With only days to go before the 2022 Cadillac Blackwing ultra-high-performance sedans are scheduled to go into production at the GM Lansing Grand River plant in Michigan, we thought we’d take a nostalgic look back at the official reveal video published earlier this year.
During the premier auto photographer Larry Chen interviews three General Motors executives who discuss the 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing from their own perspectives.
First up is Brandon Vivian, Cadillac Executive Chief Engineer. “Blackwing represents the pinnacle of Cadillac performance and craftsmanship,” he says. “With these particular cars, we’ve made them distinctly American visions of performance and luxury, with incredible power and luxurious craftsmanship.”
Vivian also refers to Cadillac’s racing heritage, which began in 1949 and will become a recurring theme throughout the video. He says that it influenced the testing program, which included 12-hour and 24-hour testing along with runs on the drag strip.
The Cadillac Blackwing models are fitted as standard with a manual transmission, which is not available on the regular Cadillac CT4, CT4-V, Cadillac CT5 or CT5-V. “These are very serious drivers’ cars, and [for them[ to be drivers’ cars, first and foremost you need to row your own gears,” Vivian explains, without going on to add that GM’s 10-speed automatic gearbox is in fact available as an option in both vehicles.
Vivian goes on to mention MR 4.0 (the fourth generation of GM’s Magnetic Ride Control active suspension) and the optional Brembo carbon ceramic brake package available for the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing – the first time such a package has ever been offered on any Cadillac.
Josh Thurber, Design Manager, Cadillac Exteriors, brings the conversation back to the GM luxury brand’s racing heritage. He attributes the inclusion of carbon fiber design elements as a nod to that lineage, as the elements “make sure that everything served its purpose, but was beautiful and striking”.
Thurber adds that there are several design Easter eggs throughout each car. He won’t talk about all of them – “because they’re Easter eggs” – but he does reveal that there is “a little V-Series logo” on the rear differential, which owners are very unlikely to see unless they have read this sentence and start looking for it.
Furthermore, Thurber refers to “this thing called the racing Mondriaan pattern”. This is the V-Series logo again. Its name comes from the quadrilateral shapes filled in with primary colors which featured heavily in the later work of Dutch artist Piet Mondriaan. “We kind of sprinkled that throughout the underbody, through the mid body panels and the underwing and the engine bay,” Thurber says.
John Murphy, Design Manager, Components, is the third executive to mention Cadillac’s racing heritage, which he says inspired the carbon fiber and suede micro fiber materials used in the interior of the Cadillac Blackwing sedans.
He is also the second exec to reference Piet Mondriaan, whose work he says inspired the design of the 3D printed gear knob. He describes this item as “an opportunity to show the new technology and manufacturing” involved in creating the Blackwing cars. He then goes on to describe the 12-inch reconfigurable cluster and the V mode button which gives access to “three settings, or three experiences, if you will” – Track, Sport and Touring.
Brandon Vivian returns to give information which was new at the time of the video but is well known today – the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing will be priced to start at $59,990, while base MSRP for the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is $84,990. Vivian mentions that 250 examples of each vehicle will be available for pre-ordering. As we are now aware, all the CT4-V Blackwing units were booked within one day, while the CT5-V Blackwing allocation was snapped up in just three minutes.
So, without further ado, check out the entire Cadillac Blackwing reveal video just below and be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing news, Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing news, Cadillac Blackwing news, Cadillac news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
“During the premier”? Why venture into a foreign language if you do not master it?
Correct word is “première”…
Again, do some research, Mondrian with just an “a”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian.