Cadillac CT5 shoots for younger clientele with updated look, tech

DETROIT — Cadillac hopes to attract younger buyers to the CT5 midsize sedan with updated exterior styling and the addition of more technology features.

The luxury brand revealed the 2025 CT5 on Wednesday at the Detroit auto show, highlighting design and lighting cues drawn from across the Cadillac lineup, as well as a larger interior screen and more standard safety features.

The freshened CT5 will enter production next spring at General Motors' Lansing Grand River assembly plant in Michigan. Pricing was not disclosed.

GM's luxury brand continues to refine its lineup of gasoline-powered vehicles even as it begins the transition to an all-electric portfolio by 2030.

"There's a strong today for CT5 and there's still an upcoming strong tomorrow for CT5," John Roth, vice president of global Cadillac, told reporters.

"We're in pretty good shape to address the changes in the marketplace, and that flexibility that we have here at GM as well as Cadillac overall — that gives us an advantage in the marketplace to meet the customers where they are," he said.

Roth said the CT5 is having its best-ever sales year globally. Cadillac's retail sedan sales are up 23 percent in the U.S., he said, with the CT5 up 36 percent year to date. Retail sales rose nearly 71 percent last month, marking the CT5's best August on record, he added. Total U.S. sales for the car rose 33 percent in the first half of the year, to 9,989 vehicles.

Since being introduced in 2019, the CT5 has logged more than 50,000 sales in the U.S., according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. Its best year was 2022, with 15,896 cars sold.

So far this year, the CT5 ranks third among midsize luxury sedans, behind the Lexus ES and the BMW 5 series.

Cadillac said details about the updated CT5-V and CT5-V Blackwing performance versions will be disclosed later.

Blackwing models are bringing younger customers into Cadillac showrooms. The average age of an Escalade full-size SUV buyer is now 46, Roth said, compared with an average age of 55 for the brand and about 62 for the CT5, according to Cadillac.

The CT5's facelift and extra technology will "draw on a young and exciting audience," said Alex MacDonald, the car's chief engineer.

Designers stretched out the grille so it's lower and wider, while incorporating Cadillac's vertical lighting features.

"We enhanced the operation of the rear taillamps, but we focused a lot of the updates with the front of the vehicle, with the wider grille, the updated headlamps with the choreography in them, and really brought more of a digital edge to some of those features," said Candice Willett, Cadillac's design manager for digital experiences.

New for 2025 is a customizable 33-inch infotainment touchscreen that curves in front of the driver.

Google built-in technology, available 5G wireless hotspot capability and standard blind zone steering assist and intersection automatic emergency braking also are new, as are two exterior color offerings — Deep Space Metallic and Typhoon Metallic.

Traffic sign recognition and intelligent speed assist are also available, Cadillac said, as are Super Cruise, GM's hands-free driver-assist technology, and a driver attention assist feature.

The CT5 will continue to be offered in rear-wheel drive with a standard 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine generating 237 hp and 258 pound-feet of torque. An optional 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 engine produces 335 hp and 405 pound-feet of torque. Both are paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission. All-wheel drive is available.