Despite persistent rumors, General Motors President Mark Reuss said on the record that no one has tried stuffing Cadillac's new Blackwing V-8 in the mid-engine C8 Chevrolet Corvette.
Muscle Cars & Trucks reported on Reuss' comments Tuesday, in which he again underscored the 4.2-liter twin-turbo V-8 is a "Cadillac exclusive."
The brand has continued to defend the powerplant's exclusivity, despite the fact it's hand-built at the same performance center in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that handles Corvette engine production.
Cadillac 4.2-liter twin-turbocharged V-8
The website said to instead look for a revised version of the current Corvette Stingray's 6.2-liter V-8 to power the first batch of C8 Corvettes. The rumored engine designation is LT2 for the mid-engine application. The engine in the C7 Corvette is designated an LT1.
Although the Blackwing V-8 won't sit behind the driver in any mid-engine Corvette, do look for similar engines in the future. It's long been rumored the C8 Corvette will include DOHC V-8s for the first time. Underscoring the rumors is again the fact the Blackwing V-8, itself a DOHC layout, is assembled in the Bowling Green factory.
The necessary tooling and specialists are there to potentially assemble DOHC engines for the C8 Corvette. Specifically, rumors have pointed to a 5.5-liter DOHC flat-plane crank V-8 in both naturally aspirated and twin-turbo forms.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette prototype at Bowling Green Assembly plant
While the engine minus forced induction is rumored to make at least 600 horsepower, the two turbos will supposedly send the power figure to around 800 hp. We don't expect to learn anything about this purported powerplants at the July 18 reveal of the C8 Corvette, however.
Instead, the reveal will likely focus on the base model and its engine, which should see a modest power bump from the current LT1 V-8's 455 hp.
As for the Blackwing V-8, it's unclear where it will head next. All signs indicate it will power the future CT5-V "plus" model and perhaps a hotter redesigned Cadillac Escalade.
