Cadillac’s 21st-century resurgence began with the first CTS-V (2004–07). Its mission was simple but ambitious: Go head-to-head with sedans from Mercedes-AMG, BMW’s M division, and Audi’s S/RS family.

Cadillac launched its V-Series portfolio in 2004 with the CTS-V, a high-performance, RWD sedan with performance numbers to match to Corvette Z06. Naturally, no real performance effort would be ...