Cadillac to launch smaller CT4 sedan soon after CT5

Cadillac will offer a new small sedan called the CT4 at some point soon.

That’s according to Cadillac President Steven Carlisle, who confirmed the news for Automotive News. Carlisle didn’t elaborate, but the car will slot in below the CT5 expected to debut next month at the New York International Auto Show. The confirmation brings some clarity to the speculation surrounding the automaker’s plans as the market shifts from sedans to crossovers and SUVs.

Some analysts had predicted that dwindingly demand for sedans would prompt Cadillac to offer the CT5 as a replacement for its midsize CTS and compact ATS, but Carlisle’s comments make it clear the company will offer a sedan for each market segment. The CT4, CT5, and CT6 will replace the ATS, CTS and XTS. GM already has confirmed that it will continue building the CT6, at least through January 2020, dispelling rumors that it would discontinue the model upon idling the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant this summer.

If the CT5 is any indication, the CT4 will continue Cadillac’s move away from the angular “art and science” design language toward the smoother, sleeker shapes presaged by the Escala concept and the CT6’s updated front end. GM wouldn’t confirm it, but the conventional wisdom says the CT4 will be based on a the CT5’s Alpha platform and built alongside that car at GM’s factory in Lansing, Michigan.

The two sedans mark the latest steps in Cadillac’s plan to revamp its entire lineup. The plan calls for introducing new or redesigned models every six months for the next two years.