Cadillac will start taking orders for the Lyriq, its first all-electric vehicle, in late spring.
Customers will be able to place an order for the 2023 Lyriq and the 2023 Lyriq performance all-wheel-drive version on May 19, Rory Harvey, vice president of global Cadillac, told the media on March 15.
Mind you, he was not talking reservations but firm orders that will be logged directly into dealers' systems, the same process as placing an order for any other Cadillac ICE vehicle.
According to Automotive News, the executive confirmed that limited production of the standard Lyriq with rear-wheel drive is set to begin March 21 in Spring Hill, Tennessee, with shipments to dealers to begin in May. As for the AWD performance version, production will start late this year, with deliveries slated to begin in early 2023.
While Cadillac did not disclose the number of reservations, it did say it exceeded the target of 200,000 hand-raisers it had set for the Lyriq at the start of production.
Gallery: Cadillac Lyriq
Harvey revealed there are 233,000 hand-raisers for the EV; by "hand-raisers," Cadillac means consumers who show interest in the midsize crossover and and are receiving regular updates on it.
"We have yet to tell how many of those hand-raisers will translate into customer orders, but the amount of demand at the moment is absolutely huge."
Rory Harvey, vice president of global Cadillac
Generally, about 10% of hand-raisers end up placing an actual order, Cadillac execs said, so the automaker may end up with more than 20,000 orders.
Harvey declined to comment on expected production volumes for the Lyriq in 2022 and 2023, saying those numbers are a "work in progress." However, he noted that GM already is considering boosting production capacity "fairly significantly" from the initial plan.
According to a February Reuters report that cited information given to suppliers, Cadillac plans to build 25,000 Lyriq crossovers this year, up significantly from the 3,200 previously planned, due to strong demand. Once production ramps up, Cadillac is expected to build 45,000 Lyriq EVs annually, as per AutoForecast Solutions.
During the media briefing, Cadillac execs briefly mentioned the Celestiq electric flagship sedan, confirming that it's finally going into production next year. That would suggest a reveal date before that, although no one was willing to provide a timeframe.
