2022 Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing Keep The Manual Sport Sedan Alive
Early Tuesday morning, Cadillac officially confirmed another, higher tier in its V-Series sub-brand, dubbed Blackwing.
That name comes with some (brief) history. The Blackwing engine already exists, as a turbocharged, 550-horsepower V8 found under the hood of the CT6-V. Sadly, Cadillac has said that engine won’t find its way into other models. So the upcoming Blackwings won’t actually feature Blackwings. Glad we cleared that up.
Cadillac is still keeping mum on the exact engine specifications of either model. Rumors suggest carryover engines, with the smaller CT4-V Blackwing adopting the turbocharged, 464 hp 3.6-liter V6 of the outgoing ATS-V. Meanwhile the CT5-V Blackwing would carry the supercharged small-block V8 found in the third-gen CTS-V, which produced a whopping 640 hp.
What we do know this dynamic duo will offer is something increasingly rare: a manual transmission. Cadillac has said the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwings will both come with the option of a three-pedal setup. In the case of the CT5-V, that would make it the lone holdout in its size class: the BMW M5, Audi RS6, and Mercedes-Benz E63 all are auto-only.
Cadillac says the Blackwing models will “feature specially tuned chassis, vehicle control technologies and engines.” It also provided details on the ongoing testing of the models, confirming both cars lapped seconds faster than their predecessors at Virginia International Raceway. To match those old models, these new Blackwings must be packing at least close to the same amount of power.
Unfortunately, we might be waiting a while to get more concrete details. According to Roadshow, the Blackwings won’t even debut until the first quarter of 2021. To wit, we were going to drive the non-Blackwing CT4-V and CT5-V last month before the event was put on hold. Those are the realities in this ongoing COVID-19 situation.
We look forward to Cadillac releasing more details on the non-Blackwing-powered Blackwings in the future. Confusing name aside, the fact the company is committed to following up the ATS-V and CTS-V, with manual transmissions no less, is encouraging.
Kyle began his automotive obsession before he even started school, courtesy of a remote control Porsche and various LEGO sets. He later studied advertising and graphic design at Humber College, which led him to writing about cars (both real and digital). He is now a proud member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), where he was the Journalist of the Year runner-up for 2021.
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