This appears to be the year for the resurgence of the luxury supercar, with storied names from Rolls Royce to Maybach being reinvented for the modern market for consumers able to pony up US$200,000 and more.
BMW, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen had already showed off the new Maybachs, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini prior to the Detroit auto show which opened to the media Sunday.
Late Sunday, General Motors unveiled its superluxury concept car -- the Cadillac Sixteen -- at the Detroit Opera House.
The sleek rear-wheel-drive sedan boasts a V16-powered engine offering a whopping 1000-horsepower -- with the massive engine housed in a hood composed of a pair of gull wings.
Designed to go head-to-head with the new Rolls Royce, Bentley and Maybach super-luxury vehicles, the Cadillac Sixteen is still a concept at this stage.
But it provides a glimpse of the brand's direction, both stylistically and performance-wise, according to Bob Lutz, the company's vice chairman.
The brand has shown a recent pattern of introducing performance-oriented, rear-wheel-drive vehicles such as the XLR roadster and CTS sedan. Sixteen picks up on that theme and takes it to the supercar level.
"Sixteen is a harbinger of this new [Cadillac] era," Lutz said in a speech at the Detroit Opera House. The ultra-luxury car is a big step for a brand oft-seen as conservative, and Lutz said it is a sign that GM is committed to putting relevant engineering on the road.
The concept would, however, carry a pricetag similar to Rolls Royce and Bentley, with estimates exceeding US$250,000. GM officials gave no indication the vehicle will be built, though Lutz said the company is studying the business case of taking Cadillac so far upmarket.
"In this business you have to be an optimist," said Giuseppe Greco CEO of Lamborghini.
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