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Cadillac's Blackwing V8 was the best engine at the worst time

It should be clear that GM knows how to innovate and engineer excellent products when it wants to. Cadillac's 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8 is recent proof of that. Yet, as related in an extensive Road & Track piece, the Blackwing became victim to some of The General's bugbears, like the reticence to — for whatever reasons — unleash its excellence everywhere, fund that excellence, and be consistent with that excellence over the long term beyond the Corvette and full-sized pickups and SUVs. The R/T story relates tales told by "several people deeply involved with the Blackwing project" about how an engine 18 years in the making was deprived of its reasons for being in less than three. Starting around 2000, GM spent a dozen years building Cadillac up to the point where the American luxury brand could rationally flip to the chapter called, "Taking the Fight to the Germans, but for Real this Time." The first steps in the plan meant an exclusive platform and an exclusive engine. The platform was called Omega. You know the engine's name. They were going to be the aluminum-blocked fist and velvet glove enabling Cadillac to break on through to the other side of luxury — proper luxury to global standards, that is — with a range of beautiful and dynamic crossovers and sedans. An engineer involved in the project estimates GM poured $16 million into the Blackwing's clean-sheet development. Many more seven-figure sums went into creating the first sedan on the Omega platform, the CT6. The automaker dropped millions again poaching ex-Audi and Infiniti chief Johan de Nysschen, and moving Cadillac's headquarters to New York City in 2014. Further pallets of cash funded the development and debut of the Escala concept at Pebble Beach in 2016. In 2018, GM revealed its dramatically named DOHC twin-turbo V8. Considering what came before, the Blackwing clearly wasn't designed for cars. It was designed for world domination. However, against the backdrop of plummeting sedan sales, the CT6 didn't sell like GM had hoped. The automaker hesitated to marshal another fleet of Brinks trucks to fund entries into a cratering bodystyle. Removing sedans from the world domination equation created more difficult math for the crossovers and the Escala.

Best and Worst GM Cars

Oh yes, because we just love receiving angry letters from devoted Pontiac Grand Am enthusiasts, we have decided to go there. Based on a heated group Slack conversation, the topic came up about the best and worst GM cars. First of all time, and then those currently on sale, and then just mostly a rambling discussion of Oldsmobiles our parents and grandparents owned (or engineered). Eventually, three of us made the video above. Like it? Maybe we can make more. Many awesome GM cars are definitely going unmentioned here, so please let us know your bests and worsts in the comments below. Mostly, it's important to note that this post largely exists as a vehicle for delivering the above video that dives far deeper into GM's greatest hits and biggest flops, specifically those from the 1980s and 1990s. What you'll find below is a collection of our editors identifying a best current and best-of-all-time choice, plus a worst current and worst-of-all-time choice. Comprehensive it is not, but again, comments. -Senior Editor James Riswick Best Current GM Vehicle Chevrolet Corvette We were flying by the seats of our pants a bit in this first outing and my notes were similarly extemporaneous. When it came time to tie it all together on camera, I failed spectacularly. Thank the maker for text, because this gives me the opportunity to perhaps slightly better explain my convoluted reasoning. I chose the C8 Corvette because it's simply overwhelmingly good, and it's merely the baseline from which this generation of Corvette will be expanded.  While the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing (more on that in a minute) is an amazing snapshot of GM's current performance standing and its little sibling so enraptured me that I went out and bought one, their existence is fleeting. Corvette will live on; forced-induction Cadillac sport sedans, not so much. So while all three are amazing machines when viewed in a vacuum, the Corvette stands above them as both a reflection of GM's current performance credentials and a signpost of what is to come. So, given the choice between the C8 and the 5V-Blackwing right now, I'd choose the C8. In 10 years, when the Blackwing is no longer in production and Corvette is in its 9th generation? Well, that might be a different story. Now, just pretend I said something even remotely that coherent when we get to the part of the video where I try to make an argument for the 5-V Blackwing as best GM car I've ever driven. Or just laugh at me while I ramble incoherently.

2021 Cadillac Escalade shown inside and out in leaked photos

Fresh off the official reveals of the all-new 2021 Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, here come leaked images showing the redesigned version of their upmarket sibling, the Cadillac Escalade, inside and out. The images were posted on Instagram by user @allcarnews, with a hat tip to Jalopnik, and give us our best look yet at the unadorned exterior and the new interior.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by A L L C A R N E W S (@allcarnews) on Dec 11, 2019 at 12:22am PST Let’s start with the body design of the large luxury SUV, with bears strong echoes of both the aforementioned Suburban and Yukon, albeit with a chrome stripe along the lower doors and chrome trim framing the windows. Then thereÂ’s the redesigned grille, which looks like a larger-maw version of the XT6Â’s grille and adopts the same horizontal LED headlights. Instagram commenters also liken the exterior to the new XT6, CadillacÂ’s smaller three-row crossover, and even the Hyundai Palisade. The swept-back, slightly tapered rear end in profile even reminds us a little of the Lincoln Aviator. All of which will beg the question of whether Cadillac has done enough to distinguish its flagship SUV to compete against the Lincoln Navigators of the world.             View this post on Instagram                   (UPDATED) LEAKED: 2021 Escalade ? _____________________________________ [12/11/19] (NEW INTERIOR SHOTS) CadillacÂ’s Escalade for 2021 has been leaked and well.. the exterior is subjective.. What I will point out is the side profile which is unfortunately still identical to the Tahoe & Suburbab albeit with a chrome bar on the bottom and chrome window frame trim. The rear gets full sized LED verticals taillights again, but now more integrated into the rear. The front is big and loud but looks like a blown up XT6. After reading your comments, it seems a mixed bag, especially with the horizontal headlights (which i lightened to show the elements) but the massive verticals LED DRLÂ’s remain thankfully. ???????????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????? ? @Allcarnews Spec Sheet: Powertrain wise there will be a carry over 6.2L 420HP+ V8 paired to a 10 speed auto gearbox. A supercharged V8 version (or TT V8) will be coming in the future with up to 650HP in some sort of V designation. Expect blacked out wheels, trim and grille. ? ???????????? ???????????? ??????????? But..