The Cadillac CT6, the company's range-topping sedan and spiritual successor to the iconic Fleetwood, will be discontinued in January 2020. A highly anticipated vehicle that should have revived Cadillac's presence on the full-size luxury, the CT6 leaves the scene after only four years in production. Although the discontinuation can also be attributed to the fact that General Motors is retooling its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant for electric vehicle production, the CT6 was a disappointment sales-wise, with less than 40,000 units sold since its introduction.

Big Fuss, Small Success

Marketed as a big breakthrough and the car that will put Cadillac back on the full-size luxury map, the CT6 is one of the most expensive vehicles the company has created. GM's premium division invested million upon millions in the CT6 and used it to debut several technologies, like the rear camera mirror and Super Cruise. What's more, the Omega platform is exclusive to this car, so every single penny that went into its development is pretty much lost. The same goes for the Blackwing V-8 engine that debuted into the CT6-V at the 2018 New York Auto Show.

Despite all these investments and efforts, the CT6 wasn't as successful as Cadillac hoped. GM sold only 9,169 units in 2016, while 2017 became the sedan's best year with 10,542 examples. Sales dropped to 9,668 in 2018 and things won't get better in 2019 with only 5,675 units sold until September. In less than three years, monthly CT6 sales dropped from almost 1,300 units to less than 600. That's as much as the XTS managed in 2017 and 2018, before being discontinued in 2019 after seven years on the market.

For reference, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, one of the CT6's biggest competitors, moves more than 15,000 units per year since 2014.

Cadillac has yet to say whether the CT6 will have a successor or not, but it could be replaced by an electric sedan at some point in the future.

The Chevrolet Impala Is Getting the Axe too

Alongside the CT6, GM will also discontinue the Chevrolet Impala, built at the same plant. The last Impala will roll off the production line on February 2020, 21 years since the nameplate has been revived for the third time. By axing the Impala, Chevrolet phases out an iconic nameplate that goes back to 1957.