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2008 Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept

There weren't many surprises at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which came as a disappointment to me and many of my colleagues. Like LA in November,

Now that's a sweet lookin' ride. (Photo: Cadillac)

numerous environmentally-friendly versions of existing models debuted, with only minor visual augmentations differentiating them from their production donor cars. Don't get me wrong, as much of the technology these vehicles feature is truly impressive, some of which is even performance enhancing, but it's not very exciting to your average old-school car enthusiast. Fortunately, the biggest greeny there is, General Motors, a company with more hybrids than any rival, plus innovative series hybrids, fuel cell concepts and prototypes, and more E85 vehicles in production than any competitor, also came to town (or rather walked across the street) with two of the hottest super cars the show had to offer, Chevy's awe-inspiring ZR1 and Cadillac's rewrite-the-rule-book-for-compact-luxury-performance CTS-V. We knew about both of these models well in advance of the Detroit show, of course, even if GM did a decent job of keeping the final output numbers secret for the latter car ...

Those are some long doors... in two-door Cadillac tradition. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

550 horsepower, which is an estimate anyway. GM didn't let us in on the CTS Coupe, mind you, and therefore it was a great, big, extremely sexy surprise.

OK, it's not extremely big, but it's oh-so sexy in a hard-edged, angled, sharp and dangerous as a glass shard sort of way. Even more aggressively styled up front than the CTS-V, the Coupe sports many of that car's styling cues forward of the A-pillar, but from this point back it's an entirely new design. The doors are oh-so long, stretching rearward with the kind of all-American mass of those on a '69 Eldorado, my favorite Cadillac. It was a car with beautiful angles too, and like the new concept came sans B-pillar, but it's rear window didn't rake as radically as the new CTS Coupe's, and while it sprouted minor fins from its vertical brake lights, the lenses themselves weren't extruded into shapes that made right angles overtop the rear fender, up to the leading edge of the rear glass, folding and bending into little fin-lets all on their own.

Does this car ever look good from the rear quarter. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

The Coupe's profile is so dramatic, so low, lean and mean that it seemed to stir up testosterone amongst the ladies present around me during the unveiling, with hot flashes of excitement expressed in “oohs” and “aahs”, where the guys could be heard using words like “beautiful” and “graceful” with their mouths hanging open and eyeballs darting back and forth in a trance-like dance, as if they were trying to comprehend the mind-numbing reality of Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Lauren rolled up into one fabulous looking human being (or Heidi Klum and Pamela Anderson for those of you under 30).

Yes, this car is stunningly attractive, with all who were at the show in agreement, as far as I could tell (and that doesn't happen too often). Its tail end shows a hint of Sixteen Concept as it comes to a point at center, and the vertically stacked headlamp clusters, white LEDs piled in four neat little steps at center

Nice from the side too. (Photo: Cadillac)

and orange LED turn signals running up and along their outermost edges, pay respect to a new trend I particularly like. The XLR-like hidden door handles are a nice touch too, although the diamond-cut rear fascia with mesh covered lower grilles and center exhaust outlet is all its own. Still, what I appreciate most about the new CTS Coupe is how closely it resembles the CTS sedan, which is one of the most attractive in the premium compact (if you can call it a compact) segment. Its chrome-covered grille might not be as large as an Escalade's, but it's at least as domineering and intimidating, and probably just as likely to cause left-lane-snoozers to snap out of their obliviously reckless comas and return to their rightful place, hugging the trees along the curb.

The hood is exclusive to the Coupe despite looking a great deal like the one on the sedan, while the stock CTS windshield is actually laid back further to give the car a sportier,

It's all in the details. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

more swept back look. The front fascia is lower, as mentioned previously, with unique brake-cooling ducts and ground-hugging aerodynamics that split the air and send it around the sides of the car, past a stunning set of split seven-spoke alloy rims (20 inches up front and 21 inches in the rear) looking even larger thanks to the car's lower ride height. The car's side view is enhanced with a set of ultra-slim side mirrors, very slick.

Like the CTS sedan, the Coupe's sheetmetal is adorned with delightful details that accentuate Cadillac's unorthodox approach to design, yet in a tasteful way. The engine vents just aft of the front wheel cutouts appear even larger than those on the sedan, although I don't think they are, just modified somewhat, and the way the A-pillar slashes through each fender's body work forming the rearmost edge of the vent, well, like on the four-door it's just brilliant. The

OK, now that's different. (Photo: Cadillac)

Coupe seems so much like the regular CTS up front that I was surprised to hear the only carryover components from the four-door include the headlamps (and only their size and shape), front fenders, grille, the cut-and-sewn instrument panel and center stack.

Now that that I've neatly segued to the interior, rather than the expected black on black theme of such a purposeful looking two-door, a car painted in silver no less, the CTS Coupe gets something quite unusual. The black treatment is present, in leather and micro-fiber, but rather than monotone seat inserts the Recaro designed buckets are covered in a rich yellow ochre and complemented by leather stitching, while yellow ochre stitching over black trim ties it all together. It's more Ferrari-like than Porsche, if you know what I mean. There's also a unique continuous

Rear buckets too. (Photo: Cadillac)

console covered in black micro-fiber fabric that runs between the front and rear seats, and custom door panels for those ultra-long doors. Still, much of the standard CTS fare is included, more than just hinting that this is not just a one-hit-wonder, but rather the start of a beautiful new two-door tradition.

After all, what Cadillac competitor only offers buyers a single configuration of its compact contender? Audi? BMW? Mercedes-Benz? Infiniti? Lexus? OK, you'd be right about Lexus, although the comparative Japanese upstart has plans in the making for a two-door IS, but BMW has long had coupe and convertible variants of the 3 in its lineup, not to mention a wagon, and Mercedes-Benz offers two-door Cs, only with subtle changes to their tail end designations;

Those headlights are stunning! (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

CLK instead of C. Audi? While a convertible A4 has long been part of its lineup, the A4-based A5 has just arrived, looking pretty amazing as well, while the sedan and coupe version of Infiniti's G35 have just gone under the knife, resulting in what I think is a less satisfying outcome, unfortunately. But back to the subject at hand, barring any unforeseen financial challenges Cadillac will certainly build the CTS Coupe. And I'm willing to throw a couple of loons (GW's) on the table to back up my faith in a retractable convertible version making its way onto the auto show circuit before the year's up; Cadillac is in need of a sub-$50,000 drop-top, and one that seats more than two.

So, how close is the CTS Coupe to the regular CTS? Its undercarriage is identical and wheelbase also the same, but its overall height is lower by about two inches and overall length is also down by two inches, shaved off the rear end giving it

Taillight design is like nothing else on the road. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

an attractively short rear overhand. The CTS Coupe can be offered with any number of CTS sedan drivetrains, from the base 3.6-liter to the direct-injection 3.6, right up to the crazy 550 horsepower eight-cylinder CTS-V powerplant introduced on the same stage in Detroit. In Europe and other markets that experience much higher fuel prices, a new 2.9-liter turbo-diesel, which is currently still in development, could also be fitted under its sleek hood.

Whether Cadillac follows Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and others into diesel territory here in North America will remain to be seen (there's still some pain associated with oil burners in Detroit), but the new CTS Coupe will feature the latest in convenience and safety features. In fact, the concept already sports similar features as the production sedan, such as its premium Bose audio system with its 40-gig hard drive and XM satellite radio. It would be incomplete

I want to drive this car. (Photo: Cadillac)

without OnStar, of course, with the option of using that system's handy Turn-by-Turn Navigation process or the onboard navigation system, which, like the four-door, boasts a nifty screen that rises from within the dash.

Of course, a production CTS Coupe would include all the usual safety features, such as a full count of airbags, traction and stability control, etc, but none more important than the big and beautiful high-performance brakes gleaming through its wheels. Cross-drilled rotors always make a car look racier, and the Coupe's yellow-coated six- and four-piston calipers front and rear respectively should keep an overzealous driver in check

I, for one, would love to take it out for a run, and considering that the CTS Coupe seems little more than a thinly veiled production intro, a prototype hardly designed to gauge

It'll be in showrooms next year... unofficially. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

public response (as if GM didn't already know they had a hit on their hands after the artist's renderings were formed into clay), but rather to tease Cadillac fans and others disenchanted with their rival rides into states of hormonal overwhelm, I'll probably get that chance, as will you if you so choose. Rumors are already floating around cyberspace about a 2010 model debuting in 2009, with CTC as its alpha designation no less ... we'll see about that one. Name aside, unlike the Sixteen we all fell in love with a number of years ago, this one will make it past the bean counters and onto the showroom floor, needing no new architecture or unavailable components. Everything needed to build it is already in the CTS sedan, and the opportunity for GM to expand one of its most successful brands at a time when luxury buyers are starting to consider full-size appointments in a smaller luxury package, is too ripe to pass up. Congratulations Cadillac, on stealing the biggest North American auto show of the year. You did it last year with the CTS sedan, and managed to pull the collective rug out from underneath your competitors this year too.

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