CT5-V

Make
Cadillac
Segment
Sedan

In case you missed it, there's a new, faster version of the Cadillac CT5-V coming, dubbed the "CT5-V Blackwing". It shares that "Blackwing" label with the advanced twin-turbocharged, dual-overhead-cam 4.2L V8 engine that powered the Cadillac CT6-V, but puzzlingly, that's not the engine that will power it.

Instead, the CT5-V will make its thrust using a supercharged 6.2L small-block V8, just like the Cadillac CTS-V it replaces. The twin-turbo "Blackwing" V8 engine has no future home, as of right now, but Cadillac was fond enough of the name that it will live on.

Confused? Don't think too hard about it. Instead, just take a listen to this bellowing Cadillac performance car spotted at a cars and coffee event in Michigan over the weekend:

These video clips, taken at Bloomfield, Michigan's High Octane Cafe & Bakery show a couple of pre-production Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing examples still wearing some factory camouflage over the front and rear fascias and both side skirts. One of the drivers mashes the throttle as he's rolling through the crowd, giving us our first real taste of the high-performance luxury car's burly, crackly exhaust note. It's glorious.

The appearance of the two Cadillacs at the cars and coffee event was by no means accidental; just because GM hasn't yet deemed it time to show the car completely without camo cladding does not mean the automaker isn't ready for any exposure at all. The cars were almost certainly there for the express purpose of generating some buzz ahead of the CT5-V Blackwing's official reveal.

As for when that official reveal will be, we don't have a precise answer, but the CT5-V Blackwing and its smaller, less-powerful CT4-V Blackwing sibling are expected to drop sooner rather than later. They're slated to go on sale next year as 2022 model-year cars, and as loath as we are to admit it, the Blackwing twins could represent two of the last gas-powered performance cars to come out of Cadillac, as GM's premium brand pivots to focus more fully on pure-electric propulsion.

At least the CT5-V Blackwing sounds epic.