Cadillac CTS Coupe

I have been critisizing the design of Cadillac CTS for years.

It is simply ugly and just it does not look impressive.
People says it is because of high gas price…. but still people by Mercedes S class.

This it the coupe version… what’ a hell…. I guess GM designers really like Toyota Prius or something.

This laxury coupe looks like Prius to me.

It is thick, tall, long front overhang, tail is unnaturally lifted up…. it is just ugly….

1. First thing I did was… modified the angle of B-Pillar which is tilting forward.
This is extremely important for coupe as I talked in Acura NSX.

2. Then, the waist line is too high and side windows are too small. This is typical for
modern Cadillac and it is creating funny interior space.

3. Front and Rear windscreens are lifted up. Again this is typical for modern Cadillac
and badly spoil the space utility.

4. Lower down the rear boot and bumper which looks ugly and restrict rear vision.

5. Doors are looking dull and flat… it just makes it look fat.

6. Americans are bad at designing RWD. Long front overhang make it look like
FWD and completely spoils whole design.

That was how things were moved and this is the result….

Isn’t it much better?  The overall length hasn’t changed.

I really don’t like the interior of CTS. It is just unnatural.

1. Huge front windscreen is nearly touching on my forhead.
2. Waist line is too high and side windows are too small.

3. Rear windscreen touches to head of rear passengers.

4. High rear boot restrict rear vision.

As usual, all I did was, make the interior space more natural and it dramatically improve the body design as well.

Spending over $50,000 and the what you get is the ugly body design and cramped interior… what’s the point?

2014 Cadillac CTS

Photos of 2014 New Cadillac CTS were revealed yesterday.

First of all, they are getting rid of ugly “Art & Science” line. That is a good thing!! I don’t understand why they kept using that ugly toy like design for a decade to ruin their own reputation.

At least those rounder lines looks more sophisticated….but at the same time it looks like mixture of Mercedes and BMW essence…….

When you see the rear view, it looks more like Cadillac XTS.  At least it is better than current CTS.

What about front?

Huge grills and tiny headlamps at the corners….do they know the word “harmony”???

To do design, most important thin is harmony.
In this case, the huge grill attract all my vision and can’t see anything else….or other parts looks quite week.

If they want to use that kind of grill, they will need more accent on the tail lamps as well.

This is how I did modification by using Adobe Photosphop.

I made the grill smaller and made the headlights wider instead to balance.

Also big difference is…..I had to reduce the height of the front mask.

I wonder why modern designers like “thick face”…..???  It is OK to do it if they know what they are doing.

Look at Rolls Royce…not the latest one.

When they use huge grill like it, they will have to think of headlights and bumpers, but they did not have enough time for it.

I want to tell all the car designers

If you are not sure what you are doing….go back to basic!!

Also they are trying to follow international standard, but following BMW or Mercedes does not mean to be answer for Cadillac.

People who want something like BMW will buy BMW. They won’t go for Cadillac eventhougth they were slightly cheaper.

Cadillac has to have something which BMW does not have if they really want to sell outside of North America.

They used to have it…but not anymore. They are just too busy to copy BMW and got rid of their own culture.

For Luxury cars, most important thing is their own cultural background. Cadillac has 110 years of history and culture which Lexus does not have. But now, they just look like downgraded BMW or Lexus.

Perhaps….like me, people who feel something special to the name of “Cadillac” are already old generation……

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Car Design….Cadillac CTS…cheap & ugly LEGO toy

Cadillac CTS…….the top selling Cadillac today. At least they say the average age of Caddy owner has come down to 50s compare to a decade ago, it was about 70yo.

This means Caddy’s attracting younger buyers rather than people in retirement home in Florida.

What’s an aggressive face! It is going to scare old people away!

Is it beautiful? Is it elegant? Is it luxurious? Is it spacious…..?………The answer is “No”.

Last 10 years, Caddy has been trying to deny their 100 years of history, then trying to be more like Lexus, Acura or something. Actually, it looks more like “LEGO” toys.
Angler like Lego toy, narrow and cramped…….I don’t see any item to show it “Beautiful”

Look at the how bad the proportion is…….the widest part of this car is front fenders…..compere to that, see how narrow the cabin is……..that is why this car looks extremely small for the actual size of the body. It reduce the interior space significantly as well.

I am only 5.8 tall and 120lb….then, I am still feeling it cramped.

Cadillac CTS………..Length :191.6 in  Width : 72.5 in  Height: 58 in

  Lexus ES ………….Length: 191.1    Width: 71.5       Height: 57.1

It is amazing !! Lexus ES is a smaller car !! Which do you think is roomier or more luxurious?

The crisp lines designed by ruler, cramped & uncomfortable interior, and expensive…….Do you want to buy it?

I’d say “No way!”

This is what I modified by Adobe Photoshop. Cabin Width has been expanded. That will expand space especially around passenger’s shoulder to elbow which is extremely important to create comfortable cabin space..That also expanded the Width between headlights.

Although I hate the shape of headlights, it looks wider and more stable as well.

Grill has been a little bit pulled up as well because I did not like the position of the original.It is the same on the rear shape. Vertical tail lamps look good with wide body width…..but with the narrow width like CTS, it makes it look narrower.

This one reminds me Honda Prelude from early 90’s. But remember, CTS is a Luxury sedan, not a sporty coupe. It is exactly the same as the front view.

Again, for the rear fenders….the widest part, the cabin width is way too narrow.

For this image, I expanded the width of the Cabin and the width or luggage space. That also expanded the width between tail lights as well. What I can say is…..

Designers didn’t know how to design within the limited size.

Old days, American people did not know how to design small cars because they did not have to worry about the size at all. But it was 4 decades ago and they still haven’t learned small cars design yet.  Bigger than Lexus ES or BMW 5 series, but CTS looks much  smaller, cheaper and also has cramped interior. That is mainly because of the wrong proportion as I explained in this topic. There are so many things to do for Cadillac, but first thing they have to learn is……again “Right Proportion”.

Also they need a bit better finish for every exterior items. It just looks like cheap ugly custom car.