Bush to ride in new Cadillac during inauguration

Mon Jan 17, 2005 12:00 AM ET

DETROIT, Jan 17 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will ride down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day in the new Cadillac DTS limousine, giving the first glimpse of the new flagship sedan from General Motors Corp., the automaker said on Monday.

The black presidential limousine is wider, taller and longer than the DTS sedan, but it shows the new sharper-edged styling for the new model, which goes on sale this fall.

Transporting Bush in Thursday's parade will help reinforce Cadillac's image, said Keith Spondike, marketing manager for the DTS and its predecessor, the DeVille.

"It really fits with Cadillac's position of appealing to and transporting high profile people whether it was Elvis in the '50s or high profile stars and officials today," he told Reuters.

GM hopes the new DTS will win back some car buyers who in recent years took to import brands such as Lexus from Toyota Motor Co., Spondike said.

"Many of the them used to drive Cadillacs in the '70s and '80s," he said.

GM will reveal the new DTS at the Chicago Auto Show in early February. The DTS will have a larger, bolder grille, a bigger Cadillac crest than the DeVille, and offer a more responsive ride with reduced road noise and vibrations, said Al Gagne, product manager for the DTS and DeVille.

So THAT's what Al's doing these days! I'll be damned. I knew him when he first appeared as the Assistant Brand Manager for the Escalade at Cadillac. So where's some pictures of the car?

Oh what the hell. I couldn't wait. Here's the article and a picture. I'm not too sure I like it. It kind of looks like an Escalade to me at first glimps.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/NEWSV5/storyV5onbushcar17.htm

U guys beat me to it

Ugly as sin there...hope the real one isnt that bad.
http://www.detnews.com/pix/2005/01/17/asec/a017-cadillac-0106n.jpg

Found some more.....ill reserve full judgement until I see one up close......I hope E&G + Vogue get to this quick....it needs it.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/ascariss/dts01.jpg
http://premium1.uploadit.org/ascariss/dts02.jpg
http://premium1.uploadit.org/ascariss/dts03.jpg

I like the back end, very much, but not crazy 'bout the nose out front. Looks too much like an Escalade-nose job. Not a major change, at all. Similiar to what Lincoln did with the 2003 Town Car over the 1998-2002 Town Cars.

A "Face-Lift" and a "Butt-Lift" with the same tummy

Where is the egg-crate grille?

Jeez, that front is hideous....i like the back though...maybe the DTS with the colr-keyed grille will look better

it does look pretty bad up front... and the rear doesn't look too nice either

To me the front end looks photo-chopped. The grille is ou of proportion with the rest of the fascia. Lighting appears off in the first photo as well.

I'll wait until the official debut.

Where is the egg-crate grille?

What? You MISSED that grille? It couldn't be much bigger!

The car's ugly to me. The front end is too........not sure WHAT to call it. It's just too much of it! The rear looks like a Chevy to me, kind of like a Monte Carlo. Gross!

DAMN !!!

looks like 00-05 will be the best years .....really hateing the nose on this car ...

edit: even worse park it next to a 06 monte carlo and youll never figure out which one is your car from the back

What a shame, the front end looks pretty lame.... I don't like the headlights or the grille, the overhang looks too big as well.
I really hope the regular sedan has better proportions than this frankenstein of a limo. Rear end (and the interior looks) pretty good though.

They better put a warning on that grill......if your hand slips its goin right into the radiator fan...lol

well itll be cheap to replace the grill ....go get one off an escalade !

thats sooooo original GM ....fire the desginer ....did your supplier have a run on escalade grills and you have to find a way to get rid of them ?

you made the car look like beavis laughing at the word "fire"

check it out , the inspiration !!!

the downturned mouth , odd looking headlamps and nasty nose

What? You MISSED that grille? It couldn't be much bigger!


It was too large for me to find out. Now I see. Thank you.

For the life of me, I just can't imagine who could've signed off on that car. It's friggin' UGLY!
Wait a second. Maybe, this is a plan to force a total redesign of the car. If the sales numbers go into the toilet, corporate usually loosens up the purse strings faster. :bonkers:

I think it could have been designed by a pscyology major ...you know when you see a kid in the mall thats so ugly that you have to stare ?

i bet thats why it looks like it does , youll have to stare at it so much that youll be forced to buy it so you can continue to stare at it....

its so ugly if i had to choose between it and a new charger ....ID TAKE THE CHARGER !!!

The more I think about it, I'm getting kinda PO'd.........Listen up GM, if the 06 DTS sedan really looks like this I'm gonna buy something else. We waited so long and this is what we get!?

You know what Katshot, you're right, the butt looks like a Monte.....

Sorry to say but the abotion laws in the country prevent GM from not allowing it to see the light of day .....They didnt relaize it was retarded and stillborn till after the first trimester

I just hope the real thing looks better......I know that the president car is completely different then a real deville but the front and rear look spot on......soon you will see conversion of Escalade to Deville much like the Escalade to H2........wait....isnt that what were seeing now>?

The back looks great. But the front made me throw up in my mouth a little. Was that grille approved by Stevie Wonder or something? I think this is going to be a disaster for Cadillac, and just as they were almost at the top again. I'm glad it's not going to be called Deville. What a shame.

OK, I've stopped dry heaving and have had a few minutes to think about this. Nothing seems right about this car. Besides the fact it is probably will go down as one of the ugliest Cadillacs ever, it doesn't make sense for the White House to get a new limo so soon. If you look back, they buy cars on roughly 10 year intervals. The main reason is the cars are so expensive and take so much time develop that it isn't practical to get a new car every few years. The current car is only about 4 years old.

So this leads to my theory, maybe this is the same limo as the one that debuted in 2001, only updated to look like the new Deville. Maybe Cadillac wanted to cash in on the recent wave of success, so they decided to rush a makeover so it could debut for the inaugaration. Hopefully the production cars will benefit from a few more months of developement and come out looking much better.

I hope to God this is the case anyway, otherwise I'm going to seriously start doubting Cadillac's future.

Good grief you guys,

I'm sure that ugliness or beauty would be the last thing on Mr. Bush's mind if there were bullits impacting the bullit resistant glass. It was designed for that purpose, ya'll should be grateful he didn't go with a Lexus! :D

It's not THAT bad looking. It's a bit off-proportion around the windows because of the thickness of the glass.

For regular Devilles (like the DTS) they should offer a color keyed grille to hide the fact some people don't like the big toothy grin. I think they are going with a BIG GRILLE because of the popularity of the 300's influence in sales.

I'll reserve my opinion for the regular production Devilles until I see one, but for the limo it's not too terrible, but that's because it's a limo. ;)

No, I bet GM acutally paid the gov to use this thing....becuase the gov would not just throw away quarter mill just for a new look.....that doesnt help bush any.

No, I bet GM acutally paid the gov to use this thing....becuase the gov would not just throw away quarter mill just for a new look.....that doesnt help bush any.

If true, at least it didn't cost the taxpayers anything?

Maybe there was upgraded terrorist protection, bullit resistance offered on the '06 that the administration felt was worth having?

Omg this is what happens when you try to make the Deville look reminiscent of a STS and Escalade at the same time! :want:

Id want to see the front head on though to make my final decisions. I do have say though that the rear end reminds me of a Chevrolet Impala.

Everyone calm down, I got some Pepto for those upset stomachs. I found this on Cheersandgears.com. Someone put the limo front on a standard sedan body. If this is any indication as to what the production car will look like, I think we'll be good. Still doesn't change the fact that the limo is ass ugly though.

no, i know how ugly the car will be in normal form and thats what i ment , the presidential limo has to look the way it does ...but theres no excuse for how it will look as a production car

even that chop looks pretty bad......ill reserve FINAL judgement for the real thing but so far im not impressed......damn I hope Lincoln puts the 3V in the Towncar..

I agree with CoupeDevilleRob; turn-off-the-gas! All is not darkness. Let's see the photos from the Chicago show and THEN blog our fingers off. Does anyone know if this new car will be offered in the current 3 versions, or is Cadillac going to kill one off?

So ugly you have to stare :histeric:


DONT WORRY! GM drivetime said the limo only takes some "design cues" from the production car and that the production car will not look exactly the same. :worship:

Like said, Dont forget that that limo is boged down with armor(kinda changes the look).

What was wrong with the other lime he got not to long ago, it is supposed to be the most state of the art in the world. Oh, and how long have they had that Fleetwood! that thing will always be around:p

my god, its like they took the headlights off an XLR and the grille from and escalade, and wheres the DAMN FINS. I miss the fin Tail Lights. the back aint bad, but it aint good either. I hope this is just a photoshop mock up or somthing. if thats the real design I hope they shot the designer!

I think the back and front are boring looking...not pulled off nearly as well as in the CTS/STS/XLR/SRX or Escalade. Something just doesn't look right about it...but we'll see about the production version.