Cadillac is doing a controlled and sustained unveiling of fresh new products these days, including the new SRX crossover and CTS wagon, as well as giving us a chance to drive such diverse vehicles as the 2009 Escalade hybrid and the CTS-V sedan.
And obviously there is more to come, as pictures of the top-secret V-spec version of its upcoming CTS coupe were nabbed while testing.
Subtle clues give away the real identity of this car: black-painted CTS-V wheels; clearly visible cross-drilled brake discs with massive calipers; a squared-off front fascia for added brake ducting; and big, fat, round exhaust tips mounted in the center of the rear bumper in place of the squared-off tips on the base coupe.
What you can’t see in these pictures is the supercharged and intercooled 6.2-liter LSA V-8 under the slightly raised hood, with 556 horsepower and 551 lb-ft of torque that’s said to vault the sedan to 60 mph in under four seconds. We expect the same thrills from the coupe, made all the more savory by a heap of two-door attitude. Truly, this could become the meanest Caddy in history.
Production of the 2010 CTS coupe begins in the fall of 2009, and the ready nature of their V prototype suggests the performance version could launch simultaneously—unless the marketing types argue to hold the V back a few months, making it a 2011 model.
The fact that Cadillac wants to sell a super-high-performance coupe version of its super high-performance sedan should hardly be super-surprising; after all, Caddy’s got M3 coupes to hunt down. But Cadillac may not be done there: officials have not ruled out a V-Spec version of its just-unveiled CTS sport wagon. That would be a family vehicle we applaud.
