The one question we had when GM unveiled its Cadillac Lyriq SUV was “will GM make enough of them to meet demand?”
We’ll start to find out the answer starting today as GM celebrates its first Ultium powered Cadillac Lyriq rolling off the assembly line in its sprawling Spring Hill, Tennessee complex.
Following a production unveiling this past August, we learned the Cadillac Lyriq will arrive priced just below $60k. As a result, an unknown amount of Lyriqs sold out in 10 minutes. GM rushed production and says it has beat its expectations in getting these out the door nine months early, something you don’t hear often these days.
Cadillac Lyric Production
In January we saw the first pre-production Lyriq’s roll off the Spring Hill assembly line. Soon after, GM launched its big Dr. Evil ad campaign at the Super Bowl showcasing the model.
GM will open its order books to its over 240,000 “hand raisers” on May 19 on either Cadillac.com or at their local dealers. Cadillac says that orders placed in May might not get delivered until 2023.
GM’s Spring Hill manufacturing complex, which consists of a vehicle assembly plant, metal stamping plant, and engine plant, is the largest GM facility in North America. The complex opened in 1990 and has built more than 4.5 million vehicles. The vehicle assembly plant and engine plant sit on 2,100 acres with 700 of those acres dedicated to farming. An additional 100 acres are dedicated to a wildlife habitat, wetlands, and native grasses. Spring Hill’s wildlife area has received Gold recognition and certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council.
You can watch the live broadcast of the event here starting at noon ET
Electrek’s take
It is good to see GM finally actually making an EV after years of press releases and product announcements. Sure, the Bolt and Bolt EUV are actually back in production next month and a few Hummers are coming off the assembly line, but as far as mass-market cars using GM’s Ultium platform, this is a good sign.
GM did hedge its bets, however, noting that likely many people who placed orders on May 19 wouldn’t get their Lyriq until 2023, which isn’t a huge surprise at all given both the huge demand we anticipate as well as the global supply chain issues.
Our brief looks at the Caddy impressed us immensely. That huge 33″ screen and beautiful interior is why the order books are filling up. Cadillac also has close to 200kW DC fast charging/19.2kW home charging, industry leading Super Cruise and a huge 100+kWh battery and starts at a $60,000 price tag.
Find a local dealer selling the Cadillac Lyric here.
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