Cadillac Names ‘Real’ V-Series Cars “Blackwing”

Cadillac has finally dropped real information about the versions of the CT4 and CT5 we had been waiting for…the ‘real’ V-Series models.

Before, we made due with the CT4-V and CT5-V that in a previous life would have been badged V-Sport. They were automatic only and had sporty if not fully sporting power trains. Nobody would have considered them, in any way, track-ready.

Enter a designation that used to be used to denote Cadillac’s recently designed turbo-V8…Blackwing.

In its former use, the Blackwing V-8 was the top engine available in the, now discontinued in the US market, CT6. Impressively powerful…Cadillac must have liked the sound of that flagship engine…since they will be using it now to denote the top-performing, track-focused trim of their new sedans.

CT4-V Blackwing will likely pack a similar twin-turbo V-6 as we saw in the ATS-V it replaced. CT5-Blackwing will almost certainly -not- have a version of the Blackwing V-8 (confusing, to say the least) but will continue with the CTS-V’s supercharged smallblock V-8, likely packing more power than it did in the preceding model.

In unexpected news that has us thinking that we all must have done something right in a previous life - the Blackwing models will both have available manual transmissions. Considering the CT5 is the new CTS, this marks a return of three-pedal driving to Cadillac’s bigger sedan.

Cadillac has not revealed an on-sale date for either model nor when we will get more details about performance and features. Given the uncertainty in the global economy and automotive market…it is likely that even GM/Cadillac isn’t sure when the cars will go on sale.

Stay tuned for more details as they are released.