A new report claims the twin-turbocharged 4.2-liter Blackwing V8 engines will not appear in any other Cadillac products apart from the CT6 sedan.
According to Motor Trend, neither the next-generation Cadillac Escalade nor the upcoming Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing will feature the twin-turbo 4.2-liter V8 motor. This is allegedly due to cost-cutting measures at Cadillac, which have been implemented as the brand struggles to generate significant sales in North America and China. The only Cadillac product that offers the engine currently is the CT6 and CT6-V.
The report also says both the Cadillac CT5 sedan and Cadillac XT6 crossover were going to be based on the Omega platform that underpins the CT6. Cost cutting measures dropped the axe on that plan, though, and the CT5 used an evolved version of the GM Alpha architecture called Alpha 2, while the XT6 tapped the front-wheel drive C1XX platform. The Alpha 2 platform was not designed to accommodate the 4.2-liter V8 and the C1XX platform can’t fit anything larger than the current 3.6-liter LGX V6 engine under its hood – not even a twin-turbocharged V6, for example.
While the engine would theoretically fit under the hood of the next-generation Escalade, which will utilize the new T1 platform, GM apparently has no plans to offer it in the SUV due to cost. Instead, the Escalade may use the 6.2-liter L87 V8 engine. We also know Cadillac will offer a battery electric version of the next-gen Escalade with up to 400 miles of range.
It’s hard to say how accurate this report is, as very little information on the Escalade and CT5-V Blackwing is available at this time. The CT5-V Blackwing has been caught testing with a snarling V8 engine note coming from its quad-tip exhaust, but this could be one of the automaker’s 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engines, like the LT4 V8 that powered the third-generation Cadillac CTS-V, rather than the Blackwing. We’ve also heard separate rumors indicating the CT5-V Blackwing will receive a supercharged V8 engine rather than the Blackwing engine.
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Source: Motor Trend
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