Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan has spoken: The Cadillac ATS and the Ram 1500 are the car and truck of 2013.
Phelan says the ATS sport sedan is a watershed vehicle for Cadillac and a breakthrough that will change the way General Motors develops all its upcoming vehicles.
The engineers who developed the ATS at GM's Warren Tech Center were focused like a laser on the BMW 3-series, the compact that's widely considered the world's best sport sedan.
As for the truck, he writes Chrysler could have gotten away with a mere face-lift for the 2013 Ram 1500 pickup. Instead, it provided a glimpse of the pickup of the future, a truck that combines workhorse capability with fuel efficiency.
Chrysler introduced its last full-size pickup, the Dodge Ram 1500, in 2008, just before the Great Recession froze the construction industry and Dodge pickup sales. The Ram 1500 combines advanced new features with old-time pickup capability.
