Cadillac unveiled the new to the public late on Thursday evening. The cars were not received by the enthusiast public particularly enthusiastically, and I think Cadillac could read the room.

Removing horsepower isn’t usually a popular tack, and Cadillac has attempted to dissuade the torches-and-pitchforks crowd from ransacking its headquarters by unveiling new “next level” CT4 and CT5 V-series products during the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.

The two near-production prototypes were driven by GM president Mark Reuss and VP of Product Ken Morris.

Maybe I’m the outsider on this opinion, but I find the CT4-V to be an attractive car and a 320 horsepower rear-wheel drive car that could be excellent competition for a BMW M2 or Audi S3.

In the extremely short press release, GM describes these cars as taking “the V-Series to the next level” and offering “a track-capable experience.” Though GM does not mention any technical specifications of these next level cars, they should follow a similar path that the Germans do, making them lighter, more powerful, and better balanced. If you’re going to copy the Germans, there are worse ways to do it.