Cadillac’s Blackwing V8 May Not be Completely Dead Yet

• The Cadillac CT6 is done but the engine may live on.

• The twin-turbo V8 makes 550-horsepower and deserves to live on.

• Cadillac’s desire to compete in every segment could lead to a heavier-hitting CT5-V.

Cadillac’s twin-turbocharged 4.2-litre Blackwing V8 is like a dish that was carefully prepared by one of the best chefs in the world, shown to us only to have it taken away before getting a chance to sample it. This 550-horsepower highly-advanced mill was conceived to serve the Cadillac CT6-V, which it did for about a week, only to see the Cadillac flagship sedan be canceled.

While the Cadillac CT6 was a fine automobile, its timing was off. The same could be said for the 4-cam, all-aluminum Blackwing V8 but unlike a car, an engine can live on in other ways. In fact, Manifattura Automobili Torino, or MAT, the maker of the cool New Stratos, has purchased a few examples. What about within GM? Can it live on?

Motor Trend spoke to Cadillac‘s executive chief engineer, Brandon Vivian, and he had this to say about the question:

“Would I relish the opportunity to put [the Blackwing] in something else? Yes. [Cadillac] continue[s] to look for opportunities to use the engine,” adding that its future depends on the “right combination of the product [the engine] is going into [and] the segment it’s going to compete in.”

The most likely avenues to Blackwing can go down is the all-new Caddy Escalade super-SUV’s and within the smaller CT5-V’s engine bay. It seems very unlikely that Cadillac will launch a new product for the engine especially after recently introducing their new Celestiq flagship sedan.

We can’t wait to read more about this engine’s future.