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Cadillac Wants More Powerful ATS-V to Fight Mercedes' Black Series

Cadillac ATS-V 1 photo
Photo: Cadillac
In a time when Germans - and by Germans we mean Mercedes-Benz and BMW - are avid for more power, the Americans incline to adopt the 'attack is the best defence' approach.
Don't think what you just read is about political and diplomacy issues. No, because we don't do that at autoevolution. We're talking of course about Cadillac wanting to add more power on its performance models so that it could rival its European counterparts.

According to Car and Driver, Cadillac wants more that it already achieved after launching the ATS-V and the CTS-V. We already know they intend on coming up with more V versions in the future, but the source we mentioned a few lines ago says the carmakers wants to spawn a more hardcore version for the ATS-V.

Also, that could happen in the near future, but for now, clients will get the ATS-V in both coupé and sedan configurations, powered by a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 plant.

So, will we truly see a Cadillac-build competitor for the fierce Mercedes-AMG Black Series models? Chief engineer Dave Leone apparently thinks the answer is yes while another unspecified source claimed the car could debut in 2017.

"We might have something down the road that is a little bit more aggressive,” the Caddy official explained. When asked about all-wheel drive systems and automatic transmissions, Leone admitted the company he works for considered such solutions for the ATS-V, but in the end they didn't materialize.

The reason? A dual-clutch gearbox would have increased the car's overall weight, the same as would an added all-wheel drive system. Added weight on the front axle was also posing an inconvenience in terms of road behavior and understeering, so now you see why Cadillac rejected these options.
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