The 2023 Cadillac Lyriq is Cadillac’s first EV SUV and also its attempt to change the conversation (again) about who and what Cadillac is, non-Escalade division. It will start at $US60,000 ($83,292). We had heard that it would be coming sometime this year, though now, it seems, there is a bit more specific update.
That is thanks to GM President Mark Reuss, who wrote on LinkedIn on Thursday that the customer deliveries of the Lyriq would begin in “a few months,” just after the first pre-production Lyriq had come off the assembly line in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Reuss also said that Lyriq is “nine months ahead of schedule,” which is true in that, originally, the Lyriq was not supposed to be available until 2023.
The new timeline makes it a spring 2022 launch for the Lyriq, which is trying to compete with the Tesla Model Ys, Audi E-Trons, and Jaguar I-Paces of the world, electric vehicles that cost on the wrong side of $US50,000 ($69,410) that are the next evolution of the luxury car. The Lyriq is also not even Cadillac’s planned flagship EV, which would be the Celestiq. And then possibly something called the Symboliq and an Escalade EV in the next few years.
I wonder, meanwhile, how long the XT4, XT5, and XT6 will be with us, with all three falling in sales last year compared to 2020. Sales for the XT4, in particular, were down 48 per cent, though Escalade sales were up 65 per cent, suggesting that possibly Cadillac prioritised production last year because of the chip shortage, for better profits.
I hope, at any rate, that the Cadillac EVs do, in fact, change the conversation about Cadillac, a carmaker that only ever seems to be in decline, the continuing popularity of the Escalade notwithstanding. Cadillac invited me and other auto writers to see the Lyriq in person last fall, and it looked as smart as it needs to. Cadillac has very high hopes.