这一次并不是通用汽车首次尝试开拓这一领域。早些时候，凯迪拉克曾试图用西马仑（Cimarron）来吸引年轻的购买者，这款车是雪佛兰骑士（Chevrolet Cavalier）的再加工版。此后又推出了凯帝（Catera），它其实算是德国进口的欧宝汽车（Opel）欧米伽（Omega）的乔装改良版。巴特勒对任何把ATS与这些早期车型相提并论的说法嗤之以鼻。他说：“我们可是完全从头开始设计ATS的。”

    通用汽车希望ATS也能在中国市场上找到一席之地。目前中国事业蒸蒸日上的消费者都对德系品牌趋之若鹜。直到现在，凯迪拉克的中型车CTS还是中国市场上的主打车型，但是对中国人来说，它的个头显得太大，价格也有点离谱。布莱格曼称：“ATS搭载了较小的引擎，不会成为中国关税瞄准的对象。”【通用汽车的别克品牌（Buick）在美国人眼中老成持重，颇受老年人青睐，但在中国的势头却格外强劲。】

    通用汽车一直毫不谦虚地称凯迪拉克是“世界的新标准”。现在，依靠这款全新打造、蓄势待发的新车，它终于可以检验一下这个新口号的成色了。

    译者：清远

    This isn't GM's first try. In an earlier era, Cadillac attempted to lure young buyers with the Cadillac Cimarron, a warmed over Chevrolet Cavalier, followed by the Cadillac Catera, a thinly-disguised Opel Omega imported from Germany. Butler dismissed any comparisons to those models as invidious. "We designed ATS from the ground up," he said.

    GM hopes the ATS will also find a market in China, where upwardly mobile consumers have been flocking to the German brands. Until now Cadillac's midsize CTS was the main entry in that market, but it has proved too large for Chinese tastes and pocketbooks. "The ATS with the smaller engine falls below the threshold that would make it subject to a Chinese tariff," said Bragman. (GM's Buick brand, a sleepy favorite of retirees at home, is very strong in China.)

    GM hasn't been shy about proclaiming Cadillac "the new standard of the world." With a fully fleshed out model line up, it can finally begin putting its new motto to the test.