2015 Cadillac ATS-V Spied Dropping Hot Laps on the Nurburgring

It seems like we were right on the money since the first prototype of the performance sedan was caught on film back in May. So what about that powerplant, huh? As things stand now, we expect that under the hood there lies the same 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged direct injection V6 that blends track-bred get-up-and-go with optimal fuel efficiency and low CO2 emissions on the 2014 model year Cadillac XTS Vsport luxury sedan.

With all-wheel drive, 410 horsepower on tap and 5.3 seconds to get from 0 to 60 miles per hour, the XTS Vsport is a well-rounded package, but we expect greater things performance-wise from the up and coming 2015 Cadillac ATS-V in both sedan and coupe flavor. First of all, we expect the addition of 20 to 40 horsepower over the XTS Vsport. That may not be enough to equal the 3.9-second 0 to 60 mph run of the mighty BMW M4, but it's not that far fetched to hope for a sub 4.5-second naught to 60 mph time.

This time around, we can clearly see that the interior gets Recaro bucket seats and the bonnet is adorned with a massive dome. Moreover, the tail light clusters seem to have been mildly redesigned in terms of LED arrangement, while the headlights seem to be pretty much similar to the ones on the usual 2015 Cadillac ATS Sedan unveiled not that long ago. Compared to the latter, the ATS-V Sedan prototype spotted gets a different front grille design and a way more aggressive three-piece lower radiator grille.

All that we can hope for at this moment is that Caddy will drop the HydraMatic 6L45 six-speed automatic in favor of the 8L90 eight-speed from the 2015 Corvette Z06, a gearbox expected to offer full-throttle upshifts "up to eight-hundredths of a second quicker than those of the dual-clutch transmission offered in the Porsche 911."