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Payne: At Detroit Grand Prix, Cadillac’s electric and V-8 brands co-exist
Posted by Talbot Payne on June 3, 2022
Belle Isle — Cadillac Racing isn’t following the brand’s electric makeover just yet. Two weeks after the quiet Cadillac Lyriq — the first model in all-electric-by-2030 lineup — opened for customer orders, Cadillac will headline the Detroit Grand Prix with its window-rattling, V8-powered Cadillac DPi-V.R IMSA Weathertech sports car.
Don’t expect to see the Lyriq on Belle Isle. There will, however, be a fleet of high-performance, gas-fired V-series hellions at Cadillac’s customer display – including the all-new, 682-horsepower, 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V stuffed with a similar, growling V-8 mill as the race car on track.
The DPi-V.R and its production brethren give a glimpse at racing’s V8-powered, hybrid future when Cadillac Racing debuts its next-gen racer at IMSA’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in January, 2023. The so-called GTP Hypercar will gain a rear-axle electric motor in an attempt to build a bridge to electrification. But the V-8 monster is more in line with the brand’s gas-powered, V-series performance models than the Lyriq EV.
Auto racing has long been a key piece of performance vehicle marketing. The paradox of Cadillac’s racing and consumer futures shines a light on the difficulties EVs face as they try to become more than a niche consumer market. Like 97% of the U.S. buying public that did not purchase an EV in 2021, endurance racing is a challenging environment for electric vehicles, where quick fuel stops, high speeds and long distances aren’t conducive to battery power.
“We are getting ready for the pivot to EVs. As you look at the Cadillac entries, we will be racing next year, (those) vehicles will also have an internal combustion engine and hybridization which will develop some electrification benefits to the vehicles during the race,” said GM’s U.S. vice president for motorsports, Jim Campbell, in an interview here before the race weekend kicks off. “That hybrid piece winds up being a pivot piece as well . . . as racing organizations around the world determine where electrification fits into their racing future.”
Interestingly, GM was a pioneer in hybrid drivetrains at the turn of the 21st century before shelving the technology in 2019 when the last Chevrolet Volt rolled off the assembly line. Like pure electrics, hybrids were once hailed as the future of transportation — in 2009, a consensus of auto executives in an IBM survey predicted 100% of sales would be hybrid by 2020 — but they only account for 5% of sales today.
“Over time, we’ll work with the series over when is the right time to put in another step in electrification,” said Campbell. “The hybrid is that interim step and they will be coming next year in GTP here in IMSA.”
The hybrid solution allows manufacturer-supported race series to check the electrification box while still giving race fans the visceral thrill of speed and sound they have craved for decades.
For now, the V-8 powered IMSA prototype class is the ideal ambassador for the brand’s halo performance cars — whether the Escalade-V super-ute or sedans like the 668-horse CT5-V Blackwing, armed with the same supercharged V-8 engine as the Escalade-V.
“The Blackwings — whether CT4-V or CT5-V or Escalade-V — they are going to be around for a period of time, and so we are going to leverage what we do on track with our V-8 to link what we do in our showroom,” said Campbell.
Driving home the connection, Cadillac DPi-V.R racer Renger Van Der Zande drove a CT5-V Blackwing to Belle Isle on May 16 after the IMSA Weathertech series’ Mid-Ohio stop to promote the Detroit IMSA race.
Van Der Zande’s rubber-burning exploits were captured for promotional video — very on brand for Caddy racing, if not the silent electric future. He ended his journey with a visit to GM’s technical center, where he met with engineers who are developing the 2023 race cars’ V-8 hybrid engine.
“I’m a race car driver and they want me to race those cars as fast as I can and win races. That’s the best marketing you can get,” said the flying Dutchman of his contract with Cadillac.
Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.
“When you win a race, it lifts the brand and good things happen,” said Campbell. “People put you on their shopping lists a little more quickly. So we want to be on their radar screen.”
The formula has worked for decades, going back to Cadillac’s first Le Mans race car in 1950. The formula has always been tied to engineering development, too — what Campbell calls “the tech transfer, people development aspect” — with GM using IMSA to develop its V-8 engines alongside other manufacturers like Ford, Acura and Porsche.
On the other side of the pond, European endurance racing featured diesel-powered prototypes when European governments declared diesel the future of mobility at the turn of the 21st century.
But now, as the global manufacturers adapt to battery-power mandates, the Detroit Grand Prix weekend suggests a divergence between racing and production drivetrains.
Manufacturers have struggled with marrying EVs and racing. Jaguar, for example, introduced its first electric vehicle, the I-Pace, alongside the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy — an international race series that ran two seasons before being canceled in mid-2020.
“Jaguar Land Rover was keen to showcase . . . its ‘Destination Zero’ initiative that outlined developing battery electric vehicle technology through electric racing,” reported TheRace.com. “However, the I-Pace series struggled to make an impact in the motorsport industry with grids averaging 12 cars in its first campaign.”
Once billed as a Tesla-killer, the I-Pace has struggled with just 9,970 in U.S. sales in 2021, down 39% since 2019.
While GM’s racing programs (it also showcases the V8-powered Corvette in IMSA’s GTD class) continue to highlight its brands’ internal-combustion prowess, Campbell says that EVs will benefit from the high-level aerodynamic engineering that racing demands.
“In racing right now, the tools we use to prepare a race car — whether aero analysis, driver simulation, wind tunnel activity — all those principles and tools we’ve honed to the way we prepare for electrification,” he said. “We apply those tools to make the best aerodynamics and cooling decisions for EVs of the future.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.