General Motors (GM) said Monday at a product launch that it intends to lead the world in electronic vehicles eventually, in a direct challenge to Elon Musk's market-leading Tesla.
Company executives made the remarks during a press conference marking the beginning of production of its "Tesla killer," a new luxury, all-electric Cadillac dubbed the Lyriq, that sold out in 10 minutes when GM opened reservations for it on Sept. 18.
The company also said Monday that it had moved up production by nine months of the Lyriq because the share of the market that is comprised of luxury electric vehicle will jump from 13% to 36% by 2025.
GM added that it will offer an additional 240,000 reservations to “hand raisers,” or people interested in buying the luxury EV, on May 19.
Lyriq is also a more wallet-friendly option than most Tesla models, with the first model priced below $60,000. It is also being made domestically, in Spring Hill, Tenn.
Should Elon Musk Worry?
Tesla has long dominated the electric vehicle market.
While it has had its speed bumps — long production times and missed sales targets among them — its last 12 months have been marked by a scorching bull run, as well as a higher profile.
President Joe Biden has even recognized the company's achievement despite it being a non-unionized automaker, and Musk has been sure to keep Tesla fans and shareholder alike on their toes by tweeting regularly about the company and its gains.
But General Motors is a pedigreed automaker, with the time, money and infrastructure to make its EV production its priority. It has more manpower, more facilities and a skilled workforce that it said it plans to continue to develop in the direction of specializing in electric vehicle production.
It also has been coming hard for Tesla (TSLA).
In January, it rolled out an ad at the Super Bowl that featured Austin Powers' Dr. Evil character using its Ultium technology to take over the world — the same tech that will drive the Lyriq.
Publicizing the launch of the whole line was also a sleeker, much more hip GM than what auto watchers have been used to, perhaps in a bid to win over Tesla's famous design snob fan base.
Photo courtesy of General Motors.
Here's What Else Lyriq Fans Should Consider
Still, Cadillac has warned fans that customers placing an order for a Lyriq car from May 19 will not necessarily take delivery of their vehicle in 2022.
That might frustrate new EV buyers who are used to a more traditional experience of showing up at the lot, picking their car and driving home that day.
GM also has to deal with a unionized workforce and possible materials and production delays caused by the Russian/Ukrainian war, which has stressed chipmakers and limited some types of the metals used in EV creation.
You can check out the full spec sheet on the Lyriq via this GM tweet.
