Forget Tesla and BYD: Cadillac is shooting for the (three-pointed) stars in Australia with 2024 Lyriq electric car to spearhead multi-model rollout

May 11, 2024May 11, 2024 Andrew Chesterton 3051 Views cadillac

Cadillac will be a “tier-one luxury brand” in Australia, with the incoming Lyriq EV to be followed by a fleet of a high-end electric vehicles that will target Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus in our market.

That’s the word from Cadillac’s chief marketing officer, Melissa Grady Dias, who says Australia’s newest brand has little interest competing in the affordable EV space, and will instead duke it out at the top-end of the new-car market.

“When we look at the luxury landscape, and this is where we’ve really been operating and playing, you have BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volvo, Lexus, Land Rover, and Porsche, who are the main competitors that we see globally,” Dias says.

“And as we look at our product portfolio, that’s who we’re really looking at, the areas where they’re playing.”

Unlike most US brands that debut in Australia, Cadillac is producing cars for our market in right-hand drive from its American factories, a move made possible through the flexibility of GM’s Ultium platform, which underpins the Lyriq as well as the brand’s future models.

In fact, Cadillac’s Australian and New Zealand Managing Director, Jess Bala, says plans for right-hand production for an Australian launch were first formulated as far back as 2018.

“When the EV transformation started coming for Cadillac, and obviously Cadillac’s leading the way from a GM brand standpoint, it was a good five years ago. It’s definitely been a long time coming and it was part of looking at what our EV strategy globally for GM looked like moving forward,” Bala says.

“Obviously the foundation of that is the Ultium platform. That’s really provided us the platform or the foundation to be able to build right-hand drive in a more efficient manner as well.

2024 Cadillac OPTIQ — 2025 Cadillac Optiq.

“Just because of the…flexibility it provides, it has enabled us to do right-hand drive across more variants and we’re now starting to see those announcements come through.”

First to arrive will be the Lyriq, which will launch in Australia in the second half of 2024. The brand is keeping the details close to its chest, but we can look to other markets to see what a pure premium play from Cadillac might look like.

In Germany, for example, the brand has left the entry-level model in the USA and arrived only with the higher-end, dual-motor vehicles. Every model there is fitted with a 102kWh battery pack and dual electric motors producing a combined 394kW and 610Nm. Range is expected to be in excess of 500km on the WLTP cycle.

Like-for-like price comparisons are always fraught with danger, but for the record, the Lyriq starts at €80,500 in Germany, or just under $145,000 in AUD. Based on the executives’ open push into the premium space, a similar strategy, and price, wouldn’t be unexpected in Australia.

While the brand is yet to detail what will follow the Lyriq in Australia, or when the new models will arrive, Cadillac globally has revealed an all-electric luxury SUV in the Escalade IQ, and two more smaller SUVs in the Optiq and Vistiq, all of which appear to be firming for an Australian launch.

“We know that obviously Cadillac as a brand globally has revealed more cars than just the Lyriq. We will have more cars coming. We already know what they are, but we are not in a position to announce them just yet,” Bala says.

2023 Cadillac Lyriq — Cadillac Lyriq. Here this year.

“We want to give Lyriq the ovation and the experience it deserves and then we will absolutely announce future models at a later date.

“So it’s definitely not a ‘let’s try it out and see where we go’. We already have a pipeline coming.”

Cadillac will launch with three experience centres – one in Sydney and Melbourne, and a third in Auckland – and will act primarily as a direct-to-consumer brand, with customers able to choose how much, if any, face-to-face time they desire.

Look for more details in the coming weeks as the countdown to Cadillac’s on-sale date in Australia continues.

Andrew Chesterton

Andrew began his career as a journalist at Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, before he was lured into the fast-paced world of supercars at TopGear Australia. He has also held senior roles at The Daily Mail, which involved spending time at HQ in London, and on the other side of the automotive divide with FCA Australia. As one of Australia's best-read freelance writers, Andrew now contributes to Robb Report, Wish in The Australian, Domain in The Australian Financial Review, CarsGuide, Wheels, The West Australian, GQ, Men's Health and more. His love for writing has carried him around the world and back again, writing for clients in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the USA. He secretly enjoys it so much he’d probably do it for free, but he hopes his editors never find out that bit...