Cadillac CTS History
The angular rear-drive sport sedan (2003–2019) that relaunched Cadillac as a credible BMW rival — home of the CTS-V.
Photo: “2006 Cadillac CTS Sport Luxury Automatic 3.6 Front” by Vauxford / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 16:9.
History
The CTS launched for 2003 as the first car of Cadillac's edgy 'Art and Science' era, a rear-wheel-drive sport sedan on the new Sigma platform that signaled the brand's revival as a maker of genuine driver's cars to take on BMW and Mercedes.
Across three generations the CTS expanded into a coupe and a sport wagon and won wide acclaim — the second generation was Motor Trend's 2008 Car of the Year. Its halo was the supercharged CTS-V, which by its third generation packed a 640-hp 6.2-liter LT4 V8 (the Corvette Z06 engine).
The CTS ended production in 2019 and was effectively replaced by the smaller CT5 (and CT4), as Cadillac shifted to its alphanumeric 'CT' sedan naming.
Generations
First generation · Sigma
Photo: “2006 Cadillac CTS Sport Luxury Automatic 3.6 Front” by Vauxford / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 16:9.
The original rear-drive Art-and-Science sedan; the 2004 CTS-V brought a Corvette-derived V8 and the model's performance halo.
2005 Photo: “2005 Cadillac CTS in Sand Storm, front left, 2024-11-14” by Elise240SX / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 16:9.
2006 Photo: “2006 Cadillac CTS Sport Luxury Automatic 3.6 Front” by Vauxford / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 16:9.
Second generation · Sigma II
Photo: “2008 cadillac cts NAIAS” by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sydtron / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain. Cropped to 16:9.
Motor Trend's 2008 Car of the Year; added coupe and wagon body styles and a 556-hp supercharged CTS-V.
2008 Photo: “2008 cadillac cts NAIAS” by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sydtron / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain. Cropped to 16:9.
2012 Photo: “12 Cadillac CTS 3.0L” by HJUdall / Wikimedia Commons — CC0 1.0. Cropped to 16:9.
Third generation · Alpha
Photo: “2019 Cadillac CTS-V Base, front left” by HJUdall / Wikimedia Commons — CC0 1.0. Cropped to 16:9.
Longer, lighter sedan on the Alpha platform; the 2016+ CTS-V used the 640-hp LT4 supercharged V8 from the Corvette Z06.
2014 Photo: “14 Cadillac CTS 2.0T Performance Collection” by HJUdall / Wikimedia Commons — CC0 1.0. Cropped to 16:9.
2019 Photo: “2019 Cadillac CTS-V Base, front left” by HJUdall / Wikimedia Commons — CC0 1.0. Cropped to 16:9.
Body styles
- Sedan
- Coupe
- Wagon
Notable special editions & performance variants
CTS-V
The supercharged V8 super-sedan (also offered as coupe and wagon); the final 2016–2019 sedan made 640 hp.
Related models
Collect the nameplate
Find a scale model of the Cadillac CTS
Search Amazon across available years, colors, and scales. Exact releases vary, so confirm the listing before ordering.