Cadillac V-One revealed as more powerful hybrid V8 hypercar

Cadillac has revealed a hybrid V8 hypercar, but you won’t see it in the US luxury brand’s showrooms any time soon – not even in the US.

The single-seat Cadillac V-One, displayed at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering last week, is described as a “concept study”.

It previews what the brand’s V-Series.R endurance race car could look like if it was made available for purchase by buyers who desire a track vehicle.

It’s derived from the hypercar used in Cadillac’s LMDh race program, and was co-developed by Cadillac Design, Cadillac Racing and chassis constructor Dallara.

🚘 Don’t just read about your next car. Find a great deal with CarExpert.

That means it uses a 5.5-litre hybrid V8 powertrain. In the V-One, this pumps out around 619kW of power, while the race car is limited to 500kW due to LMDh regulations.

It features an aerodynamic package inspired by the race car, and shares key components such as its double-wishbone suspension and pushrod-actuated coil and torsion spring elements, with lateral and heave dampers fitted front and rear.

While the body is shared with the race car, Cadillac says it has added “refined details that make the concept feel more advanced, more technical and more tailored to Cadillac luxury”, including a new wheel design and updated badging, plus a silver and deep navy hand-sprayed gradient paint job.

Like the V-Series.R, it features a single-seat configuration with an exposed carbon structure, but there’s a serialised plaque, as well as different materials including Cadillac Collection recycled fabrics.

While Cadillac won’t put this wild concept into production, its executive design director Dominic Najafi says it’s “a clear sign of our ambition for the Cadillac V-Series brand in the future” and “the ultimate manifestation of a customer performance concept”.

It’s unclear what specific ambitions Mr Najafi is referring to. Cadillac has been producing high-performance V-Series road cars since 2004, and the go-faster badge has been applied to everything from supercharged V8-powered two-seat roadsters like the Chevrolet Corvette -based XLR-V to electric SUVs like the Lyriq-V , which will be the first V-Series model variant offered in Australia.

In 2021, Cadillac revealed its first V-Series Blackwing vehicles, which became the most aggressive and track-capable members of the V-Series range. Vehicles which would have previously worn the tamer VSport moniker have graduated to wearing the V-Series name.

Presently, Cadillac offers one V-Series Blackwing model, based on its mid-size CT5 sedan and packing a supercharged V8, plus V-Series versions of the Optiq and Lyriq electric SUVs and the CT5. It also produces the Escalade-V, a full-size SUV packing a supercharged V8.

It recently ended production of the small CT4-V and CT4-V Blackwing sedans, which used turbocharged four-cylinder and twin-turbo V6 petrol engines, respectively.