The all-new, rear-wheel-drive Cadillac ATS sedan will be priced starting at $33,990, including destination charges. At that price point you'll get the 2.5-liter inline-four engine mated to a six-speed auto transmission.

After brief opening remarks from General Motors CEO Dan Akerson, head of design Ed Welburn, and President of GM North America Mark Reuss at the College for Creative Studies, America's biggest automaker dropped the sheets off the Cadillac of compacts — the 2013 ATS ahead of tomorrow's Detroit Auto Show.

General Motors has done a stellar job of bringing the Cadillac brand back from the brink of death. The Art & Science design language — now ten years old — still seems fresh, new and young in an absolutely American way. The upgraded interiors finally make you feel like you might actually be sitting in a real luxury…

There have already been a few corporate tantalizations from Cadillac, relating to the upcoming Cadillac ATS's potential to kick BMW ass. They even teased its 'Ring time. Now, word from C-land is the company picked development engineers for their driving skill.

Cadillac's beating of the war drums for the new ATS sedan begins with this short clip of a test model making a run at the Nürburgring, where you can hear what may be General Motors' new 2-liter turbocharged four-banger screaming from beneath the hood. But is it nipping at the BMW 3-Series' heels?

Confirming what was already well known, General Motors said today it would add two new Cadillac models next year — the big XTS and the small ATS, a 3-Series fighter whose profile was shown in this chiaroscuro teaser.