2013 Cadillac Elmiraj Concept At Home In the Desert

YOU HAVE to try harder when you play away from home: so seems to be the approach taken by Cadillac in creating the Elmiraj. Where European brands are cautiously  interpreting consumer trends (viz. the Citroen Cactus concept), Cadillac is sticking resolutely to building concepts from the vision of the designers. Despite sounding like a Dubaian hotel, the four-seat three-box package makes for  a striking first impression thanks to the classical proportions. But what makes it especially attractive is the scale: this is the first time down-sizing has been applied to the D-segment, and it leaves a lasting impression. Suddenly aggressive styling and in-your face grille with lashings of chrome do not seem so ostentatious. If there is a way to convert the currency of pre-crisis cars into more considerate propositions, size is surely it.

The result is a baby Cadillac Sixteen concept. The long nose, flat shoulder-line and vertical corners are all lifted from that seminal concept, while mixing in a mesh-derived grille and significant tuck in-front of the rear wheels. The tuck works well, lightening the flanks and emphasizing the rear track: this is clearly a rear-wheel drive car. The new grille is less convincing, the tooth-like mesh and re-proportioned Cadillac shield taking the face too close to Chevrolet. Pedestrians might have cause to complain too, with the snow-plough plan view.

The interior from Gael Buzyn is framed from the outside by a pillarless chrome trapezium, revealing an IP motif not seen before: a bold plenum within a shadow moat set inside leather. The shape itself is a distortion of the Cadillac shield, containing auxiliary controls, GUI and analogue clock behind the glass. It highlights both the uneasy rectangular touch-screen integration in production cars, plus how the impression of an interior is significantly formed by the air-vents. In dislodging them from their expected location, the Cadillac Elmiraj concept puts this high-value real estate to much better use. 

The Elmiraj will not reach Europe, or indeed production, but it is a sign that General Motors has not given up on the Continent. However, if the current economic stagnation continues, then the Middle East might not such a bad proposition.