Cadillac’s Lansing Grand River Plant Receives Investment For Next-Gen Sedan Production

Cadillac and its parent, General Motors Company, have invested $175 million into the Lansing Grand River assembly plant to produce next-generation Cadillac sedans, and installation of new tooling at the factory has already commenced, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Currently, Lansing Grand River assembles the Cadillac ATS and CTS lines, as well as the Chevrolet Camaro, which rides on the same Alpha platform. With the imminent discontinuation of the Cadillac ATS Sedan, the facility will soon be retooled for their replacements, the first of which is expected to be the Cadillac CT5, while the second model will wear either the CT4 or CT3 name.

A Cadillac CT5 prototype is photographed undergoing testing in June 2018

The CT5 will indirectly replace the ATS and CTS lines, as it straddles the compact and midsize segments. Meanwhile, the CT3 or CT4 will indirectly replace the ATS while also touching the subcompact space. With the upcoming discontinuation of the XTS (after the 2019 model year), the CT6 will be Cadillac’s largest sedan offering before a true flagship sedan arrives in the in the 2020-2022 calendar year range.

2019 Cadillac XT4 is the first model of Cadillac’s product offensive, which calls for the launch of a new model every six months

The retooling of the Cadillac Lansing Grand River plant comes just in time for the Cadillac product offensive, which involves launching a new Cadillac vehicle every six months. The effort starts this year with the 2019 XT4 and 2019 CT6 refresh. They are expected to be followed by the aforementioned CT5 sedan, XT6 large crossover, all-new 2020 Escalade, and the previously-referenced CT3 or CT4. Another model could be a coupe and possibly a convertible variant of the CT5, one more crossover either above the XT6 or below the XT4, or another vehicle type entirely.

The strategy was put into place by previous Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen who left the company in April. From what we’ve come to understand, newly-appointed Cadillac chief, Steve Carlisle, will continue with the strategy set out by de Nysschen.