Contract Kerfuffle Leaves Blackwing V8 Fate Undecided
GM recently sold a plant to an Italian manufacturing company who incorrectly thought the V8 came as a packaged deal.
In true GM fashion, the American automaker went through yet another financial crisis. When GM was developing the Blackwing V8, they poured a lot of time and just as much money into perfecting it. The 4.2-liter powerhouse was set to power the CT5 and a sportier Escalade, but settled for one car – the CT6-V. With heavy hearts, Cadillac told the world that they were too broke to have it power much else. Though, Steve Carlisle, president of Cadillac, promises disheartened enthusiasts that every car forward will have a smidgen of the Blackwing in them.
According to Jacob Oliva from Motor1, Cadillac made a few business moves that just might allow the Blackwing to rise from the ashes. First, GM made the difficult decision of selling their propulsion engineering center in Turin, Italy to a company known as Punch Group. In case that name isn’t familiar, Punch Group is known for their development in driveline solutions for the automotive market. It is also business partners with Manifattura Automobili Torino (MAT), the makers of the revived Stratos, as well as the Japanese all-electric supercar, the Aspark Owl. This fact will be important in a little bit. Stay tuned.
With the purchase of GM’s plant, Punch Group figured that it also meant they bought the rights to sell, distribute and manufacture the 550 hp twin-turbo marvel. MAT had announced that they had plans to use the American powerhouse in their yet-to-be revealed, and very limited edition car.
However, that was the furthest from the truth.
“We have an agreement with General Motors,” said MAT president Paolo Garella. “It’s a very-very interesting engine, a 4.2-liter twin-turbo reverse-flow V-8. I believe that for Cadillac, it’s discontinued. They aren’t using it anymore.”
However, not long after their excitable announcement to use the engine, GM was quick to announce an opposing statement. Apparently, Punch was so excited about the purchase they misread the sale contract.
“We do not have an agreement in place with Manifattura Automobili Torino (MAT) to provide or sell the Blackwing engine,” said a Cadillac spokesperson as a response to Hagerty’s article discussing the Blackwing. “Furthermore, although MAT may be working with the Punch Group, we have not licensed this engine as part of the Turin Propulsion Engineering Center sale to Punch Group.”
Eager to defend themselves, MAT published a response to GM:
“We thank GM for the clarification,” said MAT. “Although a signed agreement was not finalized between the parties, we were under the impression that our counterpart was committing to making this engine available to MAT at conditions yet to be defined. All the agreed joint commercial activities, such as the participation with the engine to the cancelled GIMS2020, were based on this assumption. Furthermore, we were not aware of the sale of the Turin Propulsion Engineering Center to Punch Group until the official announcement on February 27th. We hope that this misunderstanding will not compromise our relations with GM and possible future collaborations.”
Ouch. GM’s clarification means that MAT’s plans to keep the Blackwing legend alive are nothing but hot air. More important, it also means the fate of the Blackwing engine is in the air. We just hope that all it actually means is that Cadillac is keeping it on the back burner to use in another car further down the line. Our fingers are definitely crossed.
Photos: Cadillac
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