The CT6 is a luxury four-door sedan produced by the luxurious Cadillac brand. The CT6, short for Cadillac Touring 6, started production in January 2016 and made headlines by being the first rear-wheel drive Cadillac full-size sedan since the mid-1990s.
Unlike the smaller CTS, the CT6 was built on a brand-new, larger platform. The Cadillac CT6 was ready for a worldwide premiere upon release, with the Middle East, Japan, Europe, China, and North America as its focus markets. But what happened with the Cadillac CT6? Are they still in production? Here is everything you need to know about the history of this car, and where you can still find one today.
A Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid charging | Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A full-size luxury Cadillac
The very first Cadillac CT6 was unveiled at the 2015 New York Auto Show. This 2016 CT6 was built to bring the full-size luxury executive car back to Cadillac, which was once a brand known exclusively for these full-size luxury cars.
This Cadillac was built with care. Instead of just designing a new car to be built on an existing platform, a brand new platform was developed called the Omega platform, which was designed exclusively for the CT6.
The CT6 rolled off the assembly line with four different engine options available, including a 2.0L turbo four-cylinder engine producing 269 horsepower, a 3.0L twin-turbo V6, producing 409 horsepower, and a 3.6L V6 producing 340 horsepower.
All of these engine options came paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission, with four-cylinder models coming standard with rear-wheel drive, and all six-cylinder models coming equipped with all-wheel drive.
As the CT6 continued production, a 4.2L V8 engine was introduced for the 2019 model year, producing up to 550 horsepower, which was paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission. This was a Cadillac that meant business, and its goal was to attract older Cadillac buyers with its size, and younger Cadillac buyers with its raw power and swagger.
The CT6 fails to find buyers
According to Car and Driver, the Cadillac CT6 failed to stand up to the fierce competition found in the segment. For its initial year of production in 2016, the Cadillac CT6 was only able to sell around 9,169 units, and that was one of its better years.
For 2019, only 7,951 units were sold, which pales in comparison to the Cadillac XT5 crossover, which sold around 50,000 units in the same year. Production for the US market ended in 2020 with only 3,117 units sold in its final year.
This Cadillac that was supposed to bring back the American executive luxury sedan failed to sell more than 41,000 units in its five years of production.
The Cadillac CT6 flourishes overseas
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While the Cadillac CT6 was ultimately a huge failure for the US market, this full-size luxury Cadillac continues production and sales overseas in China. The original CT6 plant in Detriot, Michigan has since been revamped to produce EV and hybrid technology vehicles. Meanwhile, the Shanghai GM plant where the CT6 is currently being produced is busier than ever, producing and selling around 20,000 Cadillac CT6 models per year.
While the Cadillac CT6 never caught on in America, GM’s flagship sedan continues to sell well overseas in China where full-size luxury cars are still seen as desirable vehicles. If you want a brand new CT6, you may be out of luck unless you plan a trip to China, but there are still plenty of used CT6 models to choose from in the States.
Keyword: Looking for a 2021 Cadillac CT6? You Won’t Find One in the U.S.