Is the Blackwing V8 Dead Already? Report Suggests YesManus:
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A new report says that Cadillac’s supercool twin-turbo Blackwing V8 is, well, doomed. As in it won’t go into the company’s next high-performance sedans. Or into the Escalade. Or into anything else. And they’ve already said that no other GM brand is going to get it. But does any of this make any sense?
The report comes from Motor Trend, who attribute the info to “a senior GM source.” Now that could mean just about anything and be one of thousands of possible employees, but usually the buff books know their Deep Throats well enough to know what’s up and what’s down. Still, this one seems hard to swallow. Not because we don’t believe it, we’re on the fence on that, but because it’s a hell of a pill for enthusiasts.
To recap, the Blackwing is a 4.2-liter twin-turbo V8 that puts down 550 hp and 640 lb-ft. It’s the first Cadillac-exclusive engine since the Northstar, and so far it’s only found in the Cadillac CT6. The big one in the V, and a slightly less powerful version in the CT6 Platinum. In total, that’s just a few thousand cars for 2019 and 2020 combined. In short, not worth Cadillac’s millions, if not billions to develop.
However, GM isn’t exactly flush with cash at the moment. EVs are expensive. As is not having them. And with Cadillac not selling like hotcakes these days, MT‘s source says that the twin-turbo V8 CT5-V has gotten the ax. It’s more than just the engine, though, the CT5, along with the XT6, was originally set to be on the CT6’s rear-drive platform. Instead, they’re front-drivers at heart, so the V8 wouldn’t fit anyway.
But the report also says that the new Escalade won’t get Blackwing. Apparently, that would be too expensive, too. Because a six-figure version of a platform that starts for under $29k doesn’t have the margins for the engine, we presume. What are they doing instead? An independent rear end that’ll be shared with the Tahoe, Yukon, and Suburban. What could that mean for power? Probably the 6.2L V8 from the pickups, hopefully making more than the 420 hp that decidedly trucky motor manages.
So is the Blackwing a one and done? It looks like maybe, or at least that’s what “a senior GM source” is saying. Does it make sense for GM to spend so much cash on an engine it used for a minute that’s hotter than the hot-vee turbos? No, not it does not. However, in today’s cost-cutting madness, that may not matter. We’re going to take it with Jimmy Buffet-levels of salt and hope that GM will not let this engine go quietly into that good night, and will find somewhere suitable to put it rather than throw out the baby with the sedan bathwater.
by Evan Williams November 26, 2019