The first post-war compact car offered by the brand, the four-door was developed to compete with similarly-sized premium sedans marketed by European automakers in North America.

[3][4] The flagship offering of the GM J platform, the Cimarron had joined the project just eleven months prior to the J-Cars' arrival in showrooms, and Cadillac had very little involvement in the program.

The Cimarron is noted as a nadir of GM's product planning – for its low sales, poor performance and ill-conceived badge engineering.

In development since 1976 to replace the H-body,[10] the J-car marked two major changes: shifting to front-wheel drive and expanding into the compact car segment.

While the creation of the Cadillac Cimarron was intended to give the division a compact sedan that matched multiple European premium brands, the selection of the J-car platform within 14 months of its launch was met with heavy resistance.

Employing unibody construction, the suspension, which was calibrated with GM's "F41" suspension, used front MacPherson struts which were mounted to a subframe, lower control arms, coil springs and a stabilizer bar, while a torsion-beam rear axle, along with rear stabilizer bars, was shared with the Buick Skyhawk and Oldsmobile Firenza and was borrowed from the GM X and A platforms.

[14] To distinguish the Cimarron from the Chevrolet Cavalier and its Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac counterparts, Cadillac standardized many of the available features offered on J-platform cars at the time.

The listed retail price for 1982 was $12,181[2] (equivalent to $39,700 in 2024) and the standard equipment were air conditioning, additional sound insulation, Trianon deep-pile carpeting including the trunk, aluminum alloy wheels on steel-belted radial tires, twin power adjustable side view mirrors, leather-wrapped steering wheel, full instrumentation including tachometer (the only Cadillac to have this at the time), courtesy lights, intermittent wipers, rear window defogger, and AM/FM stereo.

[2] Both engines were paired with a four-speed or five-speed manual depending on model year, with a three-speed automatic as an option, shared with other division vehicles.

[2] Essentially a gold trim package (d’Oro translates to "golden" from Italian and Spanish) with a unique hood badge, the option added gold accents to the aluminum alloy wheels, grille, and bumper rub strips, along with accent stripes on the belt line and hood centerline.

For 1985, the d’Oro option added white and red exterior colors, and grooved lower-body trim was color-keyed to match the body.

[citation needed] For 1987, the front fascia underwent a second revision, receiving composite-lens headlamp units (the first American J-body to do so) and redesigned alloy wheels.

[17] In a 9-to-1 vote, General Motors management instead decided to discontinue the model for multiple reasons including Cimarron's disappointing sales and the company wanting to prioritize its resources towards major updates of the 1988 Eldorado and Seville and 1989 Sedan de Ville and Fleetwood.