Cadillac still wants a big rear-drive sedan to battle the import flagships

Imagine a Cadillac and you're about as likely to conjure up images of big, rear-drive landyachts of yesteryear as you are to picture the automaker's considerably tauter products of today. But Cadillac has long been rumored to be pondering a return to its classic formula with a new flagship sedan, and those rumors are rounding the mill once again.

This time, word has it that Cadillac is developing a new rear-drive luxury sedan to slot in above the upcoming front-drive XTS in pursuit of territory currently dominated by the likes of the BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Audi A8 and Lexus LS. If and when it does materialize, sources place its launch around 2014. Power would more likely come in the form of a V8 than the 13.6-liter V-16 engine of the 2003 Cadillac Sixteen concept pictured above (though that would no doubt be incredibly awesome), but a hybrid variant could follow.

The new model would be built on a new platform reportedly dubbed 'Omega', but while the architecture would be developed uniquely for the big sedan, a further extension is being muted as a possibility to take on the likes of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Bentley Mulsanne and the Maybach. Far-fetched? Probably. But intriguing nonetheless.

[Source: Car and Driver]