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Cadillac bids farewell to CTS-V Coupe with special edition

With the introduction of the latest Cadillac CTS, we knew it would only be a matter of time before a new CTS-V would come along. Now General Motors has revealed that the next CTS-V will arrive sometime next year, but before it does, the company is sending off the outgoing coupe with a special edition.
For 2015, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe will come in a limited edition of 500 units decked out with a dark grille treatment, satin-finish wheels, red brake calipers and an upgraded cabin. The interior is decked out Recaro seats trimmed in black with red stitching, Midnight Sapele wood trim, metal pedals and a microsuede-trimmed steering wheel and shifter.
Buyers will be able to opt for white, gray or optional black exterior paint, an available sunroof and a six-speed transmission in either manual or automatic configuration. Of course, the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 comes standard with 556 horsepower, as does Magnetic Ride Control and brakes by Brembo. Pricing will be announced closer to launch, but in the mean time, you can read all there is to know by checking out the official release below.

Playboy reveals its 2013 Cars of the Year

Vaunted men's magazine Playboy knows that its readers are nearly as interested in cars as they are in the female anatomy... sorry, we thought we could write that with a straight face. Anyway, the buff-book does occasionally fill some of its spreads with sexy metal, to accent all the rest of the sexiness.
To wit, the magazine has unveiled its feature on the 2013 Cars of the Year. Without giving us much in the way of criteria for the awards, nor a clear framing of the categories ("Responsible Ride" is a particularly challenging concept, especially when you consider that the Mazdaspeed3 was the winner), Playboy has nevertheless highlighted what we assume to be it's favorite 12 or 13 (depending on how you count) cars from the 2013 model year.
Headlining the class is the Porsche 911, which Playboy writers single out for having "remarkable electronic voodoo." BMW M5 is named "Slickest Sports Sedan" though the Cadillac ATS then follows on because "we couldn't resist giving the new Caddy a shout-out." The rest of the picks are pretty conventional (save, perhaps, the Honda Fit EV as "Ace Electric"), even if the categories and methodology are fairly wonky. Cruise through or gallery for a taste or check out the full list, here. The site is safe for work, and you can legitimately (this time) say that you were reading it for the articles.

Cadillac ATS was almost front-wheel drive

"We were going to do a front-wheel drive Cadillac compact off of Delta because it was going to be less expensive," Doug Parks, General Motors' vice president of global product programs, told the Automotive News during the Detroit Auto Show in January of this year. That sentence, referring to early ATS discussions more than five years ago - a period when the automaker, and the industry, was struggling - reveals that Cadillac's highly acclaimed rear-wheel drive compact sedan almost never happened.
Parks revealed that that automaker actually built a 2.0-liter test mule, on GM's Delta platform (shared with the Chevrolet Cruze and Buick Verano) and tested it in Europe. While the prototype was "pretty darn good," according to Parks, the team realized that in order to compete against Mercedes-Benz and BMW it would have to invest in a new rear-wheel drive platform.
The resulting all-new Alpha platform would eventually underpin the Cadillac ATS, and many would argue that its balanced rear-wheel drive chassis is its single most important attribute. Thankfully, the Alpha's goodness won't stop with the ATS. The upcoming 2014 Cadillac CTS and the future Camaro will also share its architecture, meaning the Cimarron will remain a distant memory.