SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Cadillac must serve two distinctly different masters as it transforms itself from the ersatz-luxury division of its corporate parent, General Motors, into a globally viable and respected purveyor of premium automobiles. At one end of the spectrum, youthful, affluent, influential buyers can break a product if it doesn’t exude status and authenticity. At the other end of the spectrum, fiercely loyal customers who fought world wars and can remember first-hand when the wreath-and-crest hood ornament symbolized the standard of the world just want a big, cushy, made-in-America luxo-cruiser that glides from Michigan or Minnesota to warmer climates each winter with a minimum of fuss and hassle. The 2006 Cadillac DTS, which replaces the venerable DeVille in the lineup, is the car charged with pleasing both camps.

On Cadillac’s side to ensure future success is the entertainment industry, which embraced the Escalade SUV the moment it debuted, providing the company with implied celebrity endorsement through song lyrics and music videos, landing the brand smack in the middle of pop culture. Now, Cadillac is on the radar of today’s youth, partly because it’s been in the MTV spotlight, partly because modern creased-and-folded Cadillacs look like nothing else on the road, and partly because kids always want the opposite of what their parents do – and parents today don’t drive Cadillacs because their parents did. And that makes Caddys cool, or phat, or sick, or whatever slang the under-25 crowd is using this week to assign acceptance and desirability.

But the so-called traditional customer is still alive and kicking, toting golf clubs, filling parking slots at IHOP restaurants throughout the Sunbelt, and driving cross-country with the blinker on and racks of clothing strung across the rear seat. This contingent still thinks that “sick” means that someone doesn’t feel good. Cadillac needs a car to satisfy this customer, too, lest they defect to Lincoln or Chrysler.

That’s why the 2006 Cadillac DTS exists, shepherding the DeVille into the automaker’s alphanumeric lineup and signifying that the “old” Cadillac is taking its final, rattling gasps of air. The new DTS creates a bridge between two diverse sets of customers, adopting the “art and science” design theme of modern Cadillacs while offering loyalists the sort of disconnected ride and handling they’ve come to know and love. The DTS is the last front-wheel drive model in Cadillac’s lineup, the only six-passenger sedan that Cadillac sells, and the final Cadillac to be aimed at recipients of Social Security benefits. Which makes the forward-thinking iPod jack on the dashboard rather ironic.