The Cadillac Lyriq, the all-electric crossover and flagship of GM’s luxury brand, will start at a skosh under $60,000 when it comes to the U.S. market in early 2022.
The price, which doesn’t include destination charges, is one of the last remaining details to be shared about the production version of the Lyriq. GM first revealed a showcar version of the Lyriq back in August. On Wednesday, the automaker announced the pricing along with the final specifications of the production vehicle.
The Lyriq is just one in a roster of 30 electric vehicles that GM plans to bring to market by 2025. It will be a critical one for Cadillac and aims to set the benchmark for the brand that has seen lagging sales. The big message from GM: this car is coming soon, messaging that includes an invitation to customers to place order reservations beginning in September 2021.
The Cadillac Lyriq was supposed to go into production in the U.S. in late 2022, but executives said that virtual development tools and along with the underlying flexible Ultium platform used in the vehicle allowed the brand to speed up development.
The Ultium electric architecture and Ultium batteries will be used in a broad range of products across GM’s Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and GMC brands, as well as the Cruise Origin autonomous shuttle. This modular architecture will be capable of 19 different battery and drive unit configurations, 400-volt and 800-volt packs with storage ranging from 50 kWh to 200 kWh, and front, rear and all-wheel drive configurations.
The rear-wheel drive Lyriq will be equipped with a 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack that can travel more than 300 miles based on Cadillac’s internal estimates. The EPA estimates have yet to be shared. The Lyriq will be able to handle fast charging at 190 kW, which translates to an estimated 76 miles of range in about 10 minutes of charging time. For home charging, there’s a 19.2 kW charging module, which can add up to 52 miles of range per hour of charge, the company said.
The vehicle aims to ooze luxury, a look that GM tries to achieve with exterior and interior touches like the “black crystal” grille, 33-inch vertical LED touchscreen display and AKG sound system. The vehicle has fast roofline and wide stance that is meant to give it a modern and even aggressive-looking look. That “black crystal” grille is a dynamic feature with “choreographed” LED lighting that greets the owner as they approach the vehicle. The LED lighting continues in the rear with a split taillamp design.
The vehicle will be offered in two exterior and interior colors. On the outside, the vehicle can come in satin steel metallic or stellar black metallic paint and sky cool gray or noir for the interior. Cadillac adds in laser etched patterns through wood over metal décor to complete the interior look.
The Lyriq will also offer Super Cruise, GM’s hands-free driver assistance system, which combines lidar map data, high-precision GPS, cameras and radar sensors, as well as a driver attention system, which monitors the person behind the wheel to ensure they’re paying attention. Unlike Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system, users of Super Cruise do not need to have their hands on the wheel. However, their eyes must remain directed straight ahead.
Like the GM’s Chevy Bolt, the Lyriq will offer what it describes as one pedal driving. Electric vehicles typically have a regenerative braking feature. In the Lyriq, drivers are able to control how quickly the vehicle slows down or comes to a complete stop using a pressure-sensitive paddle located on the steering wheel.
The vehicle will be produced at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee assembly facility. GM has said it is investing $2 billion into the plant to support electric vehicle production. The automaker and its joint venture partner LG energy Solution also announced in April plans to invest $2.3 billion to build a battery cell manufacturing plant at next to the Spring Hill assembly plant.
