I’m personally interested in the XT4 not only from a product standpoint, but also in the direction of Cadillac as a whole.
From a product standpoint, I believe that they did the best they could with what they had. Specifically, they couldn’t use Alpha as did not support a crossover… so they took the second-to-next best thing – the E2 architecture (Omega would have been second best) and used it instead. E2 is as capable as they come as far as front-drive architectures go. That said, I do believe that the XT4 will be the quickest vehicle to be brought to market in the history of the “modern” Cadillac by the time it launches. And in that regard, I have to wonder if any corners were cut during the program’s development.
From the standpoint of direction of Cadillac as a brand, I do look forward to the XT4 for various reasons. Now, I don’t believe that a front-drive-based chassis is the ultimate direction that Cadillac wants to go in for reasons mentioned above… hence, this XT4 might be the only one of its kind before switching to a rear-drive architecture for the next-generation (the VSS-R vehicle set). But besides the topic of its foundation/platform, the XT4 should introduce items that we will see across many a Cadillac in the future, including the interior, in-vehicle design, the human-machine interaction (HMI) between the driver/passenger and the infotainment system, as well as the revised Art & Science design language foreshadowed by the Escala concept.
As for the hybrid system: I wonder if the XT4 will take what the Malibu has one step further, and offer a plug-in hybrid solution instead. In other words, a powertrain, like the CT6 PHEV, rather than the Malibu.
Overall, I believe we have a lot to look forward to with the XT4, though I know I won’t be buying one as I prefer a more sporty experience provided by a sedan.
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