Cadillac is throwing a birthday party and may be inviting a surprise guest.
2024 will see the 20th anniversary of Cadillac’s V-Series performance sub-brand. “New products and features commemorating the 20th anniversary of V-Series are planned over the next 12 months, with more information to be announced throughout this period,” the company says.
A Letter To Take on M, AMG
Cadillac launched the V division in 2004. Like BMW’s M division or Mercedes-Benz’s AMG shop, it takes the vehicles Cadillac builds and tweaks them. It releases high-performance versions that trade some day-to-day livability for track-ready performance.
Cadillac builds V-branded products in small numbers, so the company has never shied away from producing them for niche buyers. For a certain type of car enthusiast, the CTS-V wagon introduced in 2009 — with its 556 horsepower and enough room to bring home a large piece of furniture entirely too fast — is a historic high point in American automotive engineering.
Today, Cadillac builds the CT4-V and twin-turbocharged CT4-V Blackwing, the CT5-V and the supercharged CT5-V Blackwing, and the supercharged Escalade-V.
With 682 horsepower, the Escalade-V is the most powerful production model in Cadillac history (at least until the electric Celestiq ultra-luxury sedan reaches production).
Is an Electric V Coming?
But that mention of “new products” perked up our ears. Sure, Cadillac could mean branded floor mats and coffee tumblers.
But there are hints something more could be coming.
The Cadillac enthusiast site Cadillac Society reports that, over the weekend, Cadillac may have tipped its hand. A page on the automaker’s accessory website — where you go to order those floormats — briefly listed a V trim for the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq electric vehicle.
The option disappeared from a drop-down menu before we saw it. Cadillac Global Vice President Rory Harvey, in 2021, declined to confirm that a Lyriq V was in the plans. But he did so in a curious way, saying, “I’m not going to answer that question directly at this point in time.” That leaves a lot of room for something like, say, a 20th anniversary announcement, doesn’t it?
