Cadillac, once a brand known for its “Standard of the World” luxury sedans, has been transitioning along with the rest of the industry toward more popular crossovers and SUVs for the past several years. But the mid-size CT5, one of the brand’s last remaining four-doors, bucked industry tradition and actually saw some sales growth in General Motors’ most recent quarterly sales report (which also gave some snaps to newly successful Buick). Through the first three months of 2025, Cadillac dealers sold 3,981 CT5 variants, an increase of 31.7 percent compared to the same time period the previous year.

The CT5 Is Still Slated For Electrification After 2026

Despite the sales gains, which would translate to nearly 16,000 units if Cadillac can maintain that momentum all year, the company is still forging ahead with its plans to replace the internal-combustion CT4 and CT5 with all-electric sedans sometime in the future. Cadillac has promised to keep building its four-doors at least through 2026 – and the automaker might forestall their death even further if things continue to go well at dealers – but once the gassers hit the end of the line, that’ll be it. The CT4 and CT5 will become EVs, likely going up a size class each so that Cadillac can offer one EV sized like the BMW i5 and another to rival the i7.

But why did the CT5 enjoy such a tidy little sales gain this winter? Recently updated for the 2025 model year, the sedan features an impressive new technological showpiece by way of its standard 33-inch curved infotainment display, which replaces a far less impressive 10-inch standalone unit that looked borrowed from a Chevy. And despite a $9,000-plus price hike spurred by the death of the base Luxury trim – the $47,595 Premium Luxury is the cheapest model available – the Caddy sedan still represents a decent value, making it appealing to would-be 3 Series customers who need more space or want to buy American.

High-Performance Variants May Have Helped The CT5’s Case

And there’s no denying the specialness of Cadillac’s V-Series and Blackwing lineup. While the regular CT5 soldiers into battle with an uninspiring, standard turbo four-cylinder or an adequate 335-horsepower twin-turbo V6, the CT5-V gets 360 ponies in its corral, with improved handling to boot. Go for the one-of-a-kind CT5-V Blackwing, however, and the V6 goes away entirely, with a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 taking its place with 668 hp and 659 pound-feet of torque. The Blackwing is the best kind of handful, offering plenty of character with either the six-speed manual or 10-speed automatic.

The higher-performance CT5 models may deserve some credit for the car’s resurgent popularity. Cadillac said its V-Series lineup – which also includes the smaller CT4-V and CT4-V Blackwing, as well as the thunderous Escalade-V and the not-on-sale-yet Lyriq-V – had its best-ever first quarter. Although the company didn’t break out its performance sales model by model, the CT5-V Blackwing continues to be a hot commodity, both in new-car showrooms and on the used marketplace.

Speaking of the entry-level CT4, it unfortunately didn’t experience the same success as its bigger sibling, moving only 1,214 units during Q1 2025. Not only was it a third as popular as the CT5, the CT4 also experienced a 30.0-percent sales drop compared to the first three months of last year. Hopefully the compact performance sedan can stem the tide and encourage to give its Caddy four-doors a stay of execution beyond 2026.

Source: General Motors