Cadillac’s Ciel concept convertible highlights the future of Cadillac design and hints at a potential flagship model, the brand’s design boss said. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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The four-seat, all-wheel-drive Ciel — French for “sky” and pronounced see-EL’ — sits on a 125-inch wheelbase, about 12 inches longer than the CTS sedan and nearly the same as the Mercedes-Benz S500.
“We wouldn’t be showing it if we didn’t have any intentions of doing anything with it,” said Cadillac global design director Clay Dean after the Ciel’s debut here at the Concours d’Elegance classic car show.
GM executives long have felt that its luxury brand needs a big halo vehicle to truly compete with the top-range offerings of rivals, such as the BMW 7-series and Mercedes-Benz S-class sedans.
Yet development of a Cadillac flagship has ebbed and flowed for much of the last decade, ever since the V-16-powered Cadillac Sixteen concept wowed onlookers at the 2003 Detroit auto show.
Dean said the Ciel was conceived as a dramatic imagining of what the luxury car customer might want from a large flagship car.
