Seville Replacement, To Be Unveiled at New York Auto Show

DETROIT April 4, 2004; John Porretto writing for the AP reported that General Motors Corp. is ready to unveil the latest addition to its beefed-up premium Cadillac brand: a luxury performance sedan that replaces the Seville.

GM is scheduled to introduce the 2005 Cadillac STS on Wednesday during media preview days at the New York International Auto Show.

The STS will be available with a 255-horsepower V-6 engine and rear-wheel drive, or a 320-horsepower V-8 with either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive. It's slated to reach showrooms in the fourth quarter of the year with a price tag starting at slightly above $40,000.

The car's features include a heated steering wheel and seats, a surround-sound audio system with 15 speakers and adaptive cruise control, which automatically adjusts the vehicle's speed to maintain a steady distance from vehicles ahead.

The STS will be Cadillac's eighth new vehicle since 2001, part of an aggressive, $4 billion makeover of the upscale line that was America's best-selling premium brand from 1950 until 1998.

New offerings also include the XLR roadster and SRX mid-size crossover utility vehicle.

When GM launched the Cadillac turnaround in 2001, prior-year sales were 46 percent below their peak in 1978.

Last year, however, Cadillac business rose 8.2 percent on the sale of 216,090 vehicles. That was ahead of traditional cross-town rival Lincoln, the Ford Motor Co. division, but lagging foreign luxury brands such as Lexus and BMW, according to Autodata Corp.

So far this year Cadillac sales are up 10.6 percent from a year ago and some analysts have taken a more bullish view of GM given the number of new vehicles coming from Cadillac and other brands.