By Jeff Glucker
The enthusiasts with money, yes, but it’s built with those who love driving in mind. Cadillac is going to plunk a six-speed manual gearbox behind the bolts of the engine set to power the upcoming CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing. In fact, the manual gearbox is the standard choice. It’s the ten-speed automatic that serves as the optional offering. And this shift decision is down to some market research conducted by the automaker. Here’s what it found:
In a recent Harris Poll study conducted on behalf of Cadillac about the current knowledge and adoption of the manual transmission found:
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Sixty-six percent of American adults surveyed know how to drive a manual.
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Of those who do not know how to drive a manual, roughly 40 percent are either somewhat or very interested in learning.
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More than half (55 percent) of American adults say they have owned or leased a car with a manual transmission.
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Interest in driving or learning to drive a manual is higher among those with $75,000 or more in annual household income (64 percent interested) and those between 18-34 in age (62 percent interested).
Also interesting with respect to the manual gearbox is the shift knob that will atop it. Cadillac is turning to 3D printing for some its parts and the V-Series Blackwings will be first in line for some of them. This includes two HVAC ducts, a bracket for the wire harness, and this special medallion for the shift lever.
It’s not just the shift lever that’s exciting with respect to the Blackwing, however. Cadillac will offer real carbon-fiber racing-inspired buckets, magnesium wheels, the fastest reacting magnetic suspension it’s built to date, and more. The automaker says this will make the Blackwing its most luxurious, comfortable, and track-capable car ever.
Alright Cadillac… consider our attention, grasped.
The 2022 Blackwings should arrive sometime in the summer of 2021. Stay tuned for more.
Looks good too . https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5d4e2b2b3a447dd10ac632e6e8df3be4b76787784ffad2a2ea429e2b786f00f.jpg
THAT is the CT6-V with the Blackwing engine. That engine is, oddly enough, going away. And the new Blackwings won’t get it… yes it’s weird, dumb, confusing, etc.
This is a better look at what the CT5-V Blackwing should look like:
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/2021-cadillac-ct5-v-blackwing-rendering-1586443823.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.735xh;0,0.194xh&resize=2048:*
If by “Blackwing” Cadillac now means “black wings attached to the lower perimeter of the vehicle”, I would honestly prefer mine without. The overall shape of that car is nice (and the ducktail isn’t bad, either) but the lower aero bits look boy-racer as hell. I hope it doesn’t wear a bullshit rear diffuser.
Went from Grandads Caddy to a race car , adapt or die .
“Sixty-six percent of American adults surveyed know how to drive a manual.”
I suppose they defined “adults” as being within Cadillac’s target demographics? I can believe two thirds of 50-year-old Americans being able to drive stick, but imagine 18-25 percentages would be a lot closer to zero. Particularly since a lot of the kids who grew up with ridesharing never bothered to learn to drive.
My first thought, too. I seriously doubt 2/3 of Americans know how to drive a stick, unless that classification includes “have watched a Youtube video on how to drive a manual transmission”.
Regardless, I’m sincerely happy this car will be offered with one.
I’m likewise, ah….doutbful…of these statistics. However, if Cadillac is willing to make a bet on them, I’m more than happy to observe! I’m actually very curious to see how this goes for them; some other recent-model cars have tied their manual transmissions only to certain engines, often the lower-power one, and there’s always been the back-and-forth argument about how much of the low manual take rate was due to the fact that people weren’t interested in a manual transmission, and how much was because they decided they’d rather have more power and the higher trim levels.
While I suspect that the manual take rate is still going to be pretty tiny, I also think it’s reasonable to say that manuals are now an enthusiast-driver niche thing than a cost-savings or efficiency choice. As such, I’m intrigued to see whether the CT5-V ends up with a larger manual take rate, since it’s bolting up its manual transmission to the same, full-fat engine as its auto, rather than hamstringing the stick with only a base engine.
Must have been a very targeted poll, eg at a SCCA event? Interesting how 55% have owned the <10% of manual vehicles too.
2/3 of my millennial / gen Z offspring can drive a manual and the third has had enough training that they could do it in a pinch. The oldest has dailied a manual since 16 and prefers one.
So I’m doing my part. 😀
I salute you, sir. I tried, but the wife wouldn’t let my teen driver in a car without airbags.
What do airbags have to do with a manual?
They don’t, except in the context of the recent sale of my E28. I bought that car because it was a model I loved, and I planned to teach my son to drive a manual on it. But my wife wouldn’t let any of our kids ride in the car– much less my eldest drive it– because it lacked airbags.
Modern vehicles with manuals are either too impractical or expensive for our needs, or else are FWD, which I don’t like.
Manual gearboxes as a social status marker in corporate minds? Well, better than accepting the overall death of manuals…
“…most luxurious, comfortable, and track-capable car ever.”
Well, perhaps, but it’ll have to do better than the current record of tenth overall at Le Mans before I concede that last point.
https://www.slotcar-today.com/en/img2/2016/04/cadillac-src-lm-1950-23890.jpg
The Cadillac Le Monstre would have finished higher than that, but for the lack of a shovel. Track-capability does not necessarily include off-track-capability.
Agreed, although for some Cadillacs, track-capability is an essential component of off-track capability.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OEHObxSiPhY/TYgMBNZMMKI/AAAAAAAAAto/1hr_U4xWSSU/s1600/1945-3-19+Life+Cadillac+tank.jpg
these comment threads are the best. you guys rule
The fact that it needs tracks to go off-track is an intractable issue.
Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?
Or a Hellcat?
Or both?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7SVMj78hsgk/TlpWsv5lCNI/AAAAAAAAG_I/TPpVDia1qtM/s640/m18%2Bbuick%2Bad.JPG
The Northstar LMP02 came 9th in 2002. Track-capable, but not luxurious or presumably comfortable.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2002/01/16/034612.1-lg.jpg
I remembered the LMPs doing worse than tenth in earlier years but apparently had lost… track… of that result.
I remembered the LMPs doing worse than tenth in earlier years but apparently had lost… track… of that result.
To be fair most results weren’t that good, in the Race of a Thousand Years I saw them in at Adelaide they came 19th and 20th…
That shift knob looks terrible. I don’t get why it’s printed, a machined part would have looked and felt better; judging by the visible surface finish,
What’s worse is that it appears the transmission is stuck either in 1-3-5-R or 2-4-6 with no way of getting from one range to the other. Personally I’d say 1-3-5-R is overall the more useful choice; I already live with two vehicles that lack reverse, but at least they’re small enough to push in most situations.
My junior year in college I drove a car that occasionally would eat a cotter key in the shift linkage. This generally happened on my way to class.
If it was the 1-2 linkage, that wasn’t an insurmountable problem; I still had 3, 4, and reverse.
The 3-4 linkage was a bigger problem. If it wasn’t already in 4th when things broke, I would pull over and dive under the car to engage 4th gear, and then leave things in 4th until I could fix it after class. Those days I would always circle the parking lot looking for an ideal space, which meant one I could pull all the way through, and with plenty of width between adjacent spaces, so I could stay in 4th gear. I do recall at least one occasion when that wasn’t available and at the end of class, I had to go under the car to take it out of 4th, use reverse, park it in the aisle, then go back underneath to select 4th gear again.
I’m hoping it’s just a terrible photo, but I agree, 3D printing is an odd choice for a high appearance and high touch point part. 3D printing generally requires a lot of finish work to achieve a high appearance quality. That said, machining that would be expensive too.
I’m guessing they wanted something more visible to show off their embrace of the technology that everyone has heard about. Something sexier and more visible than head ducts and wiring brackets.
CNC ftw.
“Let’s call it the Blackwing, to remind everyone how we just killed one of the most promising engine architectures ever!”