Cadillac’s new XT5 goes on sale next month, priced from $39,990.
It’s just the first of a trio of new crossovers Cadillac is planning, with the next to be a compact model. This compact crossover will bow sometime in 2018 and be followed later that year or possibly in early 2019 by a large crossover with third-row seats.
Previously, a Cadillac executive made comments that suggested the three-row crossover would be based on Cadillac’s rear-wheel-drive Omega platform currently found in the CT6. However, Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen has confirmed to Automotive News (subscription required) that the three-row crossover will use a stretched version of the platform found in the XT5.
“It's one of the benefits of having this very flexible architecture,” de Nysschen is quoted as saying. “We can expand it, make it longer and wider.”
The XT5’s platform, referred to internally as C1XX, is similar to the E2XX platform used in latest mid-size car models from General Motors Company [NYSE:GM]. It features native front-wheel drive and also appears in the latest GMC Acadia.
In addition to underpinning the Cadillac three-row crossover, the stretched version of the C1XX platform is expected to appear in next-generation versions of the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse. These will appear before Cadillac’s three-row crossover, most likely sometime in 2017.
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