DETROIT — Cadillac will open the order books for the Lyriq, its first electric vehicle, this spring.
General Motors’ luxury brand will begin taking new orders for the 2023 Lyriq and the 2023 Lyriq performance all-wheel drive on May 19, Rory Harvey, vice president of global Cadillac, told reporters Tuesday.
Unlike reservations, the Lyriq orders will be logged directly into dealers’ systems, Harvey said. The process will be the same as placing an order for a CT4, Escalade or any vehicle available today through Cadillac.com or a dealership’s website.
Limited production of the standard Lyriq with rear-wheel drive is slated to begin March 21 in Spring Hill, Tenn. Shipments to dealers will begin in May, Harvey said. Production of the performance Lyriq will begin late this year.
Cadillac set a target for 200,000 handraisers for the Lyriq at the start of production, a level the brand has never achieved, Harvey said. Cadillac defines a “handraiser” as a consumer who shows interest in the midsize crossover. So far, Cadillac has already surpassed that target, counting 233,000 customers as handraisers, Harvey said. Cadillac did not disclose the number of reservations it booked for the Lyriq.
“We have yet to tell how many of those handraisers will translate into customer orders, but the amount of demand at the moment is absolutely huge,” Harvey said.
Cadillac plans to build 25,000 Lyriq crossovers at Spring Hill Assembly this year, up significantly from the 3,200 previously planned because of strong demand, according to a February Reuters report that cited information given to suppliers. AutoForecast Solutions expects Cadillac to build 45,000 Lyriq crossovers annually once production ramps up.
