Cadillac CTS AWD Coupe is AutoBild Allroad Car of the Year
Sport coupe with sophisticated AWD system favored by readers in import category
The readers of German motoring magazine AutoBild Allrad have selected the Cadillac CTS All-Wheel-Drive Coupe Car of the Year in the import category of the sports car/coupe/convertible segment.
The Cadillac CTS AWD Coupe was chosen selected over competitors that included the Nissan GT-R, Lamborghini Gallardo, Bentley Continental GT and Alfa Romeo Brera Q4. Wolfgang Schubert, managing director of Cadillac Europe, received the prize from Dr. Hans Hamer, managing director of Axel Springer Auto Verlag, and Bernhard Weinbacher, editor-in-chief of AutoBild Allrad, in Frankfurt’s trendy Klassikstadt.
“I am very happy to see that the new presence of Cadillac on the European marketplace has been noticed and appreciated,” Schubert said.
The CTS Coupe was introduced in Europe in autumn 2010. Its distinctive design and sports-car performance make it the highest-profile model of the new Cadillac European line-up. The standard CTS Coupe powertrain consists of a 229 kW/311 hp direct-injected 3.6L V-6 engine and six-speed manual transmission.
The all-wheel-drive option has bolstered the CTS Coupe’s performance credentials in Europe. The CTS all-wheel drive system automatically and smoothly delivers all-wheel drive operation as required by driving conditions through computer controls and patented modulating clutch. Information is interpreted by the vehicle’s computer system, which adjusts the amount of power delivered to the front wheels up to 50 times per second. The system is fully compatible with the anti-lock braking system, or ABS.
The CTS AWD system has been designed to work in harmony with StabiliTrak, Cadillac’s electronic stability control system, to minimize brake intervention and improve vehicle traction and handling on dry, wet, icy and snowy road conditions. For driving on dry roads, the torque distribution is roughly 25/75 front/rear. Up to 100 percent of available torque is delivered to the front wheels while driving on slippery road surfaces. The limited-slip differential further enhances traction and stability.
More than 40 percent of all Cadillacs are sold with AWD in Europe. In Switzerland and Austria, AWD sales exceed 70 percent.
