Even though it’s more than 24 months away from rolling out at U.S. dealerships, Cadillac is waxing lyrical about the Lyriq like there’s no tomorrow. The crown jewel of General Motors has released tons of videos on YouTube on the newcomer's strong points, and all of them have a fine print that may sound disappointing.
“Images display show car, not for sale. Some features shown may not be available on actual production model.” The question is, why is the marketing department even bothering? From an aesthetic standpoint at least, the Lyriq we have today will definitely differ from the series-production version.
The over-the-top front fascia with tons of LEDs, for example, has no place on a real-world vehicle. The ultra-luxury interior with real metal, wood, and whatnots doesn’t make too much sense either because the Lyriq has been confirmed to start at less than $60,000 for the rear-wheel-drive setup and the most basic battery option.
“Super Cruise is the industry’s first truly hands-free driver assist system,” says an official in one of the videos, and that’s not true at all. Hands-free driving is wishful thinking at the present moment, partly because the legislation simply isn’t there. Cadillac has also forgotten to mention that Tesla offers Autopilot as standard and Full Self-Driving Capability as an optional extra.
Adding insult to injury, the first Cadillac to feature Super Cruise – the CT6 – disappointed the AAA in terms of driving assistance systems. If auto emergency braking and lane keeping assist aren’t up to snuff, you can bet your two cents that autonomous driving still has a long way to go.
General Motors employees also praise the Ultium battery system although no GM vehicle offers these packs at the time of writing. The Lyriq is understood to feature 100 kWh or thereabouts and more than 300 miles of EPA range, translating to the Tesla Model X’s capacity and Model Y’s range.
Higher up the spectrum, Cadillac plans to roll out a full-size electric utility vehicle akin to the Cadillac Escalade. Given that there’s nowhere higher to go, it’s a given that this model – and the GMC Hummer EV – will be available with the top-of-the-line Ultium battery with a capacity of 200 kWh.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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