Not long after a report surfaced claiming that Italy’s Manifattura Automobili Torino will use Cadillac’s 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8, General Motors has revealed no supply deal has been inked with MAT.
Earlier this week, Hagerty published a report claiming that MAT had prepared to unveil a new concept alongside the Blackwing engine at its stand during the Geneva Motor Show. In the days since, however, General Motors has sold its powertrain engineering center in Turin, Italy to Belgian automotive supply company Punch Group.
It’s understood MAT had planned out its Geneva stand with the knowledge of GM’s Propulsion Engineering Center but the sale to the Punch Group threw a spanner into the works.
In a statement issued to Hagerty, a GM representative cast doubt on the deal.
“The story regarding the 4.2L V-8 Blackwing engine is not accurate. We do not have an agreement in place with Manifattura Automobili Torino (MAT) to provide or sell the Blackwing engine,” the representative revealed. “Furthermore, although MAT may be working with the Punch Group, we have not licensed this engine as part of the Turin Propulsion Engineering Center sale to Punch Group. Our team is following up with MAT president Paolo Garella to discuss the misunderstanding. We are open to other options for the Blackwing engine in the future, but have nothing to announce at this time.”
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Manifattura Automobili Torino has responded to this news, revealing it was of the understanding that an engine supply deal had been agreed to, albeit not finalized through a signed agreement.
“We thank GM for the clarification. Although a signed agreement was not finalized between the parties, we were under the impression that our counterpart was committing to making this engine available to MAT at conditions yet to be defined. All the agreed joint commercial activities, such as the participation with the engine to the canceled GIMS2020, were based on this assumption. Furthermore, we were not aware of the sale of the Turin Propulsion Engineering Center to Punch Group until the official announcement on February 27th. We hope that this misunderstanding will not compromise our relations with GM and possible future collaborations.”