Long Time Coming

We first saw the production Lyriq in 2021 and there was plenty of initial enthusiasm. Buyers of a limited number of Debut Editions put down deposits in April of that year. When order banks opened again in May 2022, the 2023 model year was sold out within hours. It just took production to catch up.

2024 Cadillac Lyriq EV production ramp up 4

But the rollout has been painfully slow, some of it on purpose given that it is a new product, the first EV for Cadillac, and first impressions would be crucial. Production began at the Spring Hill Assembly plant in Tennessee in March 2022 with the rear-drive model, adding the second motor for all-wheel drive a year later. The Lyriq's batteries come from GM's joint venture plant with LG Energy Solution at the Lordstown facility in Warren, Ohio, which reportedly could not get the equipment needed to make modules, hence the production bottleneck.

Barra Frustrated, Progress Being Made

In December, GM CEO Mary Barra expressed her own frustration with the prolonged rollout of its new EVs that had some customers waiting up to a full year for their ordered Lyriq. The irony is that the Lyriq came to market with surprising speed and its launch was actually pulled ahead by nine months during the pandemic and semiconductor chip shortage when many vehicle programs were being pushed back.

004 2024 Cadillac Lyriq AWD side in motion view

With a strong order bank, a steep launch had been planned but could not be executed due to supply chain, production, software, and quality issues. Barra said the production issues and module shortage had largely been resolved and production would ramp up quickly in the new year, which the January sales numbers are already starting to show. Issues related to the recently-announced stop-sale of the similar Chevy Blazer EV should not impact Lyriq production.

Additionally, Roth said Cadillac has started hand-building Celestiq EVs for customers with the first deliveries to come this year. He would not say how many had been ordered, citing confidentiality for the unique customers for the $300,000+ bespoke electric car.