Throughout most of the 20th century, Cadillac was heralded as one of the best in the business. For many of those years, one of the brand’s most notable slogans was “The Standard of the World”, as virtually every other automaker wanted to build cars like Caddy. Not to mention, everyone who was anyone wanted to own one for themselves. However, once the century began to come to a close, Caddy’s grip on the luxury world began to wane.
By the turn of the Millennium, Cadillac found themselves in a sticky situation. For myriad reasons, folks simply weren’t all that interested in the brand anymore. For decades, Cadillac had coasted through life with decent sales purely due to its esteemed and highly regarded namesake. Once that wore off, it was realized that the brand was in trouble. So, an image revamp was in order, and the Cadillac CTS was the first model to hit the streets that exemplified the newer, fresher, more youthful Cadillac.
Cadillac’s Heyday Was Over
1959 Cadillac Series 62 front three-quarter view in blackClassic.com
We’ve all seen the sensational Caddys of the late 1950s, as well as the impressively gigantic models the brand was churning out in the early to mid 1970s. But, around 1978, General Motors went through a huge change, that being downsizing. It occurred across all of GM’s subsidiaries, and affected virtually every model that wasn’t already a compact or subcompact. Designs changed drastically, became more homogenized across brands, and many folks swear that 1978 was the beginning of the end of Cadillac’s peak.
From that point on, sales steadily declined. In 1981, Cadillac released the infamous 8-6-4 V8 engine, which was one of, if not the worst gasoline engines ever produced by a mass-market American brand. This hurt Caddy’s reputation in a major way for the first time, and it never really recovered. By the 90s, sales had continued to steadily drop, and the models produced were just becoming more and more underwhelming.
The Cadillac Catera, a relic from the days when badge engineering was thought to be a viable business model. It was not.Bring A Trailer
Another issue cropped up around the 90s and into the very early 2000s regarding Cadillac’s customer base. The old-school luxury buyers were simply fading from existence. There weren’t as many of the old guard around anymore to buy up the big, soft land yachts that Cadillac was famous for. At the same time, Caddy’s “new-age” models like the Catera were failing to attract a new generation of buyers. In short, the brand had a ticking time bomb on its hands in the way of financial ruin, with no idea when the fuse would actually run out.
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Caddy Decided To Do Something About It
2005 Cadillac CTS Euro Spec Silver Front Angled ViewCadillac
In the very late 1990s, Cadillac saw its issue and decided to go full-bore into fixing it. A $4 billion investment was greenlit, which was slated to develop an all-new, rear-drive platform for the brand, along with setting a completely new direction for Cadillac’s styling. A concept was created, called the Evoq, and was first shown to the world at the 1999 Detroit Auto Show. All told, the huge cash injection and evocative concept car were meant to reestablish the brand as a dominant luxury marque on the global market.
A pair of designers, Wayne Cherry and Kip Wasenko, penned the first Caddy model to come out of the huge investment, that being the CTS. It was styled as part of Cadillac’s then-new Art and Science design language, and was meant to replace the floundering Catera model. However, instead of the Catera’s awful sales numbers and inability to lower the brand’s average buyer age, the CTS’ first year on the market was a resounding success for the brand, marking a turning point for Cadillac we still feel to this day.
After the CTS had some time under its belt, it was obvious that it had done what it set out to do. Caddy’s average buyer age had been lowered, it had managed to rival the Europeans in a real way for the first time, and it had given Cadillac a new lease on life when it came to finances. From there, Cadillac would build upon the CTS’ “Art and Science” design language for years to come. In fact, even modern Caddys still exemplify some of those design aspects from 23 years ago.
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How The First-Gen CTS Did It
The 2003 Cadillac CTS appeared in numerous films and televisio series.Cadillac
Before the introduction of the CTS, European luxury models were dominating the sales charts in the US, with Cadillac lagging. For example, BMW sold roughly 100,000 units in the US for the 2001 model year while Cadillac managed to shift just under 10,000 Cateras in the same timeframe. However, by 2005, the Cadillac CTS hit roughly 61,512 sold. The 3 Series still outpaced it, with approximately 106,950 sold in the US in ’05, but the CTS was now firmly within the ballpark, not lagging significantly behind.
In order to make the CTS attractive to younger buyers, it needed to look and drive like something from Europe. So, the big, plushy sedans with sofas for seats had to be relegated to the past once and for all. The CTS’ platform, for instance, was the Sigma Platform. It served as the successor to Opel’s V-Platform, and was built for use in both Europe and the US. Its chassis was tighter than virtually any Cadillac had ever seen, and its suspension system was set up for handling, as well as on-road comfort.
2004 Cadillac CTS-V InteriorCadillac
Inside its cabin, the first-gen CTS ditched the old-school folding front bench seats seen in loads of Caddys in the past for a pair of slightly bolstered buckets. A center console was situated between them. Its driving position was described as roomier than some of its European rivals, but still snug enough to make one feel connected to the car and road. However, some still complained, with sources saying taller folks could run into fitment issues in the driver’s seat, especially in the knee area.
A shot of the 2004-2007 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan DashboardCadillac
However, overall, the CTS was leaps and bounds more poised to actually contend with the Europeans than the Catera, and its sales figures showed this to be the case.
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What It Offered
2003 Cadillac CTSCadillac
Under the hood, the CTS sported a 3.2-liter, naturally aspirated V6 engine. Come 2004, its choice of motors was updated to include both a 3.6-liter V6 and a 5.7-liter V8 shared with the Chevrolet Corvette family and used in the high-performance CTS-V version introduced in 2004. By 2005, the original 3.2-liter had been canned in favor of a smaller 2.8-liter six-pot.
You could have either a five-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual gearbox, the latter of which marked the first time a Cadillac offered a stick since the 1988 Cimarron. A six-speed manual swooped in to replace the five-speed, beginning in 2005.
First-Gen Cadillac CTS
3.2L NA V6
2.8L NA V6
3.6L NA V6
Power
220 hp
210 hp
255 hp
Torque
220 lb-ft
194 lb-ft
252 lb-ft
0-60 mph
7.1 seconds
7.8 seconds
6.5 seconds
Production Timeframe
2003–2005
2005–2007
2004–2007
Curb Weight
3,509–3,568 lbs
*Specs courtesy of Cadillac & MotorWeek
The sole drivetrain option was rear-wheel drive, and its suspension system was fully independent, consisting of a double-wishbone setup on the front axle, and a multi-link rear. Two suspension packages were available, the base being a soft-tuned “FE1” package and the optional upgrade being the sport-tuned “FE3” package.
The CTS Was Cadillac’s Saving Grace
2005 Cadillac CTS Euro Spec Silver Rear Angled ViewCadillac
We may look back at the original “Art and Science”-inspired Cadillac CTS with modern scrutiny, saying things like “it was designed with a ruler” and so-on, but the fact of the matter is, it helped reverse Cadillac’s decline. Before the CTS, the brand was on the brink of an identity collapse, which very well could have been followed by something worse, like a total discontinuation of the brand.
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However, the CTS managed to secure Cadillac’s place in the modern luxury market, something that it had struggled to do since virtually the start of its decline in the late 1970s. For that alone, we have to thank the boxy first-gen CTS. Plus, the CTS-V was pretty cool, too.
Sources: Cadillac, GM, BMW, GoodCarBadCar.net, Cadillac Owners Forum, MotorWeek.
