The Lyriq will go on sale with a price of just under US$60,000 (RM248,000) with most options included and will kick off the GM luxury brand’s plan to go all-electric by 2030.
If the market keeps embracing electric vehicles, Cadillac will ditch gasoline five years before the rest of the company.
The quicker push to sell the Lyriq is part of GM’s strategy to take a leadership position in EVs and sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
In recent months, the company has announced a battery plant in Tennessee, a stake in a battery tech startup, and a Chevrolet electric pickup.
“The industry is at an inflection point,” said Cadillac Vice President Rory Harvey. “We wanted to start the journey sooner. We will be leaving this decade as an EV brand, which means we will not be selling internal combustion vehicle by 2030.”
Cadillac has grown in China but has had a tougher time regaining old glory in the US. Harvey said the brand will rebuild itself with technology like the Super Cruise hands-free driving feature, fast charging and a large interior touch screen. The crossover SUV can go more than 480km on a charge. A fast charger will be able to top up the battery by 120km every 10 minutes.
New technology gives Cadillac a chance to remake itself, but it’s going to be difficult with so much competition coming, said Alexander Edwards, president of Strategic Vision, a consulting firm in San Diego.
“Everyone is trying to reboot their brand with EVs,” Edwards said. “Is it going to reboot the entire brand and make them No. 1 again? No. It can regenerate interest and they will have a short window of time to share their story and turn that interest into sales.”
