We told you a few days ago about General Motors’ repurposing of its onetime Saturn facility in Spring Hill, Tennessee, as one dedicated GM plant for fully electric vehicles. Here’s the first tangible result of that project. Spring Hill will produce the LYRIQ, the first fully electric vehicle in Cadillac’s history, when it goes on sale in the first half of 2022. Obviously, this is an exceptionally important product step for Cadillac, whose entire foregoing list of vehicles have been profoundly unlike this one. As introduced, the LYRIQ will be a rear-drive vehicle, with a 12-element Ultium battery pack jointly developed by GM and LG, its motor producing the equivalent of 340 horsepower, with a claimed range of 300 miles and fast-charging that will allow 76 miles of range every 10 minutes.
The 2023 LYRIQ will incorporate Super Cruise autonomous-driving technology with a 33-inch touchscreen and a 19-speaker audio system, all rolling behind a model-specific black crystal grille. One innovation, among many, will be driver-controllable regenerative braking, which will allow drivers to fine-tune thre LYRIQ’s deceleration rate by using a paddle on the steering wheel. Cadillac will begin accepting buyer reservations for the LYRIQ, whose base price is set at $59,990, by September.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 