The 2020 Cadillac CT5-VGraeme Fletcher / Driving.ca As we recently covered, the new 2020 CT4-V and CT5-V have arrived with upgrades across the board, except for in the power department. That’s down, but why? According to statements made by GM president Mark Reuss and reported by Automotive News, people were scared of the gobs of horsepower in the last V-Series, so the company is pulling back a bit for this new generation to make them more appealing.   There was, frankly, some people who were intimidated by the cars, Reuss said following the unveiling of the cars last week. When we did a V-Series, they were hammers. There’s some intimidation there. Those “hammers” included the CTS-V, which claimed 640 horsepower from its supercharged V8 and topped out at over 320 km/h; and the ATS-V, whose twin-turbo V6 made 464 horsepower and could push the car to 304 km/h.   In contrast, the new V-Series CT4-V makes 320 horsepower from its turbocharged four-cylinder, while the CT5-V gets 355 from its turbo-six. So, yeah, they’re less intimidating now, perhaps hinting at a detuned CT6-V on the way, too (its 550 horsepower will no doubt be too scary for drivers, as well). Meanwhile, Cadillac has been testing a pair of track-ready V-Series prototypes that Reuss says “represent the next step in Cadillac’s V-Series performance legacy.” It’s expected the track-approved CT4-V will house a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 with 400-plus horsepower, and the matching CT5-V either a twin-turbo 4.2-litre V8 with 500-plus horsepower or the same 640-horsepower supercharged V8 that currently powers the CTS-V. Pricing for the now-less-intimidating V-Series cars hasn’t been announced, but Caddy says they’ll be the most accessible to date.
Origin: Caddy says new V-Series’ horsepower is lower because drivers were ‘intimidated’