THE CADILLAC ATS-V has arrived in Australia – but it’s not what you think.

This lightly camouflaged left-drive prototype was spied on Melbourne’s Toorak Road last weekend and with its bonnet bulging and menacing quad tailpipes looked oh-so-right on Aussie soil.

This particular car could be even faster than the current American-spec ATS-V, too, given it’s undergoing development work and could be boasting who-knows-what under the skin. The current-spec ATS-V does 0-97km/h in 3.8sec with launch control and costs AUD$80K in the USA.

Cadillac ATS-V rear

Instead this rogue 346kW super sedan was sent across the Pacific to have its powertrain calibration honed by none other than Holden’s own engineers.

Cadillac ATS-V interior

“It’s here for ongoing global powertrain calibration work”, he said. “We’re going to be retaining that powertrain calibration engineering department and that’s the exactly the work we’re going to be doing – ongoing global work.”

Cadillac ATS-V hood
Cadillac ATS-V parked
Holden badge

It has an electronically-controlled limited slip diff, head-up display and magnetic ride control. There’s next to no chance of the ATS-V coming to Australia as sadly this generation was not engineered in right-hand drive. Here’s hoping the next one will be.

Cadillac ATS-V rear low
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