Cadillac BLS Wagon: the lowdown
What does a fledgling brand like Cadillac do when it needs to expand its range in Europe? Simple. It nabs a compact exec estate from sister firm Saab, swaps the badge and some styling details, and hey presto – the new Caddy BLS Wagon. The small estate will arrive in autumn 2007 costing around £21,500. Although Cadillac is relatively new to the European market, it has never sold a wagon in its 104-year history anywhere in the world.
So what’s different from the Saab estate?
The BLS Wagon has the unmissable Caddy egg-crate grille, more perpendicular headlights, and the upright rear lights that have come to characterise the US brand; you won’t mistake it for anything other than a Saab-derived special, though. Especially when you look at the spec sheet and spot three familiar turbocharged petrols and one turbodiesel: • 173bhp 2.0 petrol turbo • 207bhp 2.0 petrol turbo • 252bhp 2.8 V6 petrol • 148bhp 1.9 diesel Although Cadillac hasn’t released any interior pictures yet, it will obviously mimic the existing BLS saloon’s. Its 9-3 lineage suggests 419 litres load capacity day to day, or 1273 with the rear seats flopped down. Prices and equipment will be confirmed later this year, but we know the Caddy will have a Bose sound system, DVD sat-nav with touch-screen control and a Bluetooth phone system.