In the mid-90s the Cadillac brand desperately needed a shot in the arm, as the nameplate lacked any sort of performance vehicle to entice younger buyers. It wasn’t until the Cadillac CTS-V debuted well into the 21st century that Cadillac finally had a fast, fun car, and the V-Series has proven a popular option with Cadillac buyers in the decade since it debuted.
Going forward, the 2014 Cadillac CTS introduced the new Vsport badge alongside the also-new 3.6 liter twin-turbo V6, which will find its way into the Cadillac XTS Vsport and the ATS-V, too. The Detroit News reports that Cadillac hopes the V-Sport badge will represent a substantial number of sales, and could even spawn its own sub-brand.
So what exactly does that mean? It means that going forward, Cadillac will attach the Vsport moniker, which adds a special grille and badging in addition to the twin-turbo V6, to many more models in the future. This means that if the Cadillac Elmiraj concept goes into production, it could be a prime candidate for the new Vsport moniker, among others.
Where does that leave Cadillac’s V-series then? Well apparently the V-series Cadillacs will also soldier on as the top-tier performance line of GM’s luxury arm, with the Vsport models offering more performance than the typical sedan, but not as much as the V-series. Get all that? Basically, Cadillac is making an aggressive push into the luxury-performance front, in case that wasn’t evident from Cadillac’s obsession with the ATS and Nurburgring.
A 400+ horsepower twin-turbo V6 is a great way to launch a new sub-brand, but is Cadillac starting to spread itself too thin?