It's listed as an STS, but it looks like a CTS to me.

http://www.edmunds.com/future/2005/c...+STS+4dr+Sedan

 

It's definatly a lot bigger than a CTS but it has a lot of simalarities too. I hope the production version is lower than that, it looks like it is jacked up.

 

Assuming this "mule" reflects the proportions of the post-Lutz lowered design, it makes me wonder just how tall looking the cancelled 2004 Seville was going to be?

In any case, the current CTS is a very tall car itself, with an exceptionally high belt-line. I never realized how high sitting a CTS was until I saw one at the parking lot at work. It makes me wonder if the platform wasn't designed around the demands of the SRX crossover - lots of suspension travel. The Ford Five Hundred shares the tallboy look. Is this just fashion, or is it engineering neccessity now that every carmaker is spinning SUVs off sedan chassis?

Of course, this begs the question of why GM bothered with a SLA front suspension when a high cowl was part of the Sigma architecture - they might as well have fitted cheaper structs, like BMW. The Sigma failed to make the cut as the future "universal RWD platform" for Holden, the XLR roadster, and even the F5 Camaro on grounds of cost. Has Cadillac's "design leadership" on Sigma turned this platform into an expensive pink elephant?

Ford screwed up production costs by overengineering MN-12 and DEW-98, and it looks like GM did the same thing with Sigma. Ford backtracked on the 2005 Mustang because the standard DEW-98 wasn't an economically viable base for the new car - which now has started to look like another carryover, on paper at least. Now, GM has had to come up with the carried over VE-platform to cure its Sigma own woes.

 

I think there are some differences between the CTS and the camo'ed car.
The camo'ed car looks to have a sleeker winshield, a more convex rear-end, and the hood line is definately lower than the CTS'.

 

Looks like a CTS to me. Maybe V-Series?

Chris

 

Yep, that is the new STS!
Take a look at an "un-camo'ed" pic:
http://www.5thgencamaro.com/dan/huh2.jpg

 

Where'd you get that?

 

Think of the STS as a CTS....with an engine compartment large enough to fit a Northstar.

 

Damn Ted! You're good!