Cadillac reports 36,321 vehicle deliveries in the United States during the first quarter of 2023, which is almost 29 percent more than a year ago.
More importantly, Cadillac’s all-electric car sales finally significantly accelerated to an unprecedented level.
In Q1, the company delivered 968 Lyriq, which is an order of magnitude more than in Q4 2022 (86) and Q3 2022 (36 units). That’s about 2.7 percent of the brand’s total volume.
Cadillac never sold so many plug-ins – it never exceeded 500 plug-in hybrids (ELR and CT6 PHV) per quarter – and now a level of 1,000 all-electric cars is just around the corner. This is probably just the beginning of even higher levels that will lay the foundation for the brand’s electrification.
General Motors noted briefly that “Cadillac LYRIQ deliveries accelerating rapidly throughout 2023.” There is no official info about the number of pre-orders/orders, but we guess that there might be thousands of customers and potentially a year of waiting, which is often the case for new BEVs. The 2024 model year version starts at around $60,000 (effectively $52,490, when deducting the $7,500 federal tax credit).
An increase in Cadillac Lyriq sales is an important thing because it’s currently the highest-volume model based on the all-new Ultium platform.
Production of the Lyriq started in March 2022 at the Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee. Lithium-ion battery cells come from Warren, Ohio (Ultium Cells joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution), which started production in Summer/Fall 2022. GM announced an additional investment in this factory to boost the battery production to 50 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually.
As far as we know, GM is very careful with the ramp-up of the Cadillac Lyriq to make sure that the all-new Ultium vehicles, as well as the all-new batteries, are fully up to specification. Especially since there already was a recall of 186 Cadillac Lyriq (some not yet delivered) because of a touchscreen issue.
Besides the Lyriq, Cadillac is also preparing for another all-electric model – the Celestiq, which in Summer 2022 was seen in camouflage during some road testing.
Cadillac is expected to gradually become a fully electrified brand, basically just like most or all other luxury/premium brands.
