America, say hello to the $75,000 Chinese Cadillac
Even though the CT-6 Hybrid's styling, performance, luxury amenities, and technology are immensely impressive, many will over look those attributes.
Instead, the focus will be on its place on birth - China.
While non-hybrid versions of the CT-6 sedan are assembled by the good people of Michigan at GM's Detroit Hamtramck plant, the new Plug-in Hybrid will be produced at GM's Shanghai production facility.
The decision to base production of the CT-6 hybrid in China is rooted in pragmatism. More specifically, most of the CT-6 hybrids built will remain in China for local consumption. As a result, it makes much more sense to build the cars where the majority will be sold. This saves on shipping and allows GM to take advantage of lower labor costs in China.
In China, the CT-6 and large luxury sedans, in general, remain incredibly popular. However, in large metropolitan markets, such as Shanghai, where China's wealth lies and air pollution is a major problem. As a result, local government have taken measures to curb the number of cars on the road. To do so, they make it very difficult to register new cars that aren't hybrid or battery-electric.
These days, General Motors and its Cadillac luxury brand are true global entities with Tuesday's announcement serving as a striking reminder of this reality.
In case you were wondering, here are CT-6 Plug-In Hybrid's impressive stats.
The big Caddy is powered by 2.0 liter, turbocharged, inline-four-cylinder engine mated to a pair of electric motors - each producing 100 horsepower. In total, the hybrid-electric drive system produces 335 horsepower and can propel the CT-6 to 60mph in an estimated 5.2 seconds. In total, the CT-6 hybrid can go 400 miles between fill ups with 30 miles of range in electric only mode. The whole system is expected to return 62 MPGe of fuel economy.
The 2017 Cadillac CT-6 Plug-In Hybrid arrives in the US next spring with a starting price of $75,095.