As much work as Cadillac->ke18 has put into creating a solid lineup of luxury cars,->ke505 it has all but forgotten about the ever-popular SUV/->ke145CUV market. With the exception of the 2015 Cadillac Escalade (which dominates its market), Cadillac’s only crossover->ke288 is the well-aged, mid-size->ke1695 2014 Cadillac SRX, and with more automakers – including Lincoln->ke48 – grabbing market shares in the compact->ke140 and subcompact->ke4670 crossover segments, Cadillac is definitely on the outside looking in.

That could all be changing soon, though, as Motor Trend is reporting that GM’s->ke1024 recent announcement of a new product being built at the Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, MI will, in fact, be a new Cadillac crossover. The report source suggests that the unnamed product will have no predecessor and fill an obvious void in the lineup, making it a pretty good likelihood that the new model will slot in beneath the SRX.->ke1735 The only question is whether this new Cadillac will be a compact rival to the 2016 Mercedes GLC-Class or a subcompact rival to the 2015 Mercedes GLA-Class.

Cadillac is also without a three-row crossover, but since the Orion plant builds small cars such as the 2014 Chevrolet Sonic, 2016 Buick Verano and, soon, the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt, chances are the new Caddy will be a small car as well. After the redesigned and renamed replacement for the SRX (called the XT5) debuts, Cadillac will reportedly expand its crossover lineup to include two sub-XT5 crossovers and another one to slot in between the XT5 and the full-size Escalade.

Continue reading for the full story.

Why it matters

The new product will not only be important to Cadillac in providing a much-needed small luxury crossover, but it will also be good for GM as a whole, as it marks a $245 million investment that will add 300 jobs to the Orion plant.

2017 Cadillac XT5

Read our speculative review here.