Real deal: 2009 Cadillac CTS-V spied

Although a mule for Cadillac's 2009 CTS-V was photographed a couple weeks ago, it turns out that it didn't really reveal the true face of Caddy's M3/M5 fighter.

These latest shots of a CTS-V prototype were taken in Germany, at a gas station near the famous Nürburgring, and this one's the full-on real deal. This test car has a new grille design, and a massive lower air-intake, both sporting a sporty mesh finish in the familiar V-spec tradition. The shape of the lower intake gets wider toward the bottom, where it joins a bold lip that juts out around the bottom of the front fascia. The fog lights and brake cooling ducts flank the lower intake, giving this CTS-V a beefiness missing from those prior prototypes (which were still fronting the same standard grille and front bumper design first seen last April).

We're expecting to receive more photos of the CTS-V on the Nürburgring itself tomorrow. Stay tuned... Gallery after the jump...