Cadillac’s decision to reveal the new CTS-V hot saloon awfully close to the holidays is kind of questionable. But then they didn’t have much choice since Detroit Motor Show is due in early January. Anyway, this is the all-new 2016 Cadillac CTS-V and it’s a 640 horsepower four-door hotrod.

Cadillac, evidently, realized they can never take on the sophisticated Germans with styling, technology, and driving finesse. So they resorted to what Americans always excel at: brute force. One may argue Caddy is covering up their shortcomings with power. But who cares really, when you have 640 horsepower (477 kW), 630 lb-ft of torque (855 Nm) and a top speed of 200 mph. This thing is faster than most Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins, and AMG 65 models.

The styling of 2016 Cadillac CTS-V is mighty impressive too, what with the huge mesh grille and hood vents up front, tail spoiler and quad tailpipes at the back, and carbon fiber aero parts all over the car. It does kind of look too much like the ATS-V, which isn’t a surprise, but if you like Cadillac’s design language you are gong to love this one too. The same goes for the cabin, which carries over from the standard models with minimal changes. Now that is not so good, especially those idiotic touch buttons.

So the 2016 Cadillac CTS-V is like most thing American; it is hugely powerful, incredibly simple to get to grips with, and a bit lackluster. Nevertheless, the CTS-V is for sure going to be a thorn in the M5’s side and it will give the E63 AMG a good run for its money. We still can’t see it going toe to toe with the European rivals in the market, but it’s a very good effort nonetheless.