The Overlooked Cadillac CT6-V: A Hand-Built V8 Sedan Gone Too Soon

2-liter twin-turbo V8 that shared almost nothing with GM's usual small-block engine family. Each unit was assembled by hand, and the engine sat in a sedan with an aluminum-heavy chassis, all-wheel drive, rear steering, and magnetic dampers. Then the car disappeared almost as soon as buyers noticed it.

Today, that decision has made it one of the most intriguing used American performance cars.

Instead of a traditional pushrod V8, Cadillac's engineers went with a clean-sheet design: dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, and twin turbochargers placed inside the V of the engine, a hot-V layout. The engine could produce up to 20 psi of boost and used cylinder deactivation.

It was rated at 550 horsepower and 640 lb-ft of torque in the CT6-V, paired with a 10-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. Six builders hand-assembled these engines at GM's Performance Build Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The CT6-V itself looked understated, with only subtle performance cues. Underneath, it used GM's Omega platform, which mixed aluminum and steel, with about two-thirds aluminum. It included Magnetic Ride Control, active rear steering, and Brembo brakes. In Sport mode, the AWD system could send 80 percent of torque to the rear.

8 seconds, according to testing.

The name "Blackwing" originally referred to this V8, but after the engine's future vanished, Cadillac reused the name for the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing models. The CT5-V Blackwing uses a supercharged 6.2-liter small-block, which has no mechanical link to the original 4.2-liter twin-turbo.

Cadillac initially offered 275 CT6-Vs for 2019, and that allocation sold out in about two hours. S. and Canada, including the lower-output CT6 Platinum. But GM had already marked the Detroit-Hamtramck plant for conversion to electric vehicle production. North American CT6 production ended in early 2020, and the site later became Factory ZERO.

That left the Blackwing V8 without a home.

As of August 2026, TrueCar shows only eight CT6-Vs for sale nationwide, with prices from about $45,359 to $72,884. New 2020 models started at $94,895, while the 2019 model launched around $88,790 to $90,000. The CT6-V never was cheap, and its rarity alone doesn't guarantee rising values.

But few modern American sedans combine a Cadillac-exclusive hand-built V8, hot-V turbos, rear-biased AWD, magnetic dampers, rear steering, and full-size luxury, and fewer still came and went this quickly.