The biggest scare about the future of fun Cadillacs came under the careful misdirection of Johan de Nysschen, who decided “V” was no longer the moniker they would use to denote a model’s highest-performance trim. Both cars were fully redesigned and given mechanical makeovers in the process to go along with the evolved styling and updated naming convention. They ditched the trio of sedans (ATS, CTS, and CT6) in favor of two (CT4 and CT5). No more were ATS and CTS it was to be CT4 and CT5.

The existing names were thrown out the window, replaced by the naming scheme started on their SUVs.

A few years later in another desperate plea to spike sales and build brand credentials, Caddy made a number of sweeping, concurrent changes. Smaller, lighter, and nimbler than the CTS thanks to tidier dimensions and less mass, the ATS-V took a swing at the M3 and comparable sports saloons and struck hard, albeit with an engine that was underwhelming and uninspired. In a bid to broaden the lineup, Cadillac expanded V to the ATS in 2016. So did V as a whole, with the CTS being the only model to get the treatment from 2009-2016. Those early CTS-V cars were a joy to play in, but they never felt fully baked even in the CTS-V’s third generation which ran until 2019, items the infotainment always felt like an afterthought. The formula was simple: Go faster cheaper than the Germans, or at least be more fun and less stuffy in the process of trying to do so. Getting there meant more aggressive bodywork, less fussiness, and a honkin ‘ol V8 under hood. Cadillac had created V.įrom day one, Cadillac set out to build a less expensive, less pretentious version of BMW’s M3 and M5, and Mercedes’ AMG sedans. They turned Caddy’s radio to play Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll, and everything changed. General Motors was sick of the relaxed, posh, and elite image. Most associated the likes of jazz and late-90s rap and hip hop with the brand. In 2004 Cadillac, known entirely for luxury barges, quintessential American luxury plushness, and the star hit Escalade, was striving to rebrand itself. This is one of the best cars, and far and away one of the best sports sedans, ever built. So it was with serious trepidation that everyone laid eyes on the ATS-V’s successor, and the wait was worth it. As one of the final two gas-powered heavy-hitters from the brand (the other being the sinister CT5-V Blackwing) the CT4-V Blackwing has a lot resting on its shoulders. The 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing is one of those cars. Sometimes within the first mile of driving a car you know that it’s spectacular.

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