The Cadillac V-Series: A Brief History
V-Series 4.0: New Names, Bigger Vehicles
The spring of 2015 saw the grand reveal of a new Cadillac, of a type the brand knew well: a full-size sedan on a rear-wheel-drive platform. The CT6, as it was called under a new naming convention for the brand, replaced the little-loved XTS, bringing a more prestigious look, superior driving dynamics, a classier interior — and, most intriguingly for enthusiasts, a whole new dual-overhead-cam V8 in the tradition of the now-extinct Northstar. The 4.2-liter “Blackwing” engine, as it was dubbed internally, was Cadillac’s first twin-turbo V8, and it served as the beating heart of CT6 V-Sport revealed to the world at the New York Auto Show in the spring of 2018, making 550 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque and channeling that grunt to all four wheels through a 10-speed automatic.
Before the car could even reach showrooms, however, Cadillac pivoted, renaming the CT6 V-Sport as CT6-V. The unexpected promotion from J.V. to varsity seemed confusing; up until now, the fancier the model, the more powerful its V-Series equivalent, yet the new CT6-V came up short on the existing CTS-V.
Things became even more confusing the following year, when GM rolled out the successors to the ATS and CTS, now dubbed CT4 and CT5, respectively. The new models both offered V-Series trims at the top of their lineups, but they were clearly in the V-Sport model, not the tradition of the outrageous ATS-V and CTS-V. The CT5-V, in fact, was even less powerful than the CTS V-Sport, with the new car’s 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 putting out just 360 hp and 405 lb-ft. The CT4-V, meanwhile, made a more-appropriate-for-its-size 325 hp and 380 lb-ft, but it did so using a 2.7-liter turbo inline-four — an engine borrowed from GM’s entry-level half-ton trucks. Enthusiasts were stunned, and furious … at least, until spy photos began to emerge of a camouflaged CT5 emitting a distinctive V8 sound from its exhaust.
Cadillac, of course, had no intention of leaving the CTS-V without a proper successor. Nor, it turned out, the ATS-V, as the brand revealed the follow-ups to both cars together in late winter 2021. The engines were carryovers, although power was up a tad, with the smaller car’s twin-turbo V6 now making 472 hp and the bigger machine’s 6.2-liter supercharged V8 packing 668 hp. More excitingly, both would be available with the choice of a six-speed manual gearbox or a 10-speed automatic.
The names, however, were a bit confusing. The new top-tier V-Series models were named the CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing … even though neither used the actual Blackwing V8. And the only V-Series model that actually had the Blackwing engine, the CT6-V … never officially used the name “Blackwing.”
Of course, by that point, the CT6-V was moot; production of the car had wrapped up in early 2020, taking the Blackwing engine to the grave with it. With the name up for grabs, Cadillac had simply reappropriated it for the brand’s new top-shelf performance models. Buyers and the media alike were confused at first, but once they laid hands on the new machines — which effectively distilled down all the best parts of the prior ATS-V and CTS-V into sharper, more exciting machines — the complaints quickly evaporated. A rose by any name would smell just as sweet, and Cadillac had made two of the most aromatic flowers in sport sedan history.
Come 2022, the V-Series line expanded again, to put it mildly, as it added its first-ever SUV — and what an SUV it was. Apparently choosing to live by the maxim “go big or go home,” Cadillac went huge and stuffed the CT5-V Blackwing’s engine into the Escalade, creating the Escalade-V. In fact, Cadillac even dialed the power up for sport-ute duty, pulling 682 hp out of the 6.2-liter supercharged V8. Unlike prior V-Series models, Caddy made few changes to the car beyond its powerplant … but given that the market for track-ready truck-based SUVs is effectively nonexistent, few people (if anyone) cared.
Three years later, the V-Series lineup began to expand yet again — but while Cadillac had begun competing in endurance racing in the subsequent years and announced plans to enter Formula 1, the new models had little to do with competition or even the track. They came instead from the carmaker’s fast-growing electric vehicle lineup, part of the automaker’s plan to push hard into EVs over the course of the decade. The first was the Lyriq-V, using a 615-hp, 650-lb-ft dual motor AWD powertrain to push the midsize crossover from 0 to 60 mph in a claimed 3.3 seconds — enough, GM says, to make it the quickest V-Series yet off the line. The second was the Optiq-V, a hotted-up version of the compact EV crossover spitting out 615 hp and 650 lb-ft into a Honda CR-V-sized frame. Given that Caddy now also makes an all-electric Escalade IQ that puts out 750 hp and 785 lb-ft in standard form, could a V-Series version making 1,000 ponies be next? Time will tell … but I wouldn’t be shocked.
