General Motor Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Cadillac division launched its new supercar, the CTS-V. It is a follow on to the earlier versions. Despite its impressive features, Cadillac management ought to worry about whether they have priced the car too high. BMW and Mercedes have a brand advantage that Cadillac cannot overcome via price, anyway.

The CTS-V’s features, which are meant to be part of the Cadillac “reinvention,” for the most part, challenge BMW M-Series and Mercedes AMG cars. The Cadillac’s speed and design aim it at the BMW M5 Sedan, which has a base price is $93,600. The Mercedes vehicle in the supercar midsized sedan market is the E63. It has Mercedes’ 4MATIC all-wheel drive system, and its base price is $101,700.

However, a Cadillac is not a BMW or Mercedes, although to lovers of American cars, that may not make a difference. People who prefer U.S. cars will not allow Cadillac to edge the Germans, which have American market shares that dwarf Cadillac’s. Supercars are not meant to be sold in large numbers, but they are brand flagships.

The CTS-V has a base price of $83,995, which is below the M5 Sedan, but not steeply below.

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The CST-V is unquestionably a car that has few competitors among the Germans. Its performance can certainly match theirs:

Cadillac’s new 2016 V-Series models represent a significant expansion of the brand’s elite, high-performance line. Not only are the new V-Series cars elevated in terms of performance, they now reach a broader spectrum of drivers by presenting two distinct personalities, size categories and price points.

With a top speed of 200 mph and 0-60 performance in 3.7 seconds, the CTS-V is the most powerful car in Cadillac’s 112-year history

As for GM’s comments about the CTS-V’s engine:

Equipped with a 6.2L supercharged V-8 and an eight-speed automatic transmission that offers full manual control via steering wheel paddles, the CTS-V has more horsepower (640 hp/477 kW) and more torque (630 lb-ft/855 Nm) than the Mercedes-Benz 5.5L biturbo V-8 and the BMW M-series 4.4L TwinPower V-8.

A speed difference of a few tenths of a second probably will not sway most luxury supercar buyers away from BMW and Mercedes.

Also, it is the media that review these cars, and the customers that buy them, that will determine the CTS-V’s fate. Based on brand power, its sits well behind its German rivals.

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