IT’S OFFICIAL – THE CADILLAC CTS-V WAGON WILL BE READY FOR 2011

556 horsepower in a station wagon, y’all. A more succinct scribe would end the article at the first period. 556 horsepower….. in a station wagon, a very handsome station wagon at that. ‘Nuff said.

Oh, but there’s more. The Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon was already a beloved car around these parts. The Good Car Guy named the CTS Sport Wagon to The Good 12 v3.0 for 2010. Perhaps of equal importance is the former placement of the Cadillac CTS-V in The Good 12 v2.0 for 2009. More likely than not, the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon was the main vehicle that knocked the CTS-V sedan out of the running for a repeat performance, with a little help from the Nissan 370Z and Kia Soul.

But I digress. Wagons are a rare breed in North America. Rarer still are wagons with rear-wheel drive and V8 engines. Holding fast in Fort Exclusivity with McLaren F1s and Bugatti Veyrons are station wagons with rear-wheel drive, a supercharged V8 engine, swollen bodywork around the wheels and on the hood, and a six-speed manual transmission. (An automatic will be available.) And to put it all into perspective once again, this is a Cadillac. Until the alluring Cadillac XTS enters production, you could potentially see the antiquated Cadillac DTS and this Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon in the same showroom.

Casual observers might believe the CTS-V Sport Wagon is the “thing which doesn’t belong”, but it’s becoming more and more obvious that the luxury division of General Motors is on a path – a slow and winding path – toward fielding a complete lineup of genuinely competitive cars. It’s the Cadillac DTS “which doesn’t belong”.

More on the CTS-V Sport Wagon now. As in the CTS-V Coupe and regular CTS-V sedan, the Sport Wagon’s powerplant generates 556 horsepower and 551 lb-ft of torque from a supercharged 6.2L V8, a brother to the supercharged V8 in the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. Unlike the Cadillac CTS Coupe or the CTS sedan, the CTS Sport Wagon holds 25.4 cubic feet of cargo behind its rear seats or 58 cubic feet with the rear seats folded. Standard equipment includes Magnetic Ride Control. Brembo brakes are all yours. Midnight Silver is the colour you’ll want unless every preliminary test drive showcases the dark shade pictured here. CTS-V Coupes look fine in red, CTS-V sedans look great in black, but the subtlety wagon drivers hold dear fits with Midnight Silver.

Production of the Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon begins late this year. Cadillac will attempt to sell this car in Europe and the Middle East, too. Don’t expect to see huge sales of the low-volume bodystyle in an already low-volume performance-branded fraternity. But the CTS-V Sport Wagon’s success shouldn’t be gauged that way, anyhow. Who knows, perhaps Cadillac will be pleasantly surprised as owners of the $53,310 Audi A6 Avant, $63,900 BMW 550i GranTurismo, and $50,000 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon trade in their slower German steeds for a $63,000 Cadillac.

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