plan is for them to make the current CTS a little bigger, and have the A class fight the, G37, 3, A4. I don't think GM would spend the resources to make a car that would fight in the same class, with cars that do not sell in high volume, it seem like it would be a waste of resources to me.

but the DTS sells pretty welll, thats the part you're missing. This car will replace the DTS as well as compete with MKS and whatever other large sedans are available for under $60k. This will not be priced like an S class. The CTS will get larger, but dont expect huge amounts of space or a focus on ride comfort. The CTS will remain a sports sedan while this car will be more traditional- without being soft.

I for one, like what I see so far,that front end looks awesome. It looks like the "sixteen concept" In full effect,nice. On a side note,I had a chance to drive(loaner) a 2010 STS V6 for about five days, took It on a 600mi round trip to the WV mountains. The car Is underrated. It was reasonably fast and handled the curves/switchbacks better than I would have expected. On the highway It was very stable and quite at 90 mph plus. Although the Interior wasnt best In class,It was very nice and put together well. I walked away from that car with a new found respect for Caddy/GM. It looks like there going In the right direction,I wish them well.

The position of the callipers on a car's front brakes has NOTHING to do with the driven wheels. Though the XTS may eventually prove to be front drive, the fact that the callipers are on the forward side of the front rotors does not guarantee this at all. The manufacturers put the callipers where they feel for a number of reasons which MAY include positioning based on a rear drive shaft or other matters. Since I read this article I have been paying particular attention to this claim and I have found many instances where front drive cars have callipers in so-called "rear-drive" positions. The Hyundai Veracruz is one such. And there are also examples of the reverse where rear drive cars have the callipers in "front drive" positions. The Mercedes W203 C-Class (2000-2007) is one such. The only way to guarantee the location of the driven wheels is to get down on all fours and look under the car.

Why has GM limited their color selections for most of their vehicles? I hope Forest Green is added as a color selection for the Cadillac XTS. That would give it a rich look!!!