Cadillac CTS-v Headed Our Way With 600 hp!

Looking at today’s horsepower race, it’s almost frightening
to see what kind offirepower high-end automakers are putting under the hoods of their sedans. As it stands, the current king of horsepower is the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, which shares its naturally aspirated 6.3-liter V8 with almost every other AMG product out there, including the S, CL, CLS, CLK and ML-Class. It’s quite the engine too, revving to 7,200 rpm and producing 514 horsepower. Reportedly, this engine is going to surface in the next-generation C-Class, which should wipe the smiles off the faces of BMW and Audi for their M3 and RS4 respectively.

But once in a while, an automaker feels the need to put the hammer down, bringing out a car with a power output that simply blows everything else out of the water. Recently, Motor Trend revealed information stating that this vehicle will be the forthcoming CTS-v. In this month’s issue, the staffers learned that the new CTS-v wouldn’t be using the LS7 V8 that helped lift theCorvette Z06 from sports car to supercar status. No, it seems that 500 horsepower would merely be enough to match the likes of the BMW M5, so they’ve gone for broke and stuffed in the biggest and baddest engine that GM has ever created.

When the rumored (and mostly confirmed) Corvette SS / Z06R / Z07 / Blue Devil arrives, it’ll utilize that aforementioned 7.0-liter V8, but it’ll be aided with a supercharger to produce 700 horsepower, and almost as if it were too good to be true, the CTS will be getting a version of this very engine. Motor Trend says that GM’s boffins will quiet the engine down a little, reducing output by 100 horsepower, but the grand total – and we really do mean grand – will still be 600. 600 horsepower is roughly the same outputas the menacing Dodge Viper SRT10. It’s 100 horsepower more than an M5 or an M6. It’s 180 horsepower more than the M3 or RS4. Keep in mind that the CTS-v is a regular four-door sedan, and not a supercar. It’s hard to find words that describe how shocking this news actually is.

From what we’ve seen in images, the new CTS-v will feature a slightly different nose than the current vehicle, whose massive grille was inspired by the Escalade and the Sixteen super luxury sedan. The new v will instead feature two separate grilles, like the old car, filled in with a fine chrome mesh vent. We also can’t forget to mention the large twin exhaust pipes that allow the big V8 to breathe easier.

Whatever the outcome, we know that GM is truly serious about putting the CTS-v higher up on the performance map. Their top product guru, Bob Lutz said that power is “unexpectedly high,” and that the car is “flat out incredible.”