The Cadillac CT4 Or CT5 Need To Go Racing: Opinion
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A declaration of sporting intentions via press releases and official statements is easy. Actually proving those sporting intentions with race results is hard. And when it comes to the new Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5, Caddy needs to do it the hard way.
GM’s prestige sport-luxury brand already has its feet wet with regard to racing thanks to the current Cadillac DPi-V.R racing program, which, until recently, was in the running for the title in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship this year.
Cadillac DPi V.R race car
But while prototype racing is great for a brand, GT racing is the way to go when promoting a specific model. So, if Cadillac truly wants to underline the sporting intentions of its latest sedans, then it really needs to enter either the CT5 or CT4 into a factory-backed racing series. Come to think of it, a GT3-spec Cadillac CT5 would fit the bill perfectly.
Cadillac ATS-V.R
There are numerous reasons why. Although GT cars typically run specs not totally in line with their production-model equivalents, the wide fenders and big wings don’t hide the fact these machines are still based on the same cars that fans can purchase in a showroom. The connection is there, no doubt about it, and race fans can feel it on the street and in the dealer. It’s the perfect example the, “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday” adage.
Cadillac CTS-V.R
But it goes beyond marketing and sales. Racing is where the best get better, where mechanical components are stretched to the absolute limits and the fat is boiled away in the pursuit of the checkered flag. There’s truly no better test of a machine than a world-class race series.
A prototype of the “next-level” Cadillac CT5-V, believed to be called CT5-V Blackwing
Best of all, Cadillac certainly has what it takes to make a highly-successful factory-backed racing program for the CT5 or CT4 thanks to official forays into series like the SCCA World Challenge and entries like the ATS-V.R and CTS-V.R. In fact, Cadillac Racing turned out very favorable results with the ATS-V.R and even more so with the CTS-V.R, absolutely demolishing the competition and leading in both driver as well as manufacturer standings against the best of the best from the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley and McLaren.
A prototype of the “next-level” Cadillac CT4-V, believed to be called CT4-V Blackwing
Indeed, with Cadillac aiming to offer additional performance models under the rumored Blackwing sub-brand to slot above the repositioned V sub-brand, a strong motorsport presence with either the CT4 or CT5 is critical. Meanwhile, the brand’s current DPi-V.R efforts don’t seem to be all that relevant to those who purchase high-performance Cadillac models, especially considering that the DPi-V.R has nothing in common – save for the badge – with what is or will be available in Cadillac showrooms.
Do you agree? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac CT4 news, Cadillac CT5 news, Cadillac news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
This report was brought to you in collaboration with our sister site, Cadillac Society.
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YES!!! The CTS-V team that ran was a point of pride for GM fans. The tradition should continue with the CT5 as well!! Go Cadillac!!
I just wish they’d build world class, American luxury cars? I’d like a Personal Luxury Coupe along the lines of a CT6 Coupe, not a GT Coupe like a BMW 4 or 8 Series but like the old GM A Bodies… I’d like it to have a name, with character not some stupid alpha-numeric that says where it fits in the portfolio. I’d like it to be stunningly beautiful and I’d like a gorgeous, world class interior, you know, that’s where I spend my time. I don’t care about neuton meters so keep that garbled gook off as well. I don’t care about racing unless what is learned is applied to my car so it’s high quality and reliable.
http://cadillacsociety.com/2018/08/10/large-cadillac-coupe-rendered-from-design-patent-images/
I think CT7 will be a coupe model.
Xjug – We’ve been over this many times in years past and it all comes down to this: the kinds of luxury vehicles you describe are not really desirable by the majority of luxury car buyers. It is that simple.
Look at it this way: the world likes apples. They buy apples. They are accustomed to eating apples. They are familiar with apples. But your idea is to start peddling kiwis. And while you personally might like and enjoy kiwis and think it’s the best fruit in the world, the fact remains that PEOPLE WANT APPLES. So as a business person in the business of selling produce, do you start selling apples… or do you try to convince the world that kiwis are better? There is one logical answer in this example: get into the apple business and give people what they want. Make/find a better apple. Make it the freshest apple. Make it the tastiest apple.
In this example, the apple is the equivalent of the current luxury car market, and the expectations that the overwhelming majority of luxury car buyers have of luxury cars. The kiwi, meanwhile, is the notion that the world wants personal luxury coupes (like the Cadillac Eldorado) that are softer than a worn-out couch.
One last note: done the right way, racing has a direct impact on street cars that people can buy. It certainly did for Cadillac when it raced the CTS and ATS models and it did for corvette, too. It’s called track to street transfer, and you should care about it if you want a better car. Over and out!
Thanks dingaling love the cookie cutter approach. Pretty sure Companies like Apple gave us products we HAD to have but didn’t even know we needed?
I didn’t fall off a truck today so everything you said I already know. Thing is Ferrari races and it directly translates to their cars. GM is so cheap they’ve been racing for years yet their engines are still noisy and coarse. Perhaps the middie Vette has benefited from racing but junk like all their boring CUVs, I don’t see it…
You want to tell me if GM/Cadillac built the El Miraj it would rot on dealer lots like the ELR? I don’t think so but we’ll never know and THAT is my point. Do you copy?
If you didn’t fall of the truck yesterday, then why did you start the same tired topic that we’ve covered a dozen times over the past 12 months?
No, your comment fully supports the notion that you actually did fall off a truck yesterday. Rather than blacklist your delusional, name-calling self, I’ll indulge in spelling it out for ya. Buckle in, let’s go for a ride down critical thinking avenue.
Apple REINVENTED a product in a still-nascent segments – the personal computer, the personal media player, the smartphone, etc . The reason Apple is so successful is that it reinvents or significantly improves products in the personal technology sector, a still nascent sector with exponential levels of opportunity for growth and innovation (though one that is maturing rather quickly).
By comparison, GM competes in an industry that’s far from nascent. It competes in an industry that’s already mature. The automobile has been around for a bit over 100 years, and short of reinventing the car with something like a flying car or one that runs purely on air or water, or one that allows for interstellar space travel, there is little anyone can do in the way of truly reinventing the automobile. The EV is the closest thing there is to that at the moment, which is why GM is diving head-first into the space to gain a first mover advantage.
But outside the EV game, making small changes and improvements year-by-year is what the modern automobile industry is all about TODAY. That’s the reality. The circumstance is similar to a potential time in the future when Apple is making smartphones in the year 2050… if smartphones are still a thing at that point in time. Apple will not be making quantum leaps of innovation at that point, but rather making incremental improvements… much like GM is doing now to the automobile.
Now, as for the rest of your comment: you don’t actually see it, but GM actually has incorporated many racing-derived learnings and tech into its vehicles. For instance, things like Vehicle Diagnostics, GM’s current disc brakes in regular and high-performance applications, Magnetic Ride Control, Z-link suspension configuration, Prognostics, and even the qualification of steel types for the purposes of crash safety in GM’s advanced development labs – all have direct roots in racing… and that’s not to mention tire compound learnings. Just because you don’t know about it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
The current batch of CUVs are not performance-oriented, true. But they do use Duralife brakes along with Advanced Diagnostics and first-gen Prognostics, which carried over as ideas in GM’s motorsports efforts. So right there you’re wrong.
As for the Elmiraj, it would have still been a slow seller. If Mercedes-Benz can’t build a business case for continuing to make the S-Class Coupe – a world-class luxury coupe and convertible that will be dropped at the end of the current model’s lifecycle, then what makes you think that a Cadillac – with its weaker brand image and reputation – would fare any better? A production-intent Elmiraj would have fared just as well as the Lexus LC… selling about 200-300 units a month during its launch year, and dwindling down to sub-100 units per month thereafter. It would have been dropped after the first generation, if not before. It’s as simple – and as unfortunate – as that.
By bringing up the Elmiraj, you demonstrate just how out of touch you are with today’s luxury automotive market and buyer. And by the way, it’s spelled Elmiraj – without the space – dingaling.
You’ve got real issues bro… you have opinions and so do I, I can bounce facts off you as fast as you can throw them my way… so EVERY company out there, that doesnt race has many of the things you stated, or will have, because its a mature industry and they HAVE to have them to market competitive products. GM and Cadillac USED to innovate and come out with exciting new products, now they just follow and not very well at that. They lead in zero categories that mean anything. They essentially make appliances…
OK to your argument: the Lexus is a GT Coupe and every GT Coupe comes with the rear seat made for 5 year olds and any vehicle that is that useless is pretty much useless… that is not what I was speaking of. To your arguement, perhaps GM had totally lost their minds when the did the CTS WAGON… that was a sales bust but it made a ton of fans and made noise… is was a fresh, bold move. A CTS Wagon based off the now discontinued gen would have been gorgeous… nope, not GM. In fact the highest wealthiest Americans, the top 1% of 1% buy Mercedes wagons… would that not be a category to market a Cadillac CTS Wagon?? THAT is what I”m proposing vs crappy CUV’s all made off the same massaged platform with cheap, plasticy “jet black” interiors.
Mercedes has made an S Class Coupe for decades and they’re clearly shifting things around. Will they have large coupe in the future, I think that remains to be seen, I don’t know. The current car is fabulous but its insanely expensive, that is not what I’m advocating. Their pricing limits its market and GM has tried to come out with a new vehicle, price it exactly with Mercedes and it always fails. The failure is usually consistent and predictable too for more reasons that I care to mention..
That said their portfolio is insane compared to anything Cadillac has or will be doing? I”m advocating a 4 place coupe based off a current vehicle which would cost next to nothing to engineer. This would actually give the dealers another offering but also spread out the plaform development costs. Especially since its the finest sedan GM has ever built, they need to develop it vs kill it… THAT is an insane waste. But again, to your argument on a limited market for such: so where is the CT4 Coupe or the CT5 Coupe, or convertible, liftback or wagon? BMW/ Mercedes/ Infiniti/ Lexus/ Audi ALL have coupes and convertibles, wagons (ltd availablity) and liftbacks… the coupes are all GT Coupes too (again which I am not proposing, but a coupe with a real, usable 2 person back seat) but they’re in it… why isn’t GM? Because they’re cheap and they’re idiots and they are dog paddling vs swimming. Yes, I did see that design on Cadillac Society a few months back about a Cadillac coupe… that car will fail… it will…because its a “me too” car that is essentiallly a 2 seater. The world doesnt all want 4 doors sedans, a possible GT coupe, SUV/CUVs… but thats essentially all GM’s doing. From what the others are offering vs what Cadillac/GM are offering I’d say THEY are out of touch with the luxury market because they’re not even compared to premium vehicles only “near” lux vehicles where they often lose. The XT4 recently lost a comparison to the latest Acura RDX a spiffy Honda…
THIS is my point… with GM’s need to stretch resources why not? Did Bill Mitchell or Harley Earl KNOW the world needed a Buick Riviera? Did GM KNOW it needed to build the Vette? Or The FWD Toronado? They had a crystal ball that showed them this niche was needed… no they invented it and sold millions of vehicles because they created the need. All the 2 doors from the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s are coveted at the auctions but the market didnt die, they quit building cars people wanted and due to GM’s legacy costs they had to make huge cuts … thats another story. Did Chrysler KNOW the mini-van was needed? Did Ford KNOW the Mustang and Explorer would essentially spawn a categories no one saw?
You’re so angry and combative is that because of my other comments about how pathetic GM is being run today? I have some great friends at GM who are great people, but they’re not making headway they’re still losing ground… sorry if that bugs you…. enjoy your anger knowitall..
Bruh why are you here, when you want to talk crap about Cadillac. I never freaking understand why people that hate a certain company feels like they need to state their opinion.
I agree I’d like to see a fleetwood Coupe deville as much as the rendering above looks great I want to see something less sporty and something as a cruiser sedan sport back a7 like or panamare like but something that really sets it self apart from the rest from Cadillac. I have Chevy car note to pay off and when I do I’d like to stick with GM but when I look at if I can cheat now I look at older Lexus LS 460 or genisis g80, they are reliable big cruisers. I would like to see Cadillac or Buick do something like that but out do Lexus and genisis on interior to set them apart. It’s not enough to just do this but need to really hit it out of the park. The Buick LaCrosse was close to that. Who really like a Hyundai brand not me but from out of no where are make the genesis brand make something of themselves. I love the Cadillac offers you entry level cars like the ct4 and go up to ct5 and The CT six has now grown into something more special. I wonder if GM could stretch the omega platform to make a roomier cruiser
I’d rather see this rendering be a Buick riviera
You’re hilarious… in a very sad kind of way.
First you come here and make a false statement, saying that GM doesn’t derive anything from racing. I then provide you several examples of production features and technologies derived directly from GM’s racing efforts. To that, you reply that all automakers have those technologies, which is also false. So you’re wrong twice right off the bat.
Facts to back that up:
1. Only three other automakers have something similar to GM’s prognostics system, and they all came after GM… and do about 50% of what GM’s implementation does.
2. Most automakers (especially the Europeans) would kill to have brakes as durable and as well-sorted as GM’s brakes. Heck, most European OEMs can’t even make brakes that don’t squeal or squeak upon the slightest temperature change. Guess where GM derived its braking technology? From racing.
So the fact remains that you made several false claims, I called you out on it and provided specific examples, and then you come back to make some more false claims, all while throwing shade and calling me names. Attaboy, you’re a real champ!
Some more insight for you: wagons and coupes are cool and all, but they represent a small portion of the market at large… no matter how cool the car is. Yes, they should be done, but when AND ONLY WHEN Cadillac has its core business sorted. Due to poor planning between 2010-2015, Cadillac is only now entering the core segments it should have entered a decade ago. So you need to understand priorities and accept realities of the business before suggesting wagons and coupes, which are fun and cool, but ultimately account for a small chunk of the overall business.
Also, the coupe rendered by Cadillac Society would be a four-seater… along the lines of the last-gen BMW 6 Series or the new 8 Series.
You end you comment with “knowitall”. That’s ironic, since being the knowitall is LITERALLY my job, and has been for more than a decade now. You must be a sad, sad soul to try to belittle someone else for knowing something and understanding it more than you.
Combative? Angry? No, not at all. What I am doing is calling you out on your bull$hit comment that doesn’t line up with reality. It’s as simple as that.
If you can’t take the heat, then you should probably stay out of the kitchen.
Again GM has the chance to get in on the supercar,but they will let 50 year’s of research go to waist. Take the zr1 setup use the Blackwing motor use the lights form the CT6 you got a supercar for old guys. After you finish make a another Cadillac with the motor behind the seats. I am getting fed up with you GM.
As a racing fan and a Cadillac owner, I’m all for Cadillac getting more involved in racing, but where? I’d think it would have to be in a series with TV coverage and decent attendance, to make it worthwhile. The World Challenge is done, while Blancpain seems to be struggling to gain any kind of a following here, though they do have some television coverage. Cadillac is currently racing in the Trans-Am Series, but it’s a very limited effort, and though their races have fair attendance, TV coverage is just about nonexistent.
It seems to me the best place for them is IMSA, but maybe not in DPi. GTD or even the Michelin Pilot Series, might make more sense. GTLM would probably be the best place for them, but GM’s not going to dump money into a Cadillac GTLM effort, as long as the Corvette’s in GTLM. GM learned long ago that it makes no sense to race against corporate partners, besides the Corvette is having a hard enough time keeping up with it’s current competition, without having a new in house competitor, joining the class.
It sounds far fetched, but maybe Cadillac should be looking at ARCA or the K & N series?
The ATS-V.R GT3 was the best idea Cadillac ever had…. until they refused to sell it to ANY customers and then killed off the program all together.
As a fellow racing fan, I agree it would be cool to see a GT4 CT4-V.R…. but it’s never going to happen. No one who isn’t already caught in the escapeless deep-gravity of sportscars/IMSA follows MPC, and what’s the point of a large manufacturer going to Blancpain if you’re not racing a top-level GT3. Buuuuut, [besides the point that I don’t see them doing a GT3 of a sedan], the GT3 car is never going to happen for IWTC because -as we saw with the ATS-V.R- GM won’t race it in a class lower than Corvette because then a Corvette would be besting a Cadillac, and they don’t yet have the market to justify racing it overseas.
Likewise, with regards to a GT4 car – they GM already has the Camaro, and we know how they feel about racing their brands against each other.
I feel that GM has really shot themselves in the foot from a racing stand point:
We had the mid-engined Corvette Daytona Prototype… while the Corvette was front engined
Cadillac had the ATS-V.R homologated GT3 that was eligible to race in two different US series on top of countless series around the globe…. but then GM wouldn’t sell the car after proving it by winning multiple championships for whatever reason, even though there was customer interest in PWC (Blackdog Speed Shop I believe, but don’t quote me) and Stevenson Motorsports in IMSA WTC — Both championship teams, yet Cadillac wouldn’t hand the keys over. Aaaaand then they canceled the car all together.
Now we have the Cadillac DPi-V.R…. which is well and good, but doesn’t necessarily relate to any car Cadillac has(had) on the market…. but neither did Audi when they started the R8 program
…..Except for the fact that now the Corvette is mid-engined, so to summarize: Cadillac race car = Mid-engined // Cadillac halo road car (outgoing CTS-V) = Front engined sedan.
[[*EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT IT WOULD PUT THE CORVETTE ABOVE CADILLAC IN PROVERBIAL RANKS*]] Maaaayyyybe it would make sense if they swapped the Corvette back up to the prototype class (be it DPi or WEC Hypercar) seeing as how GTE/LM is questionably dead, and then came out with a GT3 Coupe to the likes of the M6 or Continental GT…. but, a Cadillac executive looked me in the eyes at their IMSA hostility suite and told me there is no coupe coming for the foreseeable future. {When I replied that “well, then there is no new Cadillac in my future, they just shrugged as if to say “oh well, don’t let the door it you on the way out”, but that’s besides this point}. I can’t think of a current GT3 car that is a sedan, so a CT5-V.R GT3 as the author recommends just seems foolish… but again – it’s not happening, and it’s not a very educated/well written piece.
Yes, there is no Cadillac coupe coming in the foreseeable future. But the fact that there isn’t a sedan in GT3 doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t be done with a hypothetical CT5-V.R, now does it? No, it most certainly does not.
As more automakers begin to contract their lineups, you’ll see less and less coupes being offered on the market. That, in turn, means more sedans entering GT3 and other homologated series.
The piece looks to the future, not to the past or even the present. Skate to where the puck is going.
Well if we’re being hypothetical like a bunch of school girls planning their weddings on a hot summers day while blissfully eating icecream cones down by the lake, then why are we not talking about the Corvette-based Cadillac Hypercar that they could be running based off a new Halo car???
Joking around aside, how did you type “The piece looks to the future, not to the past or even the present” with a straight face??? The article is literally a very brief/abridged history lesson of the racing Cadillac has done over it’s seemingly glory days of Art & Science and makes ZERO mention of Hypercar, SRO GT2, DPi 2.0, or FE. I’m honestly just thanking the stars that the DPi Program hasn’t been canceled -yet- by the current “brain trust”.
Realistically, if you’re “looking to the future” there’s a better chance of Cadillac entering Formula E than another sportscar field.
IF -and that is a BIG “if”- Cadillac was to do a “production based” racer, a GT4 or Touring Car would at least then somewhat be racing against their “street” competition, but as I said in a previous reply, NO ONE outside of those already far-too-deep in car culture cares about GS/TC, so that would be an even bigger marketing flop.
A major issue with GT3 (and even GT4) is that Cadillac isn’t competing for showroom sales with the CT4/5 against most of the balance of the field aside from the M6 and RF. People shopping for “the best of the best from the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley and McLaren” are NOT shopping for a small or slightly-not-small Luxury* sedan that their accountant’s assistant drives.
[insert Seinfeld “I gotta say, I don’t see it happening” gif]
I think you misunderstood my comment.
Yes, we’re looking to the future in recommending Cadillac races the CT4 or CT5 via a factory-backed program. That’s what is meant by looking at the future. Meanwhile, the recap of ATS-V.R and CTS-V.R efforts is part of that conversation, but the CT4 and CT5 are the future. It’s really that simple.
Whether either one of the new CT# models actually goes racing is an entirely different topic, of course. But the fact remains that it should be done… and done right, such as selling the race spec cars to other outfits – as you mention.