Cadillac is a brand of luxury automobile, part of the General Motors corporation, produced and mostly sold in the United States; outside of North America, they have been less successful. The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan in 1701. Cadillac was purchased by the General Motors conglomerate in 1909.

Pre-World War II Cadillacs were well-built, powerful, mass-produced luxury cars, aimed at an upper class market. Postwar Cadillacs innovated many of the styling features that came to be synonymous with the classic (late 1940s-late 1950s) American automobile, including tailfins and wraparound windshields. The tailfin style gave birth to the enduring vertical-tailight pattern, which is a subtle trademark of the Cadillac line.

The mid-1980s saw Cadillac try to rebuild its image, aware that European and Japanese imports were on a rise. The greatest challenge to the imports was the Cadillac Allante, a convertible designed by Pininfarina of Italy, and built on what was touted as the world's longest production line—with the car's bodies fabricated in Italy and flown by Boeing 747 to the United States to meet their transmission and engine. The Allante's styling influenced other Cadillacs, especially the Seville, which adopted its sharper, tailored lines. Indeed, Cadillac was so confident of the Seville that it was exported to Europe.

The latest incarnation of Cadillac styling - Art & Science (A&S) was previewed with the 1999 Cadillac Evoq concept roadster at that year's Detroit Auto Show. Distinctive characteristics of Art & Science design include stacked headlamps, vertical taillamps, angular grille, and creased body lines in addition to alphanumeric model names.