Cadillac Lyric electric SUV begins pre-production testing at the GM testing center
Cadillac has bold ambitions for the Lyriq SUV and electrification in general. Most recently, Mahmoud Samara, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at General Motors, went to social media and shared a pre-production photo of the Cadillac Lyriq strutting its wares at the GM proving grounds in Michigan.
Sure, the image depicts a heavily camouflaged version of Cadillac's first-ever all-electric vehicle, but it's easy to discern the differences from the show car Cadillac unveiled last year. Right off the bat, we see a slightly less dramatic C-pillar design with thicker B-pillars.
And whereas the show car has the rear wheel wells cutting to the rear doors, the pre-production version has a typical design found in most crossovers. General Motors CEO Mary Barra said the Lyriq would enter production in early 2022, and it seems the automaker is right on track to fulfill its promise.
"Now with prototypes on the ground, our incredible engineering team is hard at work fine-tuning Lyriq to ultimately deliver a truly extraordinary SUV, one that plants the cornerstone for Cadillac's all-electric future," said Samara in his LinkedIn post.
The Cadillac Lyriq is riding on GM's dedicated modular electric platform, the first GM product to do so. Drawing power and grunt from the brand's Ultium long-range battery pack and electric motors, promising up to 400 miles of range and DC fast-charging up to 150 kW. Cadillac said the production Lyriq SUV would arrive with a single electric motor and rear-wheel drive, while the performance version gets two electric motors and AWD.
Cadillac has yet to reveal the juicy bits like horsepower and torque figures, but we know Lyriq's near 50/50 weight distribution enables better handling. We're expecting the performance version to offer powerful acceleration to shame most sports cars, possibly rushing from zero to 60 mph in under 3.0-seconds. Also, Lyriq will feature GM's Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance to make life easier on the highway.
General Motors invested $2 billion at its Spring Hill Assembly Plant in Tennessee to build the all-new Cadillac Lyriq. The carmaker's EV roadmap also includes the highly-anticipated Hummer EV truck and Hummer SUV, an electric Buick crossover, and up to three new Chevrolet EVs, including an all-electric Chevy pickup truck to rival Ford's incoming electric F-150.
Meanwhile, Cadillac plans to release up to four electric SUVs, including a seven-seat behemoth (electric Escalade, perhaps?)and a smaller luxury crossover.