Cadillac builds electric vehicles (EVs). Cadillac builds Vs (high-performance editions of some of its standard vehicles). Soon, Cadillac will build EV Vs. or V EVs. Maybe it’s E … V … well, you get the point.
The company teased the decision at a briefing last week, where John Roth, vice president of global Cadillac, told reporters to “stay tuned” for an announcement about the future of the V lineup.
Now, a spokesperson tells industry publication Automotive News that Cadillac “will offer performance variants no matter the propulsion.”
About Cadillac V
Cadillac’s V division has long competed with Mercedes’ AMG and BMW’s M in-house tuner shops, producing high-powered versions of standard Cadillac offerings.
Their crown jewels, to enthusiasts, are the Blackwing series. The CT4 compact sedan, for instance, comes standard with a 237-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine matched to an 8-speed automatic transmission and rear- or all-wheel drive. It’s all you need if you want an entry-level luxury car that will pass on the highway with ease.
But buyers looking for something more aggressive can spring for the CT4-V and get 325 hp from a 2.7-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, along with upgraded brakes, exhaust, suspension, and corner-carving differential for a sportier drive.
The very small cadre of drivers who want more can choose a CT4-V Blackwing. It carries a ridiculous 472-hp twin-turbo V6 mated to a 6-speed stick. That kind of performance will appeal to a small group but win a car brand a new level of respect.
The best-selling V product is the Escalade V — a perfectly absurd full-size SUV that provides room for seven full-size adults and gives its driver the ability to go from zero to 60 in 4.4 seconds.
About Cadillac EVs
General Motors previously said Cadillac will likely be its first all-electric brand. The company already offers an impressive portfolio of EVs.
The Cadillac Lyriq midsize electric SUV set the design theme for the group. The Escalade IQ took its best-selling full-size SUV electric. And the $300,000-plus ultra-luxury Celestiq is poised to put Cadillac back in the ring with Bentley at the top of the luxury fight card.
But Cadillac has bigger plans, recently teasing a compact electric luxury SUV, the Optiq, and a 3-row full-size model, the Vistiq.
About E … V. EV V. VEV?
Are high-performance electric cars a reasonable next move? Yes. In fact, they can be relatively easy for engineers to produce.
A gasoline engine builds up torque as it revs. The best engineers can make that happen in seconds with a bag of tricks developed over decades.
But an electric motor makes 100% of its torque available the instant you tap the accelerator. It doesn’t need to surge its way to full power.
That has enabled high-performance electric cars to rewrite the rules on what’s possible. The Lucid Air Sapphire is a 4-door sedan with plenty of room for adults in the back seats and a zero-to-60 mph time of less than 2 seconds — something some Formula 1 cars strain to match even in the current turbo era.
Speed is almost trivially easy for engineers to wring out of an EV platform. The bigger challenge is making the impressive weight of an EV feel sprightly. But the best of them have started to clear that hurdle, too. The Rimac Nevera electric hypercar set so many speed records last year that its development team started inventing new ones, at one point hitting 171 mph … in reverse.
There’s no reason GM engineers couldn’t churn out some deeply impressive performance vehicles with electricity. And with the Cadillac brand now the focus of GM’s racing efforts, a successful lineup of electric V models could be a marketing coup.
