[DRKS1D3]

The story of this vehicle (CT6 and its variants) and this engine is a tragedy of monumental proportions. The CT6 lasted a mere 5 MY's and the Blackwing engine was utilized for 2 MY's. All of this wasted money on design, engineering, development, etc.. It just makes you shake your head in disgust. This engine was hyped so much, only to be thrown into the GM scrapheap. I don't get it.

"At Cadillac, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.".

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/03...otors-product/

[LU8]

This isn't the first time this has happened at GM. You look at what they do with model and engine changes, and you wonder if there was any real thought put into it. Just bad planning, and not enough ground work is what it is. Then trying to mask over it with marketing.

In the past it was models coming good after a few years, and then getting canned when they were just starting to show promise.

[lbls1]

I'm very sure that the engine will re-surface. GM is all out of sorts right now; I wish they would figure themselves out before they are forced out of business. On the one hand, I am glad that the LT4 is still around, but then again the twin turbo v8 had a lot of possibilities.....they will need to figure out how to manufacture it cheaper and more in line with a regular production scenario.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by LU8

This isn't the first time this has happened at GM. You look at what they do with model and engine changes, and you wonder if there was any real thought put into it. Just bad planning, and not enough ground work is what it is. Then trying to mask over it with marketing.

In the past it was models coming good after a few years, and then getting canned when they were just starting to show promise.

I actually feel some sorta way reading this. I was literally the Director of Powertrain Product Planning at GM 2001 - 2005 and therefore hands on in the planning of which engines go into which vehicles when. Planning worked hand in hand with Product Engineering to plan the engine and transmission combinations for each vehicle. One of the reasons I have first hand knowledge of why there was no Camaro 2003 - 2009.

Deciding which products go in which vehicles and when is a high stakes balancing act of understanding what customers want, what competitors are doing, how each entry is going to affect regulatory compliance (fuel economy, emissions, crash testing, etc) and financial factors (tooling investment, capital equipment required, profit potential, etc). A lot of cool stuff happened during my time in that chair. And a lot of cool stuff was considered that didn’t happen. All in all, one of my favorite assignments during my years at GM.

[snizzle]

Always enjoy your posts Martinjlm, what is your take on Blackwing? Why is it missing? They surely didn't recoup development costs.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by snizzle

Always enjoy your posts Martinjlm, what is your take on Blackwing? Why is it missing? They surely didn't recoup development costs.

The cool thing about Planning is plans change. The frustrating thing about Planning is plans change. It takes longer to develop an engine from a clean sheet of paper than it takes to develop a vehicle from a clean sheet of paper. Blackwing launched after Omega. The design for Blackwing could have started before or at the same time as Omega. I do not know for sure, but I suspect it to be the case. Blackwing was designed to optimize Omega, and with an assumption of a certain product rollout of nameplates on Omega. The plans for Omega changed. Dramatically. Forcing the engine into other platforms would be flushing good money after bad.

Choosing my words V-E-R-Y carefully now. Here is a potential scenario...

Blackwing packages in the Omega platform.
Blackwing does not package in Alpha, Alpha2 or T1XX platforms
Omega platform appears to have been vacated
Omega, Alpha, and Alpha2 are expected to all converge to a new common architecture (VSS-R)
Blackwing could resurface when VSS-R rolls in.
There is a chance that VSS-R doesn’t happen. In that case, Blackwing will make wonderful cocktail discussion 10 years from now. “Remember that Cadillac engine....”

[snizzle]

Let's hope it's not the last we see of Blackwing even if we have to wait for VSS-R. I hear the engine is brilliant.