Cadillac with its new Urban Luxury Concept drove home the point that “Luxury is also possible with small cars”. By entering the niche segment of luxury small cars, Cadillac wishes to re-establish itself as a world-standard. The Urban Luxury Concept was introduced at the L.A.Auto Show. It is a design study to create a new type of vehicle which is extensively luxurious in spite of its diminutive size and Cadillac hopes to do this through good design features and technology.
Clay Dean, director of GM North American advanced design and Cadillac’s brand champion says that ‘The Cadillac Urban Luxury Concept’ celebrates its scale with intelligent, innovative content that makes it unique regardless of its size. The birth of this concept was fuelled by the tight and confined parking areas available in the Los Angeles area. It comes as an answer to the prayers of all metropolitan car drivers who wish for a compact yet comfortable car.
The Urban Luxury Concept plans to stay away from the conventional design of small cars. It would be a four seater with scissors type doors that can extend outward and rotate forward to open. The passenger area is quite spacious which is made possible by the exquisite materials and the next generation interactive technology. Touch pad screens and projected readouts replace the traditional gauges, thus helping to increase passenger space.
A new hybrid propulsion system has been developed for the Cadillac Urban Luxury concept. This system uses a turbo charged 1.0L three cylinder engine with the following features
Electric assist technology,
Engine start-stop function,
Brake energy regeneration and
Dry dual-clutch transmission
By combining the above mentioned technology the new concept can achieve an unbelievable mileage of 56mph in the city and 65 mph on the highway.
The doors will be opened at the push of a button thus providing effortless entry and exit in cramped parking places in the city. A lot of thought and effort has gone into designing the looks of this Cadillac. It has a sharp profile with sweeping body lines that suggest perpetual motion. It has 19-inch wheels and they are placed at the edges of the body creating more space inside the car. The car has a wheel base of 97.1 inches whereas the overall length is only 151 inches.
The interiors are also designed in a way to create an illusion of space. A proper blend of refined colors and lighting gives the desired luxury feel along with the technological advancements provided inside the car. The front door passenger seat has the option of sliding and reclining, to enable a more comfortable and a relaxing posture. More space is created at the front side by replacing the conventional controls with a digital interface. There is a capacitive multi touch switch which provides for seamless and intuitive electronic control.
The touch pads and controls are ergonomically placed to ensure maximum comfort and minimum distraction to the driver while driving. A passenger also has the option to request destination directions and integrate audio playlists into the driver controls. An advanced voice recognition interaction allows the driver to attend to more duties in the car without compromising on his attention on the road.
As unbelievable as this concept may be, if it becomes a reality, the small luxurious cars are sure to rule the Auto world.
Source: topspeed
