Cadillac CT4, CT5 Blackwings – Out with a Bang, Will Anyone Hear It?
By Edward A. Sanchez – Feb. 3, 2021
If General Motors leadership is still scratching their heads as to why everyone isn’t hailing their pledge to go all-electric by 2035 with unquestioning adulation and affirmation, it’s the announcement of the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing models that do it.
To be fair, 2035 is more than a decade away, and in that time, some vehicles will go through two complete model cycles. Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh toward the General. But the Blackwings seem like a hopelessly retrograde throwback to “the good old days” of ICE performance for the brand, if there ever was one. In all honesty, both models are just thorough refreshes of their predecessor ATS-V and CTS-V models. Even the abrupt name changes show Cadillac’s struggle to maintain a compelling and consistent brand identity. The BMW 3 Series has been the 3 Series for nearly four consecutive decades. Even the relative newcomer Lexus IS has been going consistently for 20-plus years.
Cadillac has been playing “chase the Germans” for nearly two decades now, and other than enthusiastic write-ups in magazines and gearhead blogs for their loud and aggressive approach to American muscle car luxury, for the most part, the marketplace has given a collective yawn to the V variants, and instead gravitated much more strongly toward the brand’s SUV offerings – though it’s not entirely fair to pick on Cadillac for the relative unpopularity of its sedans. That’s frankly most of the industry now, with only a few exceptions.
Sure, the small number of Blackwings that are made will probably sell for at least MSRP initially, if not a four or five-figure markup for those buyers who absolutely must have the latest and greatest, cost-be-damned. But as has been seen many times in the automotive industry with both new and collector cars, rareness doesn’t always equate to desirability. I’ve been to plenty of dealerships that had a lonely niche performance variant sitting in the corner of the lot that the salesman will say, “It’s been there for months. Make an offer.” In this day and age of online car shopping, it’s probably less common, with a buyer in Texas buying a car in Massachusetts, and vice-versa, but it still happens.
The Cadillac CT4-V (above) and CT5-V (main image) Blackwings have all the bells and whistles traditional auto enthusiasts want, but with electrification just around the corner, are these latest releases too little, too late?
By conventional metrics, the Blackwings are impressive, with sub-4-second 0-60 times, manual transmissions, and on the CT5-V, a top speed of 200 mph. However, with the top-trim of GM’s own Hummer EV doing the on-ramp sprint in 3 seconds flat, it’s not as impressive as it used to be. Not to mention the top-trim Lucid Air and the new Tesla Model S Plaid+ claiming to dispatch the task in just a micro-tick over 2 seconds.
You know when the CEO of the Dodge brand – the posterchild of loud and brash ICE performance if there ever was one – is saying the days of the Hellcat are numbered, and electrification will almost certainly come in to fill the performance gap, that we’re witnessing the sunset of internal-combustion.
I can’t entirely blame Cadillac for wanting to do a final “last hurrah” of ICE performance. But it’s only a small group of enthusiasts and buyers who truly care. Yet as long as GM’s expectations of sales and publicity are measured and realistic, then why not?
But the buyer for the Blackwings is probably the same as it was for the previous-generation V models. They’re not going to get significant numbers of conquest buyers from AMG, M, or probably even F-Sport at this point. They might get a few former Charger Hellcat owners that want something “classier.” So let’s enjoy the Blackwing models’ swan song, but don’t make it out to be more symbolic or significant than it is.
(Images courtesy Cadillac)
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