Dramatic planes highlight the Cadillac CTS wagon's design, including a V-shaped motif carried throughout the vehicle and carefully integrated intersections of exterior surfaces. The elements coalesce in a dramatic fashion, creating tension that emphasizes the vehicle's performance.

"It's a taut design that not only suggests sleekness, but delivers it," said Clay Dean, global design director for Cadillac. "Indeed, the drama of the sedan is amplified in the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon, as the centerline cue that is part of the exterior and interior is more prominent and plays a stronger role in defining the design at the rear of the vehicle."

The emotion of the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon's design is carried by a number of nuanced details. The liftgate area, for example, is a confluence of angles and planes that typifies the vehicle's design tension. Cadillac's "V" motif is most prominent here, culminating in a spine at the center of the liftgate that is accented with a subtle spoiler at the top of the backlight. The rear quarter panels extend slightly beyond the inward-angled planes of the V, creating a distinctive W shape at the rear of the vehicle. Large, prominent vertical taillamps - with Cadillac's signature light pipe technology - are the final, dramatic touches to the rear-end styling.

"The more you study the rear of the CTS Sport Wagon, the more you see," said Dean. "Functionality was certainly a guiding factor during development, but so was the idea to inject emotion into the normally sedate wagon category."

One of the more interesting integrations of form and function is found in the seamless roof load management system. Rather than stylized stanchions, brackets and cross bars that protrude above the roof line, the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon's system blends with the roofline, maintaining an uninterrupted appearance. The center section of the roof panel angles downward inside the roof edges, allowing an unobtrusive placement of the cross bars - and creating a subtle fin effect at the trailing edges of the rear panels.

"They're not fins in the classic sense, but they work to help disguise the cargo load system and, yes, they acknowledge Cadillac's design heritage," said Dean.

The interior of the Sport Wagon is common with the much-acclaimed sport sedan, including streamlined instrumentation, LED lighting and hand-cut-and-sewn accents with French stitching.