By 2030, Cadillac will kick gas tanks to the curb
Cadillac revealed a production-ready version of its all-electric Lyriq crossover late last week. Aside from concrete details about the vehicle spearheading the marque’s EV revolution—more on those in a moment—we also learned that there will be no more all-new gasoline-powered vehicles from Cadillac.
“We will be leaving this decade as an EV brand, as things stand today, which means that we will not be selling ICE vehicles by 2030,” Rory Harvey, global vice president of Cadillac, said in a media briefing about the production Lyriq last week.
Turns out we were right in calling the CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing siblings the last of their kind. Even so, as Harvey detailed in an interview with Automotive News, until 2030 the brand will leave the door open for performance variants and standard product updates for the existing gas-powered vehicles. Remember, in the last two years, Cadillac has unveiled two new sedans, the CT4 and CT5 (and their high-po variants mentioned above) as well as an all-new flagship Escalade. Though it will replace them with EVs once they age out, Cadillac has no plans to prematurely axe these relatively new vehicles. We may yet see a few breathed-upon or jazzed-up special-editions across the CT4/CT5 and Escalade lines before their all-electric replacements arrive.
Back to the Lyriq. Like every other electric GM model, this svelte new crossover will ride on the Ultium platform. When equipped with the 12-module, 100-kWh battery pack (and in rear-wheel-drive configuration), the Lyriq will have an estimated 300-mile range (on a full charge), 340 hp, and about 325 lb-ft of torque. Expect to see a few different battery sizes offered, as well as an all-wheel-drive version for customers in less-than-ideal climes.
Inside, the Lyriq cribs the massive curved OLED screen from the recently revealed Escalade; here, the screen will measure only 33 inches wide, instead of 38. No word yet on whether the ritzy moonroof from Caddy’s upcoming Celestiq EV flagship will make it onto the Lyriq.
It sounds like development of the Lyriq is proceeding smoothly, because the model will be offered to customers nine months earlier than Cadillac originally planned. Credit the GM-wide push to develop the Ultium battery platform (thanks to other related marque’s upcoming vehicles, like the GMC Hummer SUV) as well as advanced virtual development tools.
When the Lyriq does go into production in Q1 of 2022, Cadillac says pricing will start at $59,990, including an as-yet unspecified destination fee. If you want to pile on additional features, such as Cadillac’s vaunted SuperCruise hands-free highway driving technology, expect to pay more.
While we’re sad to hear that treasures like the V-branded Blackwing sedans are the last great firebreathers from a brand with a robust performance history, we’re not surprised to see Cadillac turning its full might to EVs. As a higher-cost, lower-volume brand, Cadillac could be one of GM’s most promising opportunities to successfully transition to an all-EV lineup without a dramatic drop in sales volume—at least, on paper.
