V lands the development of cadillac's attack on AMG and M: the CTS-V

摘要

There are some important firsts involved in the conception, execution and production of the new Cadillac CTS-V. First, it will be the single most powerful Cadillac-branded car ever offered for sale to the public. Second, it will be the first manual-shift V8 Cadillac built by General Motors since the early 1940s (Cadillac was the first GM division to adopt automatic transmissions as standard equipment, in 1948). Third, it will be Cadillac's first entry into the high-performance luxury car market, to be joined there soon after by the Chevrolet Corvette-based XLR roadster. Fourth, the CTS-V is the first Cadillac, and the first car, to be put into production under the auspices of the new GM Performance Division whose executive director is Mark Reuss (pronounced "Royce"), son of former GM president Lloyd Reuss. It will be built in the Lansing, Michigan, factory where the Toyota-style GM flexible production system has been installed.