When you really think of it, wagons are like the sushi of cars: many are disgusted by the sole thought of such a vehicle, while others are enamored to the point of no return. And when it comes to Cadillac, wagons are something truly special thanks to one vehicle: the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon, and its high-performance variant – the CTS-V Wagon.
As we write this, it has been over six years since the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon was discontinued. Even so, the model – derived from the second-generation Cadillac CTS Sedan – continues to enjoy cult-like status to this very day. Yet despite all that interest and passion, Caddy’s Sport Wagon didn’t materialize into sales.
It was for that reason that Cadillac decided against offering the third-generation CTS in a five-door body, and it’s also why neither the new Cadillac CT4 and the Cadillac CT5 offer wagon derivatives. Even so, the topic of a wagon has sprung up internally at Cadillac.
During a recent appearance on Autoline After Hours, Cadillac chief engineer, Brandon Vivian, said that he and his colleagues have considered offering a Cadillac CT5 wagon.
“So, I will tell you I’ve been looking at that many, many, many times,” Vivian said when asked if there is a business case for a Cadillac CT5 wagon. “We continue to look for opportunities to make money and I will continue to do that.”
“So nothing to announce right now but certainly when you see the enthusiasm of our customers and our V-Club members, there is an absolute fanaticism around the V wagons and wagons in general and you know, because of that, we continue to study a future variant.”
Cadillac Society even rendered a CT5 Wagon last year that – to us – looked quite appealing. However, according to our intel, there currently are no development projects involving a wagon at Cadillac, specifically due to a lack of a viable business plan for such a model.
Indeed, offering a wagon isn’t all that critical now that Cadillac has completed the rollout of its crossover portfolio that consists of the XT4, XT5 and XT6. However, a crossover is no sport wagon, especially when it comes to Cadillac’s current batch of CUVs, which offer very little in the form of sporting driving dynamics. Unfortunately, things will remain this way for the current generation of the XT# models, as Cadillac has no plans for a high-performance XT5 or XT6. The same holds true for a more spirited version of the XT4.
Bottom line: even though Cadillac will continue to explore opportunities related to a wagon body style, we wouldn’t get our hopes up of such a vehicle actually coming to market. We’ll continue following this topic and report any further developments as they arise, so be sure to subscribe to Cadillac Society for more Cadillac CT5 news and around-the-clock Cadillac news coverage.
Greg
Honestly, I think the CT4 would make a nicer looking wagon. Moot though.
RichOne
Either the CT5 Wagon or CT4 Wagon would look good–the design should reflect the evolution of the beauty of the former CTS Wagon. Just build it! There could even be an all-wheel-drive variant with slightly higher ground clearance, reminiscent of the Audi All-Road Wagon, but Cadillac would of course, also feature the standard Wagon and V-Sport Wagon models (with the lower stance)–rounding out the variants of whatever model they choose to make as a Wagon body style.
Jim
Amen.
Geoff
Step 1: Build CT5 Wagon
Step 2: Call it a CUV
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit
Raymond Ramirez
Why not? Ford will offer a Fusion Wagon soon. I remember the huge wagons of the 1970’s, especially the Buick Estate wagon.
Johnny Ola
Last I heard. Ford is going to only offer the Fusion car. I checked their website. The only thing they show that remotely resembles a sport wagon is a 2021 four door electric Mustang.
Yes the wagons of days gone by were great. Mostly bought by the same crowd of soccer moms that buy the vans of today.
Mike Hartman
Yeah, I know wagons don’t sell. Uhhuh. I’ll be first in line to buy. After living within the wagon realm for close to 50 years, if they don’t sell then why were there so many sold thru the decades? Anyway, whether people like them or not, which many do, lets built that CadWag!!
John Ola
Station wagon? Really now? With the growing popularity of SUV’s and Crossovers, station wagons became dinosaurs. Does anyone still produce station wagons?
Alex Luft
1. We’re talking about sport wagons, not station wagons. Station wagons is what your mom drove. Sport wagons are much cooler.
2. Does anyone else makes wagons? Yes, namely BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Subaru, and Volvo “still” offer wagons in the U.S. market. Despite not selling in huge numbers, many of these models have a cult-like following. The European market is a whole different ball game, with many more wagons and hatches being offered, from brands like Peugeot, Opel-Vauxhall, Citroen, Renault, and others. Every German vehicle line is offered in wagon form in Europe.
3. One can think of crossovers as a stupid variation of a wagon. Whereas a wagon has the superior driving dynamics of a sedan with the added usability of more cargo space, a crossover has worse driving dynamics, worse fuel economy, and pretty much worse everything (compared to a wagon). So maybe it’s really the crossover that’s the dinosaur, eh?
Johnny Ola
You can’t be serious!
1-A station wagon by any other name is still a station wagon.
2-Note all the brands you mention are mostly European, which has a completely different demographic then American buyers. Takes more then a cult following to stay in business. If it was profitable for Cadillac, why did they stop producing them. To me this is just another desperate attempt for Cadillac to reinvent themselves.
3-Crossover a stupid variation of a wagon? I don’t think so. I believe GM was the first to offer, and spent a lot of money to introduce the concept of a crossover. The initially signed Tiger Woods to introduce their Rendezvous. They defined a crossover as a combination and convenience of a sedan, suv, and van.
Sounds like you really don’t have that much experience with Crossovers.
Cadillac has a long list of failures i.e. Allante when they try to go off in a different direction.
Alex Luft
Oh I am serious.
1. “A station wagon by any other name is still a station wagon.”
By that line of stupid thinking, the 2014 CTS-V Wagon is the same as the Chevrolet Classic Station wagon. Riiight.
2. Exactly, brands that offer wagons ARE European. The Cadillac of today is a challenger in the luxury car space, so its goal is to attract buyers from brands that are currently NOT Cadillac customers. Offering a product to those customers as an alternative to the European brands they are currently buying sounds like a good way to start attracting those customers.
Nobody said anything about profitability, or lack there of.
3. Exactly. A crossover is a higher-riding wagon that tries to be an SUV, but isn’t… and that tries to be a car, and isn’t. Note that this a factual representation of how a crossover came to be… it’s not saying anything qualitative about crossovers.
Don’t you worry about my experience with crossovers, it’s plentiful. I’d recommend thinking about the fact that Cadillac’s current XT# crossover lineup does not have a single sporty, high-performance variant in it – and will not have such a variant, as first reported here at Cadillac Society. That white space that would be filled very well by a wagon variant of the CT5 or CT4.
Re Allante: are you one of those people that bashes risk taking? If we were all to follow that line of thinking, then we would all be riding horses for transportation today.
Johnny Ola
1-Chevy or no one else in the GM line makes a station wagon. Cadillac will be a stand alone model. If GM wants to bring back a station wagon. I think it might make more sense to do it with a Chevy.
I do take risks. Plenty of risks. I have been just about fully invested in the stock market for 40 years and very successful if I might say so myself. I only take calculated risks. Appears to me that the powers to be at Cadillac aren’t that good at taking risks. They have been all over the place trying to find their niche.
2-Cadillac has been a losing challenger for many decades. They brought it upon themselves by offering inferior products.
3-A crossover was brought to market to be a vehicle for all people. In that regard. They have been extremely successful. So successful that the American manufacturers are offering more crossovers in their line then passenger cars. Even Cadillac has 3 different models.
Alex Luft
Cadillac doesn’t take risks today because of the direction of GM in the areas of EV and AV. Every vehicle line needs to return a profit, and if it doesn’t, then it simply gets cut. The reason for that is that GM elected (for good measure) to do EV and AV alone (instead of partnering with someone else). It’s more expensive this way, but the reward is also greater.
Because of that, GM can no longer “carry” low-profit or even unprofitable models for the sake of offering a complete lineup, because it would much rather take that money and invest it into EVs and AVs – which present a bigger opportunity in the future. So it’s not so much about not taking risks as it is about business requirements.
There isn’t really anything wrong with crossovers, though I would argue the ideology behind them… that’s a discussion for another time, however. The point is that none of Cadillac’s current crossovers offer anything sporty or exciting – a void that a CT5-derived wagon can certainly fill.
Johnny Ola
Do perspective Cadillac buyers that want a sport Cadillac, want it in the form of a station wagon. I won’t hold my breath waiting to see a Cadillac station wagon as a pace car or entered in any Grand Prix racing events. Just too many sporty cars available and at much lower prices.
anonymous guest
This guy’s artwork made it to another site a week or so ago. More kammback/fastback than wagon. It might be worth a post.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/40167739/Cadillac-Emerald-Concept
Janalese
My CTS AWD wagon is starting to age…
Bring back the wagon! I love the damn car and don’t want to have to downgrade to the Buick TourX.