Cadillac Optiq revealed as luxurious Tesla Mannequin Y rival

Cadillac has formally revealed its Optiq, its entry-level electrical SUV, on the Guangzhou motor present.

Pictures and a few specs of the Tesla Mannequin Y and BMW iX3 rival appeared on-line earlier this 12 months in a submitting with the Chinese language Ministry of Business and Info Know-how (MIIT).

The Optiq has now hit the present ground in Guangzhou, although now we have but to see its inside.

Concurrently, Cadillac has introduced it gained’t be unique to the Chinese language market as had beforehand been reported. It has been confirmed for the North American market, with pricing and specs to be introduced subsequent 12 months.

It’s a risk for Australia, too, as earlier this 12 months Normal Motors trademarked the Optiq identify domestically.

Cadillac hasn’t revealed any additional info on the Optiq, nevertheless we all know from the sooner MIIT submitting it is going to include a single electrical motor with both 150kW of energy or 180kW of energy.

It’s anticipated to function rear-wheel drive like most GM merchandise on the BEV3 platform, whereas a dual-motor all-wheel drive configuration appears possible for the North American market.

In line with Chinese language media experiences, the Optiq will use a battery from the SAIC-CATL three way partnership and never one among GM’s Ultium batteries. It’s unclear if this might be completely different for examples offered exterior of China.

The Optiq measures 4822mm lengthy, 1912mm extensive and 1642mm tall on a 2954mm wheelbase.

For reference, a Tesla Mannequin Y is 4750mm lengthy, 1978mm extensive and 1624mm tall on a 2890mm wheelbase, whereas Cadillac’s personal Lyriq is 5005mm lengthy, 1976mm extensive and 1623mm tall on a 3094mm wheelbase.

Whereas there’s a transparent familial resemblance between the Optiq and its fellow Cadillac electrical SUVs, together with tail lights much like these of the flagship Escalade iQ, it has its personal look with extra curvaceous styling.

Along with trademarking the Lyriq in Australia, GM additionally trademarked the Escalade iQ and Vistiq names, the latter for an as-yet unrevealed electrical Cadillac.

It’s unclear whether or not Vistiq is Cadillac’s mooted electrical three-row crossover, or an electrical sedan.

Notably, the Celestiq – an ultra-luxury flagship fastback for the model – hasn’t been trademarked in Australia. It’s understood to be left-hand drive-only.

Cadillac introduced its return to the Australian market earlier this week, confirming the Lyriq might be offered right here in manufacturing unit right-hand drive by the tip of 2024 in two new showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne.

Whereas it didn’t affirm the Optiq particularly, it indicated the model will discipline a couple of product in Australia.

“We assess each market and each product risk… we’re not sharing greater than Lyriq proper now however we’ll proceed to evaluate what Cadillac is creating globally and what’s the proper match for our market and at the moment,” mentioned GM Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala.

“Clearly it’s not simply Lyriq, there are going to be extra Cadillacs to come back.

“We’re standing up a model and a enterprise, so clearly it wants a couple of entry.”

Likewise, executives confirmed the Cadillac model’s retail community will develop past the preliminary two areas.

Executives additionally confirmed that, whereas the Lyriq will come from the corporate’s Tennessee plant within the US, “every little thing is all the time into account” in relation to manufacturing sourcing – leaving the door open to sourcing vehicles from China.

Cadillac mentioned it is going to value the Lyriq “competitively” inside its section, which incorporates rivals just like the BMW iX.

The iX and Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV each begin at round $135,000 earlier than on-road prices.

Regardless of what it’s calling aggressive pricing, Cadillac says it is going to promote automobiles right here in “unique volumes”.

Along with a separate retail community from the present GM Specialty Automobiles enterprise, it’s additionally promising a novel after-sales expertise which it characterises as “white glove”.

“We’re all about offering an elevated luxurious expertise to that buyer from the minute they could enter their particulars in an internet site or go to one among our Cadillac Expertise Centres, throughout to buy and past that,” mentioned Ms Bala.

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