After the first pre-production 2023 Cadillac Lyriq rolled off the assembly line in January at GM's plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, the electric SUV will reportedly enter series production on March 21.
Cadillac Society reports that's the day GM will start building customer vehicles, citing unnamed sources. Our colleagues from Motor1.com tried to verify that information but a Cadillac spokesperson could not provide a specific date, saying that plans for production were on track for later this month.
That corroborates with the production start timeline provided by GM in January when it began pre-production of the 2023 Lyriq. At the time, the automaker said that production of customer vehicles would begin by the end of the first quarter.
The 2023 Cadillac Lyriq was first unveiled in August 2020 in concept form, with a nearly identical production version debuting in April 2021. In September, Cadillac started taking preorders for the electric SUV in Debut Edition guise, which sold out in just 10 minutes.
Gallery: Cadillac Lyriq
As with the GMC Hummer EV or Chevrolet Silverado EV, Cadillac's first-ever all-electric production model is based on GM's Ultium platform. It will launch in a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive configuration packing a 100 kWh battery that enables a driving range of more than 300 miles. The battery powers an electric motor rated at 340 horsepower (254 kW) and 325 pound-feet (440 Nm) of torque.
The Lyriq's battery pack offers DC fast charging at up to 190 kW, enough to add 76 miles of range in about 10 minutes of charge. For home charging, the Lyriq comes with a Level 2 19.2 kW charging module that can add up to 52 miles (84 km) of range per hour of charge.
Pricing starts at $58,795 for the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq Debut Edition, excluding a $1,195 destination charge. Buyers will be able to order more trims starting this summer, Cadillac previously said. Customer deliveries of the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq Debut Edition are expected to start in the first half of the year.
All-wheel-drive models are in the works and some reports claim Cadillac also considers adding high-performance models to the lineup at some point in the future.
