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Hottest Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V rumored to offer manual transmissions

We recently received one large detail to fill in the picture of the hottest versions of the Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V, the sedans maybe or maybe not called Blackwing. As you know, due to a platform switch caused by cost cutting at parent GM, the 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8 won't figure in the equation because it won't fit in the engine bay of either sedan. The new, gone-too-soon engine is too wide and too tall. The hottest V models will turn to stalwarts in the range, the CT4-V appearing to get the 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 used in the departed ATS-V, the CT5-V working with the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 also put to use in the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and C7 Corvette Z06. But all of this could mean good news for three-pedal enthusiasts; both engines have been paired with manual transmissions previously, and Muscle Cars & Trucks says both of the coming flagship V models will get manual transmissions. We've expected a manual in the CT4-V. Not only did GM President Mark Reuss say, "Cadillac will make manuals in V-Series" during the launch of the milder V variants, but spy video of the CT4-V from last summer captured a camouflaged CT4-V looking and acting like a car with a manual gearbox. However, no one surmised that the CT5-V would get a manual, too. None of the bigger sedan's competition is sold with a stick shift, and the retired CTS-V with the same 6.2-liter supercharged V8 was only sold with an eight-speed automatic, while just one aisle over the Camaro ZL1 offered a six-speed manual and the Corvette Z06 a seven-speed manual. The last time Cadillac put a row-your-own in the midsize luxury scorcher was the second-gen CTS-V — the one that came in a wagon bodystyle, too — which paired a supercharged LS9 V8 derived from the C6 Corvette ZR1 and a six-speed Tremec manual. MCT doesn't cite any sources, so take this as rumor for now. It's possible to read Reuss' statement in line with this rumor, though. The assumption has been that the plural "manuals" referred to multiple stick shifts going into multiple CT4-V sedans, whereas he could have meant there will be two manual-equipped sedans in the V-Series range. We'll hope for the best and see what pops out of the transmission tunnels on both sedans when they debut later this year. Related Video:

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

GM, UAW poaching Nissan workers in Tennessee

General Motors and the United Auto Workers are going on a recruitment drive at the Spring Hill factory in Tennessee, and they're hoping to poach some skilled workers from Nissan's nearby plant in Smyrna, TN. The General and the union even bought a billboard advertising for industrial electricians near the Japanese automaker's facility, according to the Daily News Journal. The reason for the billboard was simple. "GM was short of electricians," said Tim Stannard, the president of the UAW local at Spring Hill, to the Daily News Journal. The factory currently builds the Chevrolet Equinox but has a contract to assemble the next generation of Ecotec engines and the Cadillac XT5, which replaces the SRX. Thanks to the $185-million deal, employment there is expected to double by May 2016, according to Stannard, with roughly 1,800 additional union jobs. Beyond just several billboards, GM has job postings online for the Spring Hill plant looking for workers with specific skills. There has already been some interest in the positions among Nissan employees, Stannard indicated. According to a recent study by the Center for Automotive Research, the average GM worker currently makes $58 an hour, including benefits. Comparatively, Nissan pays an average of $42 an hour with benefits. The General's number could change in the coming weeks because its contract with the UAW is about to expire, and higher wages are among the major negotiating points.