Cadillac, General Motors Co.’s luxury brand, on Tuesday confirmed that production of its first-ever battery-electric vehicle, the Lyriq, will begin Monday at GM’s Spring Hill plant in Tennessee.
Brand executives said the Lyriq has garnered 233,000 “hand raisers” — or, people who have expressed interest and are receiving regular updates on it — ahead of the May 19 opening of the order bank for the vehicle. Orders will open at that time for both the 2023 Lyriq and the 2023 Lyriq Performance All-Wheel Drive, with deliveries of the all-wheel drive model slated to begin early next year.
Meanwhile, Cadillac also announced that new capabilities from the automaker’s hands-free highway driving system will be made available retroactively via over-the-air software updates to owners of eligible 2021 CT4s, CT5s and Escalades.
The updates — available to owners of those models that are equipped with the necessary hardware — will be available this summer. Approximately 12,000 CT4s, CT5s and Escalades are eligible, according to Cadillac.
For model year 2021 CT4 and CT5 sedans with Super Cruise and an active Super Cruise plan, automatic lane change will be available as a paid upgrade. And for model year 2021 Escalades with Super Cruise and an active Super Cruise plan, both automatic lane change and trailering will be available for a fee.
In other news, Cadillac executives said the brand is now on-boarding dealers to a new EV experience underpinned by GM’s digital retail platform. The brand touts the platform as a way to provide a more streamlined, convenient way for customers to learn about, shop for and buy electric Cadillacs. The platform, in which 99% of Cadillac’s dealers are enrolled, will include features such as a live chat function, inventory search and vehicle configurator.
And Cadillac said it would reveal the full details of the forthcoming Escalade-V, including specs and capabilities, on May 11.
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JGrzelewski