Performance cars are best experienced on race tracks, and that’s where this 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe was spotted. Specifically, the coupe is being run up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed driven by Motor Trend magazine’s editor-in-chief, Angus MacKenzie.

The standard Cadillac CTS Coupe is scheduled to hit showrooms this August, but the V version won’t be ready until next year. The Corvette ZR1-based supercharged 6.2-liter, 556-horsepower V-8 is stashed neatly in the CTS-V coupe’s engine bay, leaving us to believe it will provide much more tire-smoking fun than the standard 304-horsepower direct-injected 3.6-liter V-6.

In recent CTS Coupe news, General Motors has announced that production is moving along and the first deliveries will be arriving at U.S. dealerships “ahead of schedule.” That’s obviously good news for those who have preordered the new coupe, with its starting price of $38,990 including destination fees.

If you were in the market for a Cadillac CTS Coupe, would you snap up one of the first V-6 models or hold out another year for the tire-smoking, $62,990 CTS-V version? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: GM

The numbers are in, and General Motors is reporting double-digit sales increases across the board at its four core brands. Among the sales winners are the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, Buick Regal, and the family of Cadillac CTS models.

The General’s strong sales numbers are a result of hot-selling crossovers across the board, as well as new model introductions. Top sellers among crossovers are the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, which have sold more than 94,000 models combined since January. Among the Lambda triplets, the Chevrolet Traverse has seen a 56 percent increase over June 2009, and the new-for-2010 Cadillac SRX celebrates a whopping 462 percent increase over one year ago.

Of new model introductions, the Chevrolet Camaro, Equinox, and Buick LaCrosse join the aforementioned SRX in triple-digit percent increases since the beginning of 2010. Pickup truck sales also increased across the board, up 12 percent from a year ago. The increases come as the economy is rebounding from a downward trend.

“As companies continue to invest in their businesses, we expect this segment to continue to recover,” said GM U.S. Sales Operations Vice President Don Johnson. “We think the release of some pent-up demand in the pickup market is an indication that a fundamental part of the U.S. economy is gradually strengthening.”

Is this a good sign for the U.S. car market in general? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Source: GM

It’s been a turbulent year for wagons, with BMW jumping out and Acura and Cadillac jumping in. Long-time wagon builder Volkswagen will be losing the Passat wagon when the Passat leaves our shores, but today we’re hearing they could replace it with a CC Wagon.

While details surrounding Volkswagen product planning are muddy at best, the situation would appear to be as follows: Though a new Passat is expected at the Paris Motor Show, it won’t come to America. We’ll instead get the mysterious New Midsize Sedan, which won’t have a wagon variant. That leaves the Jetta SportWagen as the only wagon from VW, or does it? Rumors out of Europe are now suggesting that a wagon version of the upscale Volkswagen CC could be in the works and could turn up in the U.S. Volkswagen’s board will reportedly vote on such a vehicle in September.

This begs the question of whether or not VW should move ahead with such a plan in the U.S. As noted above, the wagon segment isn’t for the faint of heart, and there’s fresh competition now from Acura’s TSX Sport Wagon and the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon. Though not the highest-selling models in VW’s lineup, the wagons have actually had a very strong year in 2010 with Jetta SportWagen sales up 72 percent and Passat Wagon sales up 13.5 percent. Still, SportWagen sales account for only one sixth of Jetta sales with 5554 sales this year and Wagon sales make up only a quarter of Passat sales with only 1018 sales so far in 2010. CC sales, meanwhile, are up 23 percent this year to 8290, outselling the Passat sedan and Wagon combined by 3000 units.

Were a CC Wagon built, it would stack up favorably in the segment. The Acura TSX Sport Wagon and Audi A4 Avant offer only four-cylinder engines, so Volkswagen has an opportunity to top both of them by pairing its narrow-angle V-6 with the new Wagon variant. Offering 4Motion all-wheel drive would give it a further leg up on the Audi, which sells about 4000 units per year on average. However, only a four-cylinder model could compete with Acura on price, as adding a V-6 and all-wheel drive launches the CC sedan past the A4 Avant and well into Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon territory, where it would be at a disadvantage to the Cadillac’s more-powerful engines and rear- or all-wheel drive. A four-cylinder model would be right on-par with the competition, where it could struggle to out-luxury the Audi.

What do you think? Should Volkswagen bring a wagon version of the CC to America to replace the Passat Wagon? Or will it end up a slow-seller like the Passat Wagon? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Source: AutoCar