On March 21, Cadillac announced on Monday local time that the brand's first pure electric model, Lyriq, has now been put into operation at GM's Chunshan, Tennessee plant, which is faster than previously expected by the end of 2022.
The new car has been released as early as 2020, but in the face of the rapid development of the electrification of the automobile market, the long delivery time has led to a lot of criticism from the outside world, so Cadillac officially advanced the time for the new car to be put into production.
Mark Reuss, president of General Motors, said that whether in terms of product design or engineering, Lyriq will lead Cadillac back to the ranks of first-class luxury cars and re-recognize American luxury brands. ”
In terms of the domestic market, the launch speed of the new Lyriq seems to be faster than overseas, and the new car will enter The country as a domestic producer, born at the SAIC-GM Cadillac plant. The prototype version of the new car was rolled off the production line in September 2021, and pre-sale began in November after that, with a pre-sale price of 439,700 yuan. According to the plan, the new Lyriq will be officially launched in the second quarter of this year.
Unlike first-line luxury brands such as BBA, which tested the water market through "oil to electricity" products in the early stage, Cadillac's first electric vehicle was built through the pure electric platform Ultium (Aoteneng). The new car adopts a very sci-fi design language in appearance, which also hints at the design direction of the new car under the brand.
The new Lyriq is positioned as a medium to large SUV with body sizes of 5003mm/1978mm/1635mm and a wheelbase of 3094mm. In terms of size, the new car will be very competitive in the domestic market.
The interior part is also the highlight of the new car, with a huge screen 33-inch curved OLED that extends from the driver's side to the middle of the dashboard, while equipped with a new generation of VCS intelligent virtual cockpit, and "Super Cruise" super intelligent driving assistance.
In terms of power system, the rear-drive long-endurance luxury version model of the new car, which was launched in China, is equipped with a rear single motor, a maximum power of 255kW, and a peak torque of 440N·m. Equipped with a 95.7kWh ternary lithium battery, CLTC can have a battery life of more than 650km under working conditions, and supports a maximum of 190kW fast charging and 19.2kW AC slow charging.
Officials said that in the future, a dual-motor four-wheel drive version will be launched, and the acceleration time of 100 kilometers will be controlled within 4.9 seconds.
Although the brand's first pure electric model was only launched in 2022, Cadillac has never worried about product design, technology configuration and power performance, and the super product strength of the new Lyriq also tells the outside world that they are disdainful of creating a "lively" test product on the first electric model.
At present, the only thing that worries the market is the new Lyriq's 439,700 yuan price (pre-sale). In the domestic electric vehicle market, in addition to a few brands such as Weilai and Hongqi, few car companies have launched models with similar pricing. In addition, Cadillac's market price instability and retention rate may have an impact on market sales.