Cadillac has always been a spectacular brand and its cars have never tried to go unnoticed. By choosing this manufacturer, with which the imagination of American automobile luxury is associated to seal its return to Europe, General Motors (GM) is following this vein. Seven years after cutting ties with the Old Continent by selling Opel-Vauxhall to PSA, now Stellantis, the Detroit group is banking on the Cadillac Lyriq. A long electric SUV with a stretched and rather low silhouette.
Take back control for good or, more modestly, make an appearance? The second proposal seems the most suitable as the characteristics of the newcomer seem out of step with European automotive reality. With its vast black grille with a somewhat tortured style and a rear part which is no less so but also the immense curved horizontal screen which unfolds on its dashboard, the Lyriq does not lack presence and stands out among luxury models from German brands. This rather baroque-looking vehicle carries a strategy that is no less baroque.
Not having in its brand portfolio, including at Chevrolet, a more popular manufacturer, vehicles likely to resonate with the heart of the European electric car market, GM is starting its offensive at the very high end. . Released in 9,000 units in 2023 in the United States, where it is manufactured in Tennessee, and some 5,000 units in China, where it is also produced, the Lyriq is presented by its designers as a “compact SUV”, according to a very American vision of automotive categories.
5 meters long and 2.7 tonnes on the scale
Designed from GM’s Ultium electric platform, this vehicle measures 5 meters long and, loaded with a huge 102 kilowatt-hour battery, offers a range of 530 kilometers − maximum power reaches 528 horsepower, or 388 kilowatts −, but weighs 2.7 tonnes on the scale. Recalling that “France is the third largest market in Europe for electric cars”Jaclyn McQuaid, who heads GM Europe, is banking on the aura that Cadillac exerts among aesthetes who love what she defines as a form of “avant-gardism”.
The manager is not putting forward any commercial objective and will only reveal the prices of the Lyriq some time before the opening of orders, scheduled for March 23, for deliveries expected from the second half of 2024. The vehicle which was notably the subject of specific suspension settings to suit European motorists is already marketed in Switzerland and Sweden at prices above 80,000 euros.
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