Cadillac CT6 on GM's Do-Not-Discard List After All
Cadillac’s CT6 flagship sedan may not be dead after all. GM President Mark Reuss and Cadillac chief Steve Carlisle told Automotive News this week that the company is looking at alternatives to build the CT6 when production ends in June at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck, Mich., plant.
Those include moving it to another plant here or importing it from China, where it continues to be built, though Carlisle told reporters that China “would be the least preferred option.” That’s understandable given the political uncertainty regarding a trade war with China and tariffs. Also, negotiations on a new GM contract with the United Auto Workers begin in the summer and a sore point with the UAW has been that GM already is importing the Buick Envision from China for the U.S. market.
GM announced in November that it would halt production at several plants as part of a $6 billion cost-cutting plan and would ax the cars built at those plants in the wake of U.S. buyers’ shift from cars to SUVs and trucks. On the hit list are the Chevrolet Impala, Cruze and Volt, and the Buick LaCrosse — but apparently not the CT6, even as the Hamtramck plant is shuttered.
The CT6 had been more of a head-scratcher since it just got a mid-cycle refresh for 2019. And it also just opened preorders for the limited-edition CT6-V performance model with a 550-horsepower Blackwing V-8 that’s due out later this year. (All 275 copies for the U.S. were snapped up within hours. The CT6 also has been a tech showcase for the Cadillac brand for new features such as the Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving technology.
Related: A Cadillac CT6 Drove Us to the Airport … Well, Most of the Way
Carlisle and Reuss told reporters that the CT6 never was meant to be lumped with the other cars being eliminated, but that it was not made clear when the cost-cutting plan was announced. Carlisle said CT6 production will be on the table in GM’s negotiations with the UAW to replace the current four-year labor contract that expires in September.
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