The Most Exciting Car at the Detroit Auto Show

by Brett Berk - Vanity Fair - January 9, 2012

Cadillac's latest gem, the ATS sedan, emerges at its unveling

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Reflecting a resurgent optimism in the automotive industry, a surfeit of slaver-worthy vehicles are receiving their world premieres at this year’s North American International Auto Show, which opens to the public this weekend at Detroit’s COBO Center. BMW is showing its newest benchmark sports sedan, the 3-Series, Mercedes is unveiling the latest in its six decade-long line of grand touring roadsters in the new SL550, and Bentley is launching an “efficient” twin-turbo V-8 in its new Continental GT. Lexus and Acura are both introducing sinewy hybrid sports cars which will hopefully expunge their brand’s current bland and/or ludicrous styling language. Chevy and Ford are each set to reveal their most powerful pony cars ever, a 580 horsepower Camaro and a 650 (!) horsepower Mustang. And even Dodge has a slick new compact, the Dart, based on a platform borrowed from Alfa Romeo via their shared corporate overlord, Fiat.

But the car we are most excited about was just unmasked last night by our beloved Wreath-and-Crest brand, the one named for the weird-hatted French explorer/adventurer who founded our host (and home) city of Detroit. That’s right, ladies: it’s a Cadillac. This classy domestic manufacturer has made a remarkable comeback over the past decade, creating vehicles like the CTS coupe, sedan, and wagon that can go heel to toe with the best medium-sized vehicles from Japan and Germany, all while styled in a distinct and distinctly American sport/luxury idiom.

But Caddy hasn’t had a competitive entry-level car since…well, probably since the LaSalle, an elegant sub-brand hatched during the heady days of the roaring 20s. All that changed last night at the historic Argonaut Building—a Art Deco pile designed by famed industrial architect Albert Kahn, and listed on the National Register—when the sheets were pulled off the newest, and smallest, Cadillac, the ATS. Advancing the creasy poignard edge of the brand’s “Arts and Science” design style, but pulling the lines down and tucking them taut in a way that’s more Danish Modern than High Bauhaus, the ATS looks at once balanced and audacious, and every bit a contemporary Cadillac.


Inside, we see the usual posh leather, metals, wood, and fabrics frescoed on every surface. But there in the middle of the console—glowing like the 5000 candlepower bulb in the Manistee Lighthouse due west of namesake Cadillac, Michigan—is the bright new Cadillac User Experience (CUE). This iPad-like control center operates an advanced infotainment system that—based on our hands-on, one-on-one demonstration (with a handsome engineer)—promises to be an exceptional and transparent interface, in a market crowded with illogical and occluded ones.

We’re also revved about what’s under the hood and…whatever part of the car the transmission underpins. What we mean is, there will be an all-new, high-output, and highly efficient four cylinder turbocharged engine pumping out as much power (270 hp) to the rear wheels as the old V-6 in the CTS’s bay, and a real slick stick shift to direct its forward (and backward) progress.

When we conducted our first ever VF.com car review back in 2008, it was of then newly refreshed CTS sedan. We adored that vehicle—and still do—and even thought about buying one, but wished it was “8/10th the size and 2/10th more involved.” We think the ATS might be just that car, and then some. We look forward to putting it through our rigorous evaluation protocol when it enters our vector this coming summer. For now, we’re just content to caress it with our mind.