Cadillac is slowly making its way back into the heart of the luxury marketplace, and some seem to think it will ditch V8 engines in the process. We’re happy to report that those rumors couldn’t be further from the truth.
As a matter of fact, Johan de Nysschen, the brands’ bespectacled boss, recently took to Facebook to deny the rumors and in his post he confirmed the trusty ol’ V8 won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. On the contrary, Cadillac will receive its own, purpose-built V8 engine family.
“There absolutely will be another state-of-the-art mega powerful highly efficient new 8-cylinder from Cadillac, besides the CTS-V engine,” he wrote.
Nobody is giving exact details, but it’s likely that the bespoke engine family for Cadillac is going to stray away from the traditional pushrod, OHV V8 engines that GM has in everything from a Chevrolet Silverado work truck, to the 2015 Corvette Z06, to the upcoming 2016 Cadillac CTS-V and Escalade. Perhaps our best indicator was the 4.5L twin-turbo V8 engine powering the drool-worthy Cadillac Elmiraj concept (pictured) — a car that Cadillac should build but won’t. It’s expected that such a powertrain will end up in a future model year of the Cadillac CT6, and perhaps whatever ends up slotting above it.
We’ll stop short of saying the Northstar name is coming back, however. Though one thing is for certain: don’t expect much production or sales volume from the V8-powered models.
Johan de Nysschen’s quote is as follows:
There absolutely will be another state -of-the-art mega powerful highly efficient new 8-cylinder from Cadillac, besides the CTS- V engine. Purpose designed for Cadillac. Now, if you consider ” mainstream” to represent the average powertrain used, well, no, the realities of the market today excludes that. Besides the exotics, I don’t know that any luxury manufacturer today could claim they sell most of their volume in V8. But the V8 Cadillac is alive and well today, and will be in even better shape tomorrow.
Comments
Not really reminding as much informing. So many people are not paying attention to what is going to happen at Cadillac.
I know it has been hard to keep up with because of the changes but a few people are a management group behind. You can tell them as they still call the CT6 the flagship.
So true, it just goes to show that many who criticize Cadillac or even GM for that matter, don’t have a clue of what they’re talking about! If this blogger had done the least bit of “RESEARCH” he would have known this over a year ago.
Well at least last August when it was announced.
i think they should bring back the northstar name
There is a problem there. North Star did not leave a lasting positive impression on many who had ring issues and blown head gaskets.
I always loved the engine but there were several years there were many issues. They were good for a couple hundred thousand miles or they were good for 40 thousand miles.
Either way it would be difficult to bring this name back. I suspect they may give them engine codes as most Euro and Asian MFGs do.
Maybe they could use the name Polaris.
as someone who owned a 95 sts with the northstar, i actually had very little issues with it, however there were MANY issues with that engine, was not the reliable engine they wanted it to be, was advanced and powerful for its time. but im sure there will only be a 4.5tt on the back of the car as opposed to “32v Northstar”.
Its suprising how much Johan is either listening or reading posts on the internet . He is quick to dispel rumors that just are not true . When have we ever seen a divisions boss do this . I believe he really wants Cadillac to succeed . For far to long GM didnt really look to the future , they were more concerned with moving vehicles to gain the top spot in sales numbers , and short term profit . Gm produced what they wanted and hoped it would sell . And each division would try to cut costs by sharing parts ,engines,wheels etc. and hope the public wouldnt notice . well they did and look what happened , Bankruptcy . Now GM has some terrific products out there and telling the public and gaining their trust will take time . Johan seems to be trying to gain the publics trust by killing the rumors early . One cool thing he has done was to give the first production CT6 to charity . That goes along way in building your image .
I agree as he knows what is going on outside the doors of GM and is keen on Social Media. For too many years those inside GM did what they did and never listened to what was going on.
The key thing here to also note is he is not from the old system and knows what is going on better and what it takes to make a better car. He is in touch with reality, The first one to do this was Bob Lutz as he woke up a lot of people and then set about changing the culture.
Agree or not with Johann he is rebuilding Cadillac inside out. He Is not only working the system that builds and finances the cars but also being honest that what they have now is good but not good enough.
He is not just working to build Cadillac a new image but what they and GM have really needed Credibility.
Could you ever imagine a Roger Smith coming out and saying that the car that was intended to be the flagship is not longer it because we are going to do better. Or that the CTS while a good car can and needs to be even better. He has done this and it does take some balls to be honest like that. He is being honest as coming clean that just being as good or almost as good is no longer enough.
Then Mary, Mark and the Board deserve credit for letting him so what would never had been done 5-10 years ago.
Build the Elmiraj GM, err Cadillac!
Wasting money to develope exclusive engines for the Cadillac line is how GM almost went under a few years ago. How about just using the new LT Gen V V8 engines and offering the naturally aspirated version instead of just the LT4 in a car that is ridiculously overpriced and the L86 in the Escalade. EVERY SINGLE RWD ALPHA CHASSIS CAR THEY BUILD SHOULD HAVE AN A LA CARTE V8 OPTION THAT DOESN’T REQUIRE AN EXPENSIVE V PACKAGE!!! I don’t care how they do it. Take the 3.9″ pistons from the new 4.3L and put them in a 5.3 to make a new 5.7, make it a plug in Hybrid with a large enough battery to decimate CAFE standards. The electric power in addition to the smaller V8 would be wonderful anyway. If their customers can get a tax credit for having a 16kw battery pitti g some traction aiding weight, lowering the center of gravity under the floor, making the car ride smoother, allowing them to have climate control radio tv Internet and every other feature either moving or sitting still without needing to waste any gas idling, allowing them to drive a decent distance without using the engine, especially commuting in heavy traffic where it is impossible to enjoy the performance of a V8 anyway. That is what I consider luxury, they can shove their entire marketing campaign and ridiculous prices that are leaving them with massive unsold inventory, why would ANYONE buy a new Caddy for full MSRP when the damn thing will be worth 30% of what it cost new in 5 years, I’ve seen a few cars nearly half of new price used after 1-2 years. Lower the prices, use the engines GM already has, offer a electric vehicle option on all the cars with any “range extenting ” engine they want I4-V8.