A panel of 49 journalists gave this honor to the new Cadillac ATS that was revealed last year.

This is a pretty impressive entry for Cadillac, a brand that is working hard to rebuild its image.

Things are heating up again between the General and the Blue Oval as GM CEO Akerson takes a hard swipe at the slumping Lincoln brand. GM must be very confident in the new Cadillac models coming very soon and flat out unimpressed on the new Lincoln’s coming to showroom floors. It’s time both brands look at targeting the real sales leaders in the luxury market and at this point I have to say the new Cadillac XTS and ATS are good starts.

From Auto Blog:

“They are trying like hell to resurrect Lincoln. Well, I might as well tell you, you might as well sprinkle holy water. It’s over.”

So says General Motors CEO Dan Akerson, speaking to reporters from The Detroit News. Fightin’ words to be sure, though it seems the suits at Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand that competes with Cadillac here in the United States, have declined to comment on Akerson’s statement.

The dismissal of the Lincoln brand seems especially interesting given Akerson’s reported take on the current state of Cadillac. Akerson is said to believe that Cadillac isn’t yet where it needs to be, saying the brand needs another 12 to 24 months of gestation. By that time, there ought to be bookends to the current CTS in place in the form of the ATS (smaller) and XTS (larger, replacing the STS and DTS).

Still, Akerson doesn’t expect to “blow the doors off” Cadillac’s competition, saying instead that “they will be very competitive.” We’d think Caddy would be aiming squarely at something more like “class leading,” but what do we know?

Read the full article.

As Cadillac keeps working to gain traction against the imports Lincoln continues to fall further behind of everyone in the California luxury market. The numbers are clear and Lincoln needs a rear wheel drive platform more than ever but still no word on when this is going to happen. Cadillac is still behind the likes of Mercedes and BMW but with new offerings like the sleek and nimble Cadillac ATS that brand has a real change to increase sales for the General. Either way at some point Cadillac and especially Lincoln need to break out in the luxury market soon or it will start getting much harder to build any momentum.

From CNN.Com:

FORTUNE — Cadillac and Lincoln are two of America’s most storied car brands, with more than 200 years of automotive history between them. But in the country’s largest and highest profile luxury car market — California — they are regularly trounced by Europe’s upscale automakers and even the Japanese. Both domestic brands are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to catch up, but they have a long way to go.

Spend some time cruising the eight-lane freeways of Southern California as I did recently, and you will find yourself surrounded by fleets of Mercedes-Benz’s and BMW’s, sprinkled with an assortment of Audi sports cars, Range Rover SUVs, Jaguar sedans, and Porsches. These are mostly high-trim models, too, with AMG and M-sport badges in abundance. Black is the favored color. The Cadillac Escalade appears to be the most favored domestic offering — popular with hotel shuttle services — but you search in vain for a Cadillac CTS or any passenger car with a Lincoln’s in-your-face bow-wave grille.

Check out the full article!

Cadillac is poised to announce the all new ATS which debuts a new 3.6-liter V6, a 2.5-liter four cylinder, and a new-generation 2.0-liter turbocharged Ecotec four that can reach 270 horsepower. That is really impressive for a 2.0 4 cylinder and I have a feeling that the 2.0T is going to be a popular choice with Cadillac customers.

From AutoGuide.com:

While a relaxed, naturally aspirated V6 and a fuel efficient inline-four comes as no surprise, the new 2.0 turbo caught our attention. The high-performance, direct-injection 2.0 turbo is tuned to produce 270-hp. Translating to 135-hp/liter, GM boasts that its power dense engine has greater horsepower per liter than the BMW M3, Porsche 911 GTS, or Lamborghini Aventador (although these are all lack forced induction). Most importantly, the turbo 4-cylinder ATS packs 30-hp more than the turbo 4-cylinder found in the 2012 BMW 328i.

GM powertrain officials noted that the 2.0T Ecotec found in the ATS is 95 percent brand new compared to the 2.0T found in the Buick Regal GS. The new 2.0T features direct-injection, four-valves/cylinder with continuously variable valve timing, twin-scroll turbocharger with air-to-air intercooler, forged steel crankshaft with modular balance shaft system, and a two-stage variable displacement oil pump with jet-spray piston cooling.

From Media.GM.com:

“This engine is the perfect match for the new ATS, which will be a refined performance luxury sedan,” said Don Butler, Cadillac vice president of Global Marketing. “The 2.0T has an exceptionally smooth and responsive power curve that will make the ATS nimble, quick and fun to drive.”

The new 2.0T highlights a broad engine lineup that will power the ATS which is slated to begin production next summer. Cadillac will also offer a normally aspirated 2.5L four cylinder engine and a 3.6L V-6 engine in the ATS.

The 2.0T builds on the advanced-technology heritage of previous GM turbo engines with features that enhance efficiency, durability and refinement.

Cadillac is poised to start 2012 with a bang. Two all new models are slated to bring the fight to their German competition on all fronts. First, is the XTS, the DTS and STS replacement. The largest Caddy will be built off of the Buick Lacrosse platform and be front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.

The second one, however, is much more exciting. Bench-marking the BMW 3-series, the ATS is the smallest Cadillac and is poised bring more driving excitement to the lineup. Previous 3-series competitors have fallen a tad flat, such as the Catera, but Cadillac really did their homework on this one.

One model pleases traditional Cadillac customers while the other sets to make an impression on lifelong BMW customers. For the first time in a long time, Cadillac has a fully loaded arsenal of models to compete with. And both are made in the U.S.A.