Cadillac

The Cadillac CT6 (short for Cadillac Touring 6)^[3] is a full-size luxury car manufactured by Cadillac starting in 2016 over two generations.

The first generation CT6 was introduced at the 2015 New York International Auto Show^[4][5] and went on sale in the U.S. in March 2016. It is the first car to adopt the brand's revised naming strategy,^[6] as well as the first rear-wheel drive full-size Cadillac sedan since the Fleetwood was discontinued in 1996. In 2020, the CT6 was discontinued in the United States.

The second generation CT6 made its public debut in May 2023, and is exclusively sold in China.

The first-generation CT6 is built on a different platform than the smaller CTS and is engineered as a rear-wheel drive vehicle with optional all-wheel drive. In addition to its primary markets of North America and China, the CT6 was also offered in Europe, South Korea, Japan, and the Middle East.^[13]

General Motors discontinued the assembly of the Cadillac CT6 in the US in February 2020 due to poor sales and retooling of the Detroit/Hamtramck facility for electric vehicle production, beginning with the new GMC Hummer EV.

The CT6 is longer and wider than the XTS and offers more interior volume.^[15] It uses a mix of steel and aluminum, making it lighter than other cars in its size class. It was brought to market initially as an addition to, not a replacement for, the XTS, which has since been discontinued. Cadillac anticipated the CT6 would serve as a temporary flagship for the marque until a larger, more luxurious sedan would be marketed as the CT8.^[16] However, the CT8 did not come to fruition, and the CT6 remained the brand's flagship sedan.^[17]

For the American market, the CT6 was manufactured at GM's Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant.^[1] On March 11, 2016, the first CT6 delivery took place, having been delivered to the winner of a 2015 auction for the first CT6 sold. The vehicle sold for $200,000 at the auction. The car was "Platinum" trim level and painted Stellar Black Metallic.^[18]

The CT6 was offered in four trim levels: standard, Luxury, Premium Luxury, and Platinum.^[19][20][21] For the 2019 model year, the base (standard) trim was renamed Luxury, and a Sport trim was added, along with the CT6-V.^[22] There were nine exterior colors offered for the first year, and nine different interior packages, all featuring leather seats, with two reserved for the Platinum trim.^[19]

Standard CT6 features include the second generation CUE system, 4G LTE connectivity, and a Bose audio system: base models were equipped with an 8-speaker Bose system, which was upgraded to a Bose Centerpoint 10 speaker system included with the "Luxury" and "Premium Luxury" package, or a 34-speaker Bose Panaray audio system included with the top level "Platinum" package. Cadillac once again offers the Enhanced Night Vision which previously had been discontinued in 2004 with the DeVille. Available equipment includes Adaptive Cruise Control, as well as Magnetic Ride Control coupled with accident avoidance technologies. New with the CT6 is the Rear Camera Mirror, which uses streaming video from a camera that displays within the rear view mirror, which provides an enhanced view without obstructions from the "C-pillar" and passengers sitting in the rear area.^[23][24][25] The front seats can be adjusted 14 different ways, with an optional 16- or 20-way adjustment package that includes heated and cooled seat with a massage feature for both front and rear passengers. Another option package provides rear seat passengers with retractable 10" LCD screens that rise out from the back of the front seat seatbacks, behind the front seat headrests; these monitors can play Blu-ray content from user-supplied portable devices, and were introduced on the Cadillac Escala concept car.

The CT6 was initially available with a choice of three engines, a 4-cylinder 2.0-liter turbo (a first for a full-size Cadillac) and two V6 engines, a 3.6-liter and a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged offering 404 hp (301 kW; 410 PS) and 400 lb⋅ft (542 N⋅m) together with cylinder deactivation.^[36] Four-cylinder models of the CT6 have rear-wheel drive, while six- and eight-cylinder models have all-wheel drive.^[37] The version sold in China has RWD with the four-cylinder turbo engine.

A Voltec-based hybrid model was added for the 2017 model year, supplementing the 2.0 L LTG turbo-four with two electric traction motor/generators. It was discontinued after the 2018 model year.^[35]

The 4.2-liter twin-turbo 'Blackwing' V8 engine was made available for the 2019 and 2020 models making 550 hp (410 kW) for the CT6-V model and 500 hp (373 kW) for other models with the Platinum trim. Torque for both engines is 640 and 574 lb⋅ft (868 and 778 N⋅m) respectively.^[39][40] This is the most sophisticated V8 engine ever made by General Motors. It reportedly cost GM about $20,000 each to produce this engine. Production of the 4.2TT Blackwing models were limited with CT6-V totals of 504 (2019) and 411 (2020) while the Platinum totals were 168 (2019) and 117 (2020). Badging for the 2019 and 2020 CT6-V is the stylized Cadillac "V" on the trunk while the Platinum trunk badging is 4.2TT for 2019 models and 800T for 2020 models.

The CT6 line comes with one of three audio systems designed by Bose Corporation: an 8-speaker Bose Premium Sound System, a 10-speaker Bose Centerpoint Surround-Sound System,^[41] or the top-of-the-line 34-speaker Bose Panaray Surround-Sound System, which processes stereo audio into Surround Sound using Bose's automotive sound system technologies, as well as technologies from its Panaray line of professional speakers; typical Dolby or DTS surround modes are not available. The Panaray name is a portmanteau of "panoramic" and "array"; the system consists of 34 speakers mounted in 19 separate locations in the car, including ones mounted in the front seat headrests, as well as a motorized center-channel speaker that rises from the center of the instrument panel. During the development process, one of the prototypes presented by Bose called for 49 speakers.^[42] Most of the drivers are less than 4 in (100 mm) in diameter;^[43] there are four amplifiers, with a combined output of 570 watts.^[44] In a review, Car and Driver called it "powerful and sure to dazzle neophytes" but added it was "lacking in detail and separation compared with the best in-car audio".^[45]

The CT6 uses a digital display embedded in the interior rear-view mirror showing output from the rear-view camera, which allows the driver to easily see what is behind them. This is the first vehicle to offer a rear-view camera display over the entire rear-view mirror surface. It has a resolution of 1280 × 240, and was developed in partnership with Gentex Corporation.^[46][47]

Starting in 2017, GM Super Cruise became available for semi-autonomous highway driving. It is part of a US$5,000 option package on CT6's Premium Luxury model and is standard on the top-of-the-line Platinum. Super Cruise sensors include an array of exterior cameras to detect lane markings and provide a 360-degree view of the vehicle's surroundings, a high-accuracy global positioning system receiver, and a driver-facing camera with infrared emitters to monitor driver engagement. The system was designed to operate in a geofenced area, which initially consisted of 160,000 mi (260,000 km) of limited-access roads that Ushr, Inc. had mapped for GM with LIDAR.^[48][49]

To engage Super Cruise, the driver must first engage the Adaptive Cruise Control system in the CT6. Once the system has satisfied the prerequisites (visible lane markings, driver paying sufficient attention, driving on a limited-access freeway, no system faults), a white steering wheel icon will illuminate in the upper right corner of the speedometer display to alert the driver that Super Cruise is available. If the Teen Driver mode is active or Forward Automatic Braking is off, Super Cruise is not available. Engaging the Super Cruise button will turn that icon green, indicating that Super Cruise is active. In addition, the "steering wheel light bar" on the upper rim of the steering wheel will illuminate in green.^[50]: 4 If the light bar and speedometer indicator is blue, that indicates the system has detected manual steering. These also are used to alert the driver when the system decides the driver is not paying attention: first flashing the light bar in green as a first warning, then progressing to flashing red and changing the dashboard indicator to red for the second and third warnings when the driver needs to take control immediately.