Spy Shots: Cadillac CTS-V Coupe spotted testing
by Dan Roth on Feb 27th 2009 at 10:59AM 
"Blue skies are gonna clear up, put on a happy face!" Why the singing? Despite the recent stoppage of further development on high performance vehicles, it looks like the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe might make it out of the barn before the doors are shut. While we would have settled for the uninterrupted arrival of the CTS Coupe, the fact that a mule has been spied running around with V-Series markings is all the more exciting. Perhaps the all-conquering V-Series of the two door CTS was already too far underway to scrap, or perhaps the badging on the mule is just a reminder of quashed dreams. Thanks for the tip, Walt.
[Source: Autoweek Photo: Chris Doane/Priddy]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Serge 11:04AM (2/27/2009)
YES!!! I was afraid GM would chicken out... but I guess they don't have to change much from the CTS-V.
I still don't know why people insist on calling it CTS-V... it should be CTC-V. I hope GM corrects this.
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Erik 11:10AM (2/27/2009)
Good call Serge, it really should be CTC-V. Regardless of what you call it though, this thing is gonna be bad ass.
Liquid 12:06PM (2/27/2009)
Maybe they are afraid a "CTC" will confuse southeast Michigan residents who are familiar with the Chrysler Technical Center. Stupid alphanumeric badging...
the vegas style guy 1:40PM (2/27/2009)
It should be an Eldorado. I hate all those stupid letters and numbers on cars!
Tourian 2:28PM (2/27/2009)
It's not going to be "corrected." Its their car, Cadillac can call it whatever they want. And its going to be called CTS-V coupe. CTS has been established as a strong brand name, they don't want to dillute it by adding another "name." Plus this lets them count all the CTS variants in as one when it comes time to tally sales numbers, like their competitors do with "E-class" "3-series" etc.
koloth44 11:08AM (2/27/2009)
Please oh please let this see production, even if only for a year or two. I loved the coupe concept, I love the CTS-V. Combine the two and it goes from "great cars that I would really like" to "I'll sell a kidney, part of my liver, and possibly my wife because I must posess it."
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Chris 11:37AM (2/27/2009)
LOL! Ditto!
KeatMP 2:11PM (2/27/2009)
ahahaha
Will 4:09PM (2/27/2009)
Well...there go my plans for buying a house.
JDMlover 11:09AM (2/27/2009)
Hmmmmmm.....559Hp rwd in a coupe......sounds good to me.
A car from Cad i can finally like. =)
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Frylock350 12:04PM (2/27/2009)
JDMLover said something positive about an American product? Somebody check the temperature in hell.
Serge 12:10PM (2/27/2009)
I tried... my nutz almost froze off.
caddy-v 1:54PM (2/27/2009)
But you still have to hold your breath until the "Wizard of Auto Baffoonary" SeaUrchin has his say.
P.V. 7:28PM (2/27/2009)
I think JDMlover has changed. He made a positive comment about the Hyundai Equus the other day. It's amazing (and so is this car)!
BTW, I think the reason it is called the CTS Coupe is because Cadillac seems to have dropped the name for which "CTS" is an acronym and the name CTS seems to have a lot more brand equity at this point than the potential "CTC" (though the latter is of course more logical based on the old branding).
Luis 11:11AM (2/27/2009)
It's a car so many people like but relatively few will buy it. That's the problem with GM.
I hate to say it, but it's probably going to fail, and not for lack of being a good product, but just the niche market it's trying to fill isn't that large. Who knows, maybe they can eek a profit out of it, but I doubt it.
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Mazda FTW! 11:42AM (2/27/2009)
You make no business sense. This will be a low-volume, high-profit margin vehicle. How is it going to fail? All GM cars don't have to be rental-level econo-boxes. I know many import fanboys who now adore GM products heavily based on recent products such as the CTS-V and ZR-1.
Torrent 1:30PM (2/27/2009)
They're not going to make this in Civic numbers and just have it sitting on lots. I think Dealers will perhaps get 2 or 3 allocation. I'm sure they'll just be "testing the waters" as they say.
Chase 1:44PM (2/27/2009)
Range-toppers like the CTS-V are awesome car-business implements. Since they are based off of a high volume car, they can still take advantage of economies of scale for the vast majority of their components. Most of the time, as opposed to passing the savings directly on to the consumer, a company (like GM), will opt to make a bigger profit instead. This allows them to lower the price of their volume vehicle, and thus increase the economy of scale even further.
Apex 11:12AM (2/27/2009)
@ Serge, people call it the CTS-V because that IS the name of the car. No matter what you THINK it should be called, it is the CTS coupe. They built this V along with other pre-production models 2 weeks ago in Lansing. It is the real deal V, not just badges.
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Serge 12:14PM (2/27/2009)
Umm...
CTS = Catera Touring Sedan
CTS Coupe = Cater Touring Sedan Coupe ???
STS = Seville Touring Sedan
ETC = ElDorado Touring Coupe
CTC = Catera Touring Coupe
People like must have came up with the stupid alpha-numeric naming schemes that are being used by 99% of auto manufacturers.