General Motors is poised to take the next step in its electrification strategy in Spring Hill, Tennessee next week when it officially launches production of the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq.
GM President Mark Reuss will be joined by Rory Harvey, Cadillac vice president, and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to discuss the details of GM commitment to Cadillac’s all electric future in a special event that will include UAW representatives and employees from the company’s assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee where the battery-electric Cadillac Lyriq will be built starting next week.
GM is spending more than $35 billion to electrify its product line but so far only the GMC Hummer and Chevrolet Bolt have reached the market and production of the Bolt has been shut down since last August as GM replaces the batteries on 141,000 Bolt it sold previously because of the threat of fire.
Bolt production is scheduled to resume next month.
Luxury BEVs
With the official introduction, the Cadillac Lyriq will be entering what has become a fast-developing and intensely competitive BEV luxury segment, which is already crowded with entries from new companies such as Tesla and Lucid as well as long-established manufacturers such as Porsche, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Prices for the Lyriq will begin at $59,900 before taxes and destination charges, and Harvey has said GM has received inquiries from more than 200,000 consumers expressing an interest in the new crossover. As a result, GM pushed production targets from 3,200 for all of 2022 to 25,000 units this calendar year.
Analysts suggest GM and the Cadillac brand have a lot riding on the introduction of the Lyriq, which doesn’t have the shape of classic sedan nor the boxy silhouette of European wagon. It is built on GM’s new Ultium platform and will come with a 33-inch screen in the dashboard and GM’s Super Cruise driving assistance feature, allowing the driver to remove their hands from the car’s steering wheel. The system only works in certain places, covering more than 200,000 miles of road in the U.S.
GM is spending $2 billion on the Spring Hill plant, which once was the home of the company’s Saturn experiment, to prepare it for the production of EV and to construct a new battery plant with its partner LG Energy.
GM electric drive picks up momentum
The automaker also began production of the GMC Hummer at the re-tooled assembly plant on the Detroit-Hamtramck border. It also said it will re-tool the Orion assembly plant to build a battery-electric pickup truck as part of a $7 billion investment in its home state of Michigan.
The investment includes construction of a new battery plant in Delta Township, Michigan outside Lansing as well the investment totaling $510 million at GM’s Delta Township assembly plant and the Grand River.
GM also invested $800 million at a Canadian assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, which will be used to build battery electric vehicle for GM’s new BrightDrop unit. It also has slipped around protests from the United Auto Workers to invest $1 billion in the Ramos Arizpe manufacturing complex in Mexico to build the battery electric version of the Chevrolet Equinox.
