Anyone who spends a lot of time analyzing the automobile industry invariably spends a lot of time... speculating. Sometimes, a piece of news regarding one model could mean repercussions regarding the future of others. The key is to keep eyes and ears wide open, and make reasoned deductions.
So it is that last week we got the announcement from Cadillac of a performance variant: the CT6-V. This new Caddy will benefit from a new 4.2L twin-turbo V8 developed internally by the engineers at Cadillac.
No sooner had this news been made public that speculation began regarding the logical consequences of the move. A lot of that speculation quickly crystalized around one likehood: the mechanics designed for the CT6 V-Sport could well end up in the upcoming new mid-engined Corvette.
The clues pointing to this are there, but to see them it's necessary to look back. Last November, rumours surfaced of a document from the IHS Markit group that referred simultaneously to a new limited-production 4.2L V8 by 2019 and to the new mid-engined Corvette. The size of the bloc annnounced by Cadillac last week? 4.2L. First interesting fact.
On an online forum devoted to the Corvette, little time was wasted establishing a link, especially as the design of the lighter, more compact new turbo seems to be tailor-made for an engine bloc that would sit in the mid-section of a car. What's more, the Caddy unit will be built at GM's performance centre in Bowling Green, Kentucky. And where is the Corvette assembled? Bowling Green. Second interesting fact.
The only false note in the narrative so far concerns the power output amount announced last November for the V8 engine (650 hp), and that of the engine of the CT6 V-Sport (550 hp). Rumours swirling around the mid-engined Corvette have long referred to a 5.5L V8 delivering 800 hp. It is entirely possible tha the engine powering the CT6 V-Sport will serve as the base engine of the future C8.
It will be very interesting to see where the next details that come out about the new mid-engined Corvette lead us. Dreamed about by designers since the late 1960s, this new generation is set to become a reality. All it took was some 50 years of waiting...