*new* Pwr Windows & Locks, Cruise, Alloys, Onstar, Leather, Xm Radio 8474n on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Cadillac CT6 beefs up with 400-hp twin-turbo V6

Cadillac's engine lineup is set to get a makeover led by the potent powerplants under the hood of the CT6. Our man Steven Ewing is onsite at an event in Detroit reporting all the details. Here's what we know so far: The CT6's top engine will be a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6. It's the first twin-turbo with cylinder deactivation, which essentially makes the V6 able to convert to a V4 unit. Power will be 400 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 400 pound-feet of torque at just 2,500 rpm. No word on what a potential CT6-V would get. The CT6 will also have a naturally aspirated V6 that Cadillac is claiming to be all-new. It's rated at 335 hp at 6,800 rpm and 284 lb-ft at 5,300 rpm. That's an improvement of 14 hp and nine lb-ft compared with today's 3.6-liter V6, and fuel economy increases nine percent. Cadillac says it's the highest output for a naturally aspirated V6 that's SAE-certified and runs on regular fuel. Both of these V6s will have stop/start technology and will be paired to with eight-speed automatic transmissions. The 3.6-liter V6 will also be used in the 2016 CTS and the 2016 ATS. Meanwhile, Ewing reports that Cadillac says the ATS-V is actually more powerful than initially announced, though there are no numbers to flesh that claim out as yet. The brand also plans to offer four- and six-cylinder diesel engines in various vehicles and new V8 options. The CT6 bows at the New York Auto Show. It will use an aluminum-intensive body that reduces weight by 198 pounds compared with a steel setup and continues Cadillac's creased design language used on the CTS and ATS models. The CT6 goes into production late this year in Detroit. Related Video: Cadillac Next-Gen V-6 Engines Led by 3.0L Twin Turbo Segment-leading power, efficiency in world's most advanced six-cylinder DETROIT – Cadillac today announced a new generation of V-6 engines, led by an exclusive Twin Turbo V-6 that will be one of the industry's most advanced six-cylinder gasoline engines. It leverages the latest technology to balance efficiency, performance and refinement in the upcoming, top-of-the-range CT6 luxury performance sedan. The all-new Cadillac 3.0L Twin Turbo is designed to achieve new thresholds of refinement and specific output for the brand's new prestige luxury sedan, which makes its world premiere March 31, at the New York International Auto Show. Production begins late this year at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant.

MIT puts V2V technology on its 2015 Top Ten list

Of all the technologies swimming around the automotive world, it is vehicle-to-vehicle communication that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has fished out as one of its Ten Breakthrough Technologies of 2015. It joined emerging tech like brain organoids, supercharged photosynthesis, and Project Loon on the list, and got the nod over autonomous driving because, as the MIT Technology Review wrote, V2V communication "is likely to have a far bigger and more immediate effect on road safety." How so? Because actual cars transmitting data like their location, speed, steering angle, and state of braking to one another at least ten times per second provides a greater degree of awareness than sensor readings and algorithms. The US Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have been working for years on standards and a regulatory schedule for introducing V2V to the marketplace, and Cadillac plans to incorporate V2V into at least one of its vehicles by 2017. Since we've begun the year with a number of stories of cars being hacked into, that got us wondering about the security of V2V communications. In a recent piece by our own Pete Bigelow on what motorists should know about getting their cars hacked into, he wrote that although cyber break-ins are extremely difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to do remotely, V2V is "one more conceivable avenue a hacker could use to impact multiple cars at a given time." So we spoke to Wilmington, Massachusetts-based Security Innovation about it. The automotive consultancy company has been working with the DOT since 2003 on V2V technology and the issues around it - namely security and privacy - and its chief scientist, William Whyte, is the technical editor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1609.2 standard outlining its security protocols. Those protocols are expected to be finalized by the DOT toward the end of this year and then come into effect in 2016, and the company's Aerolink product is the security solution Cadillac will use. Whyte said, "If you hack into a car, V2V is the hardest place to start," and Pete Samson, the general manager of Security Innovation's automotive team, said "There are ten or 12 alternate attack surfaces" around the car that would make much easier targets.

Next-gen Cadillac Escalade debuting October 7 in NYC

Cadillac will unveil the next Escalade in October, at an event in New York City. It will be the sole member of GM's large SUV family to not get a debut at the Texas State Fair, which we don't think is all that surprising, considering the kind of clientele attracted by the big Caddy.
The new truck, from the few teaser images and spy shots we've seen, has evolved with the rest of the Cadillac range. We've got a glimpse of its tall, thin headlights, which look like an evolution of what's on the current truck. Expect some kind of egg-crate grille, reminiscent of the new CTS and ATS, while Cadillac's CUE system should feature heavily in what we hope is a thoroughly revised cabin.
The event takes place on October 7, so check back then for more info on the all-new Escalade.