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Further evidence has emerged of GM’s plan to launch Cadillac in Australia, with a right-hand-drive Lyriq being spied in the US.
A prototype Cadillac Lyric has been filmed in right-hand-drive, bringing the electric luxury SUV one step closer to Australian showrooms.
A video posted on YouTube by Baba Jibagte shows the pre-production Lyriq being tested as a right-hand-drive vehicle in Michigan – the capital of which is Detroit, home to Cadillac and its parent company, General Motors.
Despite an official statement from General Motors at the time claiming the trademark filing was simply “common practice”, it was the first instance of a Cadillac model being registered as a trademark in Australia in more than a decade.
Cadillac, as a brand name, has been a registered trademark in Australia since late 2020, around the same time as Holden was being wound down and General Motors Specialty Vehicles was preparing to begin selling the Chevrolet Silverado.
It was also 2020 when the Cadillac Lyriq was first shown as a concept car, with the production version unveiled a year later.
The Lyriq is the first electric car from GM’s luxury brand, with an electric motor producing 255kW and 440Nm at the rear axle, powered by a 100kWh battery for a driving range of just over 500 kilometres (US EPA certified).
In July 2022, senior executives from GM suggested there was a greater chance of electric Cadillacs being made in right-hand-drive for the Australian market.
It was unclear at the time whether the Cadillacs would be remanufactured in Australia as a right-hand-drive vehicle – as with the Silverado pick-up – or whether it would be built on the same production line as left-hand-drive vehicles in the US.
However, the emergence of a right-hand-drive Cadillac Lyriq being tested in the US strongly suggests GM could build both variations in the same manufacturing facility, rather than relying on costly conversions after the car has already been made.
At that time, Drive reported higher profit margins on Cadillac vehicles – as well as the reduction in mechanical components in electric cars – meant a factory-built right-hand-drive Cadillac was financially viable for the US car company.
“The conversion between left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive becomes something we have to design and develop up front, but it’s much more simple than having an engine in front of you,” Shilpan Armin, General Motors Senior Vice President and President of GM International told Drive back in July 2020, during a media event in Detroit.
Cadillac has had a number of stalled attempts at launching in Australia, including a plan that was dumped at the 11th hour due to the emerging Global Financial Crisis in 2008, and another – five years in the making – that is believed to have been postponed due to the pandemic of 2020.
Overseas, the Cadillac Lyriq costs roughly as much as a Mercedes-Benz GLE, which starts from approximately $114,000 before on-road costs in Australia.
Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
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