Cadillac CTS-V that rolled onto the stage Tuesday at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. The most powerful product in the General Motors luxury brand’s 112-year history, the CTS-V draws 640 horsepower and 630 lb.-ft. of torque from an all-new 6.2L V-8 engine.
Johan de Nysschen, president of Cadillac, and Mark Ruess, GM executive vice president of global product development, both lauded the rear-wheel-drive sedan’s power and design Tuesday. The car is one of several toted as the vanguard of Cadillac’s efforts to shape the future.
“We are here to disrupt and to shatter the status quo,” de Nysschen said.
Both were proud of the car surpassing competitors: the CTS-V has more horsepower and torque than competitors including the Mercedes-Benz 5.5L biturbo V-8 and the twin-turbo BMW M-series 4.4L TwinPower V-8, they said.
Topping out at 200 mph, the CTS-V shoots from 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds. That speed means drivers will be in control of what is currently possible from any auto producer around the world, Ruess said. “Wrap your head around that if you can,” he told the crowd Tuesday.
And while all the power packed into the CTS-V might not be necessary, Cadillac didn’t want to leave anything on the table, so de Nysschen and Ruess said, when creating the CTS-V.
The all-new engine is “appropriate, applicable and totally awesome,” Ruess said.
De Nysschen said the car was built in the “Cadillac way.”
“You can never have too much horsepower,” he said, provided the power is put into a vehicle that can handle it.
The CTS-V can, de Nysschen said.
Ruess said the CTS-V’s power, design and prowess make it “completely untouchable.”
The car’s elegant design and top performance capabilities “gets to the very heart of the DNA of Cadillac,” he said.
Cadillac has built the world’s best high-performance sedan with no compromises, according to Ruess.
Launching late next summer, it will come equipped with Cadillac’s paddle-shift, eight-speed transmission.
Looking to the future, de Nysschen said Cadillac expects to unveil eight new vehicles by the year 2020, five of which are in no way present today.
“The weather forecast for Cadillac has turned very very rosy,” he said.
A price-point for the 2016 CTS-V was not immediately released. More than 40 vehicles are expected to be unveiled at the 2015 NAIAS. The show runs Jan. 12-25 in Detroit. Press preview days are Jan. 12-13, followed by industry preview Jan. 14-15 and a charity preview on Jan. 16.
