Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing may rocket past 200 mph
In a new teaser photo, Cadillac showed off the mighty Blackwing's steering wheel, but we also think we cracked the top speed code.
There's more than what meets the eye going on here.
Confirmed: The 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing and CT4-V Blackwing will both have a steering wheel. On Thursday, GM's luxury division shared the first image of what it calls the cars' "performance steering wheel."
That's wonderful, but after some deliberation between the Roadshow team, we think we cracked into some juicier news: The CT5-V Blackwing may go faster than 200 mph.
How in the world do we get that from this shot of the steering wheel? Well, you see, automakers love to leave Easter eggs behind all the time. You just need to have the right pair of eyes and oftentimes a good noggin. If you look closely underneath the "V" badge on the steering wheel, there's a series of seemingly useless figures and numbers. ">322," it reads.
"Greater than 200 mph," if we're reading this correctly.
For those well versed in hex code, ">" translates to "greater than," or more bluntly, the ">" symbol. And the "322?" That just so happens to be 200 mph when converting from 322 kph. So, that weird hodge-podge of numbers and figures reads "greater than 200."
We'll remind you the last CTS-V made history as the fastest Cadillac ever with a 200 mph top speed, perhaps acknowledged on the instrument cluster that clearly shows "200." It may be that Cadillac's ready to break its own record with the CT5-V Blackwing. As for why it's likely the CT5-V Blackwing and not the CT4-V Blackwing, these performance sedans are rumored to boast carryover engines from the CTS-V and ATS-V.
The latter ran a twin-turbo 3.6-liter V6 and muscled 189 mph. The CTS-V, meanwhile, romped around with a supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V8 borrowed from the previous Corvette Z06. If one of them is to break 200 mph, it's going to be the one with the massive, supercharged V8 under the hood.
Aside from our hunch, the teaser photo doesn't show off anything too groundbreaking. The steering wheel wears some lovely materials, such as carbon fiber, leather and a red racing stripe at the 12 o'clock mark. There's also a "V" button attached to this wheel and it looks like both cars will perhaps run a fully digital instrument cluster. The right side of the photo bears a ghostly blue wash, which we imagine is to hide the already confirmed manual transmission sitting there.
Rumor has it Cadillac wanted to show both of the cars this year, but the coronavirus pandemic shuffled plans around. In today's announcement, the brand said both cars will launch in summer of 2021, meaning we'll likely see both the CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing bow in the early part of next year.
Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing sedans will get manuals, but they aren't coming soon
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