It’s fate is sealed. According to a report by Automotive News, a production version of the Cadillac Ciel isn’t going to happen. The Cadillac Ciel, a four-door convertible, could have been, if perhaps not a four-door drop-top, a long and luxurious ultrapremium head-turner that would match the best Europe has to offer.
Alas, it would seem that the Ciel—which we could see as foreshadowing a Cadillac nomenclature-conforming “CLX”—dies along with an equally over-the-top-of-the-line Cadillac sedan that would be priced, per AN, “well north of $100,000.” The trade paper cites unnamed source who say that engineers working on the übersedan project have been reassigned.
News report originally published in CarBuzzard July 14, 2013
The reason? The halo the sedan wouldn’t shine brightly enough to differentiate it from a large rear-wheel drive sedan already planned to go up against the BMW 7-Series and Audi A8. The new sedan, to be built on a new rear-wheel drive platform called Omega, has a launch date expected for 2016 or 2017, and is well along the way towards production. The new sedan could replace the recently introduced Cadillac XTS or be sold alongside it.
A luxury convertible, something currently not in Cadillac’s expanding lineup, wouldn’t be the first in recent Cadillac history. The defunct Cadillac XLR, priced deliberately at $100,000 as if the price would lend it exclusivity, was a roadster based on the Chevrolet Corvette with the edges rounded off, but sales were disappointing. The XLR’s model run started in 2004, running through 2009.
A new Cadillac convertible still could be possible, however, even with the ultrapremium sedan cancelled, by building it on the new range topper. We wouldn’t mind a convertible based on the XTS, either, or one as a sporty convertible CTS. Cadillac has sedans, coupes and, improbably enough for Cadillac, a station (or sport) wagon. It’s time for Cadillac to go topless.
Well, a boy can dream, can’t he?
Addendum: The Cadillac Ciel rocked the automotive media when it was introduced at the Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance in August, 2011. This Kelly Blue Book report was typical. Alas, for better or worse, the Ciel and the never named sedan that would be required to make financial sense for the four-door convertible would have overlapped with other Cadillacs in the pipeline. It would have been beautiful, Motor Trend told us.
Cadillac has revived the Ciel concept but not the name with another four-place convertible. Can the Cadillac Sollei, (Cadillac describes the Sollei here) or something like it make it into production? Cadillac once made production cars made people dream–they’re called “aspirational”–and the 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz was one.
