Cadillac Catera

Cadillac Catera (1996-1999)

The Cadillac Catera was a vehicle of the upper middle class and the entry level model of Cadillac, the luxury brand of General Motors. He was not a stand-alone model, but a variant of the Opel Omega B with standard luxury fittings.

In the 1990s could no longer live alone by his big cars also a manufacturer of luxury cars like Cadillac. The expansion of the program to a middle-class model was a necessity. With the takeover of Opel Omega General Motors wanted to keep development costs low; also hoped to better made ​​with a car designed and built in Germany against the competition from Mercedes -Benz and BMW.

The Catera was produced in Rüsselsheim, together with the Omega and exported as a complete car in the United States. It was introduced in the summer of 1996, only two years after the start of production of the Omega B. It gave him exclusively with the 3000cc big V6 petrol engine. The power was 200 hp (147 kW) indicated in America, while the European version of 211 hp (155 kW) was strong.

Around the same time in the summer of 1999, the Catera as the Omega B was slightly revised.

From the American auto reviewers in the Catera was well received, but it was not a sales success. The typical Cadillac buyer expected a bigger car and succeeded Cadillac also not significantly, Mercedes and BMW buyers poach with the Catera.

In autumn 2001, the Catera was again removed from the market, while the Omega was further built by mid-2003.

After about half a year's break appeared as successor in March 2002, the Cadillac CTS. Now, Cadillac had yet decided to build a separate model for the North American market.