We might be running out of cool old cars to render because famed YouTube designer TheSketchMonkey just targeted the 2001 Cadillac Seville with a modernized redesign rendering. That’s right, he imagines what this limo would look like if it were made today, in 2022.
A couple of days ago, we talked about how the CTS completely changed the way Cadillac was viewed. Up until that point, the brand was mostly associated with older buyers who wanted a good American luxury car, large and comfortable.
We know the CTS-V led the brand down a direct warpath with BMW and Mercedes. This, together with new-age sharp design lines created the modern Cadillac brand, which still manufacturers “4-seat Corvettes” like the CT5-V Blackwing. But did you ever stop to think about what was lost in the process?
TheSketchMonkey always does the same things to modernize old cars: bigger wheels, getting rid of pointless trim, door handles, chrome delete and LED lights, sometimes even a diffuser. The same is true here, although he admits that inspiration, as well as some graphical elements, come from the modern CT5 performance sedan.
The Cadillac Seville had as strong a following as the Mustang or Corvette, you might actually see this kind of rendering being built for SEMA. basically, you need a great body man to swap elements from the CT5, including the taillights.
The Seville entered production in 1975 as Cadilac’s smaller luxury car. The name came from the name of a Spanish province, and it had already been used on the Eldorado two-door hardtop.
A FWD Cadillac with a V8
This rendering is based on the 4th and last generation, built between 1998 and 2004 model years. It shared its G platform with the Buick LeSabre, Park Avenue, Cadillac DeVille, Pontiac Bonneville, and Oldsmobile Aurora.
Power came from a 4.6-liter Northstar V8, which at 300 horsepower was one of the most potent fitted to a car with a transverse engine and FWD. Yeah, that’s a pretty weird layout nowadays, but we can’t forget the XTS followed in its footsteps.
The top STS-spec Seville claimed a pretty respectable 0 to 60 mph time of 6.4 seconds. This sedan was Cadillac’s first to be engineered with both left and right-hand drive in mind. The 1998 model was imported into Europe, starting with the United States, then Germany, and so on.
Nowadays, the idea of an FWD Cadillac seems a little repulsive, and the brand doesn’t really work in Europe. But GM probably wouldn’t have known how to compete with BMW and Mercedes without developing the Seville. Its successor was known simply as the STS, and it continued to be sold in China until 2013.
