LOS ANGELES – Cadillac showed its new 2013-MY XTS during one of the first press conferences of the day at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Nov. 16. The company said the vehicle is positioned “directly above” the CTS family in the Cadillac brand lineup, and that the sedan features a range of advanced technologies designed to provide more efficient performance in a luxury vehicle. The XTS is also the first Cadillac vehicle to launch with the company’s new CUE infotainment and connected vehicle system. The new vehicle will begin production in spring of 2012.

Performance

Under the hood, the XTS offers the direct-injection LFX 3.6L V-6. The engine is rated at up to 300 horsepower and 264 lb. ft. of torque. The all-wheel-drive model (which is standard) features fuel economy of 17 mpg city, 27 mpg highway. The front-wheel-drive model gets 17 city, 28 highway.

Cadillac stated that lightweight features help reduce the vehicle’s overall weight for greater efficiency and a more favorable front-to-rear weight balance. One example is a composite intake manifold that weighs 5.5 lbs. less than a comparable aluminum intake manifold. The LFX engine is mated to a Hydra-Matic 6T70 six-speed automatic transmission with tap-shift control.

The vehicle features a Haldex all-wheel-drive system with electronically controlled limited-slip differential, the automaker’s Magnetic Ride Control, rear air suspension, HiPer Strut front suspension and Brembo brakes as standard features. Magnetic ride control uses electronically controlled shocks that are filled with a magneto-rheological fluid that contains tiny iron particles, which align under a magnetic charge to provide resistance.

Exterior

GM’s Cadillac brand described the new vehicle as having “multidimensional exterior and interior elements, including the grille, headlamps, and new use of accent lighting.” The XTS comes with 19-inch wheels as standard and offers available 20-inch wheels.

Interior

Inside, the Cadillac provides 39 inches of headroom in the front and 37 in the back, 40 inches of rear legroom, seats five, and offers 18 cubic feet of storage space in the trunk. GM said the vehicle has a spacious interior in an efficient package.

The Cadillac CUE (Cadillac User Experience) system provides a configurable interface on an 8-inch screen in the center stack. Cadillac said CUE features capacitive-touch control with proximity sensing, gesture recognition, and natural voice recognition. An available option on the XTS is the 12.3-inch (312 mm) reconfigurable cluster. XTS also comes with OnStar as standard.

Safety

The XTS’ new safety system uses what GM calls a “control and alert” strategy. The vehicle’s systems are designed to alert drivers to potential issues and will employ varying types of alerts, depending on the feature. The Safety Alert Seat feature, for example, will vibrate either the left or right side of the driver’s seat cushion, depending on where the potential safety concern is relative to the vehicle. The safety features that will automatically intervene, if necessary, includes Automatic Collision Preparation, which will take over if the driver does not react to previous alerts.

The XTS offers two safety packages, Enhanced Safety Strategy (ESS) I and ESS II.

ESS I includes the following:

• Lane Departure Warning

• Forward Collision Alert

• Safety Alert Seat

• Side Blind Zone Alert

• Rear Cross Traffic Alert

• Reflected LED display

ESS II includes all of ESS I’s content plus the following:

• Head-up display (in color)

• Front and Rear Automatic Brake

• Adaptive Cruise Control

• Automatic Collision Preparation