After years of teases, Cadillac has finally shared the specs for the upcoming Cadillac LYRIQ electric SUV.
The vehicle isn’t releasing until mid-2022, but when it does, GM expects it to feature 480km range and 340 horsepower. This is in part due to its rear-wheel-drive design and the use of GM’s Ultium battery tech. This battery platform is also being used in the new electric Hummer.
GM says that the lyric will support 190 kW DC fast charging that can pump roughly 122km of range into the car every 10 minutes. It’s also got 19.2 kW AC charging. Overall, charging and battery-wise, the Lyriq is sitting in the upper mid-range of cars and above the XC40 Recharge, but behind Tesla. The one key thing to remember is that the XC40 and Tesla cars are on the road today. We won’t see the Lyriq until mid-2022 at the earliest.
The company is also working on refining its one-pedal driving system and regenerative braking tech. A new feature called ‘Variable Regen-on-Demand’ allows drivers to use a pressure-sensitive paddle on the steering wheel to control how fast the SUV slows down. This sounds interesting and helpful for annoying driving situations like stop-and-go traffic.
Beyond that, the company is packing in Super Cruise (if you pay for it), a 33-inch display, active noise cancellation in the cabin and a digital key function. On the outside, the car will be available in ‘Satin Steel Metallic’ and Stella ‘Black Metallic’ colours. It should be noted that GM uses its own app as a car key and not Apple’s CarKey framework BMW is utilizing, so it’s unclear if this uses NFC or if you need to actually unlock your phone and navigate to the Cadillac app to remotely unlock the car like the current GM implementation of the feature.
The interior of the car features a pretty complex dashboard design that seems more like a current car, rather than something coming out in the future. That said, the large screen stretches from behind the steering wheel over to the centre console and looks very commanding. This is a decent look, and in the press images, you can see a Google Assistant button. This clarifies that this car is going to build its infotainment on top of Android Automotive like the Volvo XC40 Recharge.
Overall, the Cadillac LYRIQ seems like a fine vehicle, but I’m not sure I see young people picking this EV over a Tesla. There’s something about the interior of GM cars that feels like a 2009 sci-fi movie. I’m sure there’s lots of cool tech packed inside, but GM still seems to be positioning Cadilac for older drivers.
Update 22/04/2021: The article has been updated to fix an inaccuracy with the charging specs.
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