First Spin 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe

The car nobody quite expected--not even some people at the division that builds it--has become a reality. The 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe goes on sale in early August in a choice of rear- or all-wheel-drive configurations, to be followed soon after by a high-performance V model.

The coupe rounds out what has become a full series of available CTS body styles, accompanying the 4-door sedan and wagon that are already on the market. It started as a designer's sketch that got passed around until now-retired General Motors product "czar" Bob Lutz saw it. He decreed that it should be built as a concept to display at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. The exterior of the production CTS Coupe is an almost-exact copy of the show car, which garnered "Most Significant Concept Vehicle" laurels in the '08 North American Concept Vehicle of the Year competition.

If anything in particular stood in the way of moving the 2-door CTS from design studio to dealerships, it was a belief that the market for coupes was "dead." Indeed, it is Cadillac's first coupe offering since the 2002 Eldorado.

Posted in Cadillac , Future Cars