A couple of weeks ago, GM CEO Barra promised that the canceled GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq unveilings would happen “in the not too distant future.” The date for the first of those two events was announced today: the virtual debut of the Lyriq will be held on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at 7 p.m. ET. It will be broadcast on the Cadillac media website.
In an official announcement, Cadillac wrote:
We will go behind the scenes and hear from the extraordinary team making Cadillac’s vision a reality.
Building on more than a century of innovation, the Cadillac Lyriq marks the beginning of a new chapter for the brand – one that is all-electric and redefines the boundaries and limits of mobility and connectivity.
The Cadillac Lyriq was scheduled to debut in person on April 2. That plan was delayed due to the pandemic.
The two-row Lyriq utility vehicle will be Cadillac’s first pure-electric vehicle. It’s scheduled for production in China first in 2021 before arriving in the US in 2022.
As examples of innovation, Cadillac pointed to the brand’s use of a curved OLED dashboard screen, AKG audio, and Super Cruise assisted-driving.
In a video that accompanied the announcement of August 6 for the debut, the poetic narration talks about “newfound freedom” while showing an image of hands-free driving.
The video flashed split-second images of existing gas-powered vehicles, as well as photos that could be details of the Lyriq.
Cadillac design director Brian Smith recently said this about the Lyriq’s design:
We are making a bit of a departure with our battery-electric vehicles. It’s really about taking the crisp features and blending in a bit more muscular lines and beauty in the surface. The beautiful surface and strong silhouette with some really technical details and unusual graphics can give the cars a futuristic and electrified presence.
Smith said that handling the grille design presented a challenge.
We still want the car to have a strong face and recognizable graphic, but now we can have a slick, flush appearance with different ways to do the detail.
The Lyriq will be the first of a new generation of vehicles built on GM’s new next-gen modular EV platform. GM announced a broad range of specs for the platform, including battery capacities between 50 kWh and 200 kWh. The Lyric will likely be in the middle of that range.
We suspect it will be configured with dual motors for maximum power. GM’s Ultium platform provides for a front-wheel motor that is rated at 180 kilowatts (241 hp), with the rear motor producing 250 kilowatts (335 hp).
That’s all we know for now. More details will be announced on August 6.
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