New flagship Cadillac sedan given green light

Recent spy photos show us that the all-new Cadillac XTS is already well on its way. But while the XTS will be the biggest Cadillac sedan in years, it won't be the top dog in the Wreath and Crest lineup for long.

 2010 Cadillac XTS Platinum Conceptphoto : Cadillac XTS Platinum concept, autoblog.com

GM Inside News reports that sources familiar with General Motors' product plans claim that a rear-drive flagship Cadillac has been approved for production. The green-lighted rear-wheel-drive platform has reportedly been given the internal name "Omega," playing off of the "Alpha" designation for the smaller rear-drive platform set to underpin the ATS and the next-gen CTS. The top-dog Caddy, which we've heard about plenty of times over the years, will reportedly receive plenty of Zeta bits, while at the same time using plenty of lightweight materials like aluminum. GMI also speculates that the fifth generation small-block V8 could find its way underhood, though we think powertrain speculation is a bit premature at this time.

The next generation Caddy flagship will reportedly see the light of day between 2015 and 2017, and GMI claims that the model may replace the forthcoming (front-drive based) all-wheel drive XTS. GMI says that its sources claim that current management isn't all that thrilled with how the XTS is shaping up, though we should point out that we haven't heard anything along those lines.

A big, luxurious rear-drive Cadillac sounds plenty good to us, but 2015 is a long way away...

Autoblog