Cadillac Is Killing The Charismatic ATS, And We’re Gutted

The really rather likeable Cadillac ATS is sadly set to meet the executioner’s axe almost immediately, as the brand looks to grow its SUV offering and streamline its car range – albeit not as brutally as Ford has just done.

The four-door ATS will be culled at the end of this year, leaving the two-door coupe to enjoy one final year in the limelight before meeting its end the same way. The larger CTS is also being binned to make way for more profitable vehicles.

Cadillac is directly replacing the ATS, which was criticised for a cramped rear passenger area and its complex touch-screen controls, and the CTS with one model, sized somewhere between the two as part of a three-model range of traditional cars. Meanwhile, the SUV offering will expand.

Our biggest miss will be the ATS-V, the 185mph, twin-turbo V6-powered M3-basher with 455bhp and 445lb ft of bicep. It could whip the 0-60mph sprint into line in just 3.9 seconds and it drove well enough to give C63 buyers something hard to think about – or, at least, it should have.

Not even its titanium con-rods, motorsport-derived engine lubrication system or magnetorheological dampers were enough to convince Europe that it was a serious choice.

Manual versions even had a no-lift shift function, while automatics boasted launch control. Brembo stoppers hauled the car up through Michelin Pilot Super Sport rubber. It was, and is, a seriously good piece of kit. We’re gutted to see it go.