Cadillac: Our Future is Electric

Cadillac has announced that every new or redesigned vehicle introduced in North America will be an electric vehicle from now on to fulfill the luxury brand’s role as General Motors’ lead EV brand.

“We will be leaving this decade as an EV brand, as things stand today, which means that we will not be selling [internal combustion engine] vehicles by 2030,” said Rory Harvey, vice president of global Cadillac, in April.

Cadillac’s Lyriq, a midsize crossover, kicks off  the company's plans to be an EV brand by the end of the decade.  The midsize crossover, with a base price of $59,990, will reach dealerships in the first half of 2022. It will have a Cadillac-estimated 300 miles of range on a full charge. The Lyriq features one-pedal driving and regenerative braking on demand, allowing drivers to control how quickly they slow down or come to a stop with paddle on the steering wheel. Super Cruise also will be available. The company will build Lyriq in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

The nameplate will freshen its gasoline-powered vehicle roster, giving the CT4 and CT5 sedans and XT4, XT5 and XT6 crossovers a facelift for 2023.

Though the CT4/CT5 will get a fresh new look for 2023, Cadillac plans to discontinue the models toward the end of the decade and replace them with EVs. The company will build the electric versions of the sedans at its Lansing Grand River Assembly plant in Michigan, and will retool the plant for EVs, which currently builds the gas-powered CT4 and CT5, by 2026.

The high-performance, ultraluxury Celestiq sedan that Cadillac calls its flagship EV will come out in 2023. The company will hand-build this model at the GM Tech Center in Warren, Michigan, at a rate of just 1.2 vehicles per day. Cadillac reported in January that the EV will have a glass roof that illuminates to match the mood of the cabin and adjusts to different levels of transparency in each of its four quadrants. A free-form display spanning the width of the vehicle for the driver and front passenger will round out its features.

Cadillac will freshen its gas-powered crossovers in 2023, before production ends in 2025 to make way for EVs. New styling, technology enhancements and Super Cruise driver-assist capability will be among the added features.

The company will end production of current crossovers in 2025 to make way for EVs.

Cadillac will launch an XT4-sized electric crossover, named the Optiq or Symboliq, in 2024. The company will build it at Ramos Arizpe Assembly in Mexico. The company plans to launch an XT6-sized crossover in 2024, likely built in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Cadillac will freshen its Escalade and Escalade ESV in 2024, following a redesign in 2020. U.S. volume for Cadillac’s top seller nearly doubled to 20,716 vehicles in the first half of 2021.

The company will launch an electric SUV similar in size to the Escalade in 2024, followed by one the size of the Escalade ESV in 2025. Cadillac will build the SUVs at Factory Zero in Detroit. The EVs are expected to exist alongside the gasoline-powered Escalade and ESV until at least 2029.