SOURCE: Motor1.com, AutoBlog.com & The Drive.com

Enthusiasts met the rollout of the Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V with tepid enthusiasm. The two cars, with 320 (239 kilowatts) and 355 horsepower (265 kilowatts) respectively, didn't rival the high power bar set by cars like the ATS-V and CTS-V before them. But with Cadillac's new twin-turbocharged Blackwing engine, hopes were that the V8 might make its way to upcoming CT5-V and possibly a handful of other vehicles. But a new report suggests that's unlikely to happen.

Cadillac's 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8 debuted only last year, popping up in the CT6 V-Sport — now the CT6-V — with 550 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. The engine's been stymied in every attempt to power a different Cadillac model since then. Its only two use cases have been a first and second run of the original, limited-edition super sedan and the CT6 Platinum V8 trim at a slightly detuned 500 hp and 553 lb-ft. Motor Trend cites "a highly placed source at GM" as saying that the Blackwing won't go into the coming high-performance version of the CT5-V nor in the next-gen Escalade. Left without options, there's a chance the Blackwing will die with the CT6, itself a sedan with its grille on the executioner's block just waiting for the bite of an ax that might or might not shortly fall.

Cost-cutting has been tagged as the reason for this misfortune; Cadillac's sales malaise and lack of clarity as to how to turn sales around led GM to downsize the brand's allowance. The parent company chose to build the new CT5 on the Alpha platform used for the erstwhile ATS and CTS instead of the Omega platform underpinning the CT6. Along with that choice, the MT report says expense reasons nixed fitting the Blacking V8. We know the lower-tier V series CT5 will work with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 making 355 hp and 400 lb-ft. When we heard spy video of the upper-tier V series CT5 out testing, the engine sounded like the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that would be a carryover from the last model.

Early plans called for the CT5 sedan and XT6 three-row crossover to use the same Omega rear-wheel-drive platform as the CT6. That would have made the optional V8 engine a natural fit for the two vehicles. But the CT5 and XT6 don't share the same base as the XT6, and Cadillac says it's too expensive to shoehorn the engine into either vehicle, at least, at the moment.

It's unlikely that the new Escalade gets a unique engine at all. The SUV will probably use a GM-sourced pushrod V8 off the shelf, either one of the 5.3-, 6.2-, or 6.6-liter options already available. The current Escalade uses a 6.2-liter V8 that produces 420 hp (313 kW)and 460 lb-ft (624 Nm) of torque.

We already know that a more-powerful CT5-V is happening. But based on this new report, Cadillac's Blackwing V8 probably isn't hiding under the hood of those prototypes. Considering the CT5-V uses the same Alpha platform as the outgoing ATS (and thus, Camaro), it's possible that the 6.2-liter V8 from the Camaro carries over. If you slap a supercharger on that engine, a la ZL1, it could produce as much as 650 hp (485 kW).