Cadillac’s push into the EV market is picking up speed as it reveals its fifth all-electric model – and the third unveiled this year. Headlight.News checks out the new Caddy Vistiq, an EV alternative to the three-row Cadillac XT6.
Set to go into production in early 2025, the Cadillac Vistiq will serve as the all-electric equivalent of the Caddy XT6.
Like parent General Motors, Cadillac has laid out an aggressive goal of going all-electric – but has been slow to translate that plan into practice. After a painfully slow start, it’s only now reaching its original production goal for its first EV model, the Lyriq. But that hasn’t stopped it from pulling the wraps off four additional models.
The Cadillac Vistiq is the latest to roll out. While details are scarce – Caddy offering up only a short news release to accompany these two teaser images – several sources indicate Vistiq will serve as the all-electric counterpart to the Caddy XT6.
“Vistiq adds another compelling EV to the Cadillac lineup, reinforcing our commitment to an electric future,” said John Roth, vice president of Global Cadillac. “Our brand now has an EV entry in most luxury segments, offering customers a range of choices.”
Broad EV plans
GM CEO Mary Barra is fond of saying that the automaker is “on a path to an all-electric future.” By 2035, she reaffirmed earlier this month, it will no longer produce retail models using internal combustion engines.
Cadillac’s Lyriq rollout has gone more slowly than originally planned.
Cadillac has amped up that strategy. Its goal is to go fully electric by 2030. Significantly, Barra and Caddy officials have suggested that this could serve to help the once-formidable luxury brand re-enter some of the markets it had written off, starting with Europe.
The transformation began in 2022 with the launch of the Cadillac Lyriq. While it’s the only Caddy EV in production now, we should see things accelerate next year. Upcoming products include the Celestiq, a limited volume, $300,000 supercar that is meant to shine up the brand’s tarnished crown.
Since the beginning of 2023, meanwhile, Caddy has revealed three other electric models, the Escalade IQ, the Optiq and, now, the Vistiq.
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What we know
Cadillac revealed its all-electric entry model, the Optiq barely a month ago.
Referred to internal as the L234, Vistiq will fill the same slot as the current Cadillac XT6 crossover, albeit in all-electric form, said Sam Fiorani, lead analyst for AutoForecast Solutions. A number of names had been floated inside Caddy, including Acendiq and Lumistiq, according to Fiorani and other sources, before the automaker settled on the name announced Thursday.
Likely to offer a three-row option, it’s expected to be built at the GM plant in Spring Hill, Tennesse that’s set to be one of the automaker’s primary EV assembly lines.
It will use GM’s latest Ultium platform and batteries, as well as its Ultifi electrical architecture. That will allow for significant flexibility and, among other things, we can expect to see both rear-wheel and all-wheel-drive options. It’s possible Cadillac more offer Vistiq with different battery pack choices. Like Lyriq, the largest all but certainly will offer at least 100 kilowatt-hours of capacity, but it could push even higher, as Caddy officials have said that, moving forward, their goal is to offer a minimum 400 miles range per charge.
TBD
Will Celestiq, Escalade EV and Optiq all will hit market during the coming 2024 calendar-year. But Fiorani told Headlight.News that Vistiq is now planned to go into production at the beginning of 2025. That’s no surprise considering the effects the long-running semiconductor shortage, as well as the recent, six-week strike by the UAW, have had on GM’s broader plans.
Among the questions yet to be answered: will it be badged a 2025 or even a 2026 model-year offering?
Also yet to be announced: will it come standard as a two-row crossover with a three-row option, or will it offer only a three-row layout?
The new Cadillac halo car, the Celestiq, will go for around $300,000 – though a special one-off model, designed for Neiman-Marcus, jumps to $975,000.
Pricing
That’s another unanswered question.
The Cadillac Lyriq currently starts at just over $60,000 once adding in delivery fees.
Optiq, the EV equivalent of the entry-lux Cadillac XT4, is likely to start in the low-$50,000 range, insiders suggest.
At the low end, the Cadillac Vistiq would likely push into the mid- to high-$60,000 range, about what you’d pay for a top-line and fully-loaded XT6.
The Escalade IQ, the flagship among volume models, is expected to come in around $130,000.
Target Market
GM officials, starting with CEO Barra, say they see opportunities to return to some of the global markets they’ve abandoned in recent years, focusing exclusive on EVs. Cadillac is expected to lead that charge.
In the statement accompanying these images, Caddy said it “confirmed the 2025 OPTIQ…will act as the entry point for the brand’s EV lineup in North America and will appeal to global luxury customers with its spirited driving dynamics. Additional OPTIQ details will be revealed next year.”
There’s no word on global plans for Vistiq, though Fiorani said, it’s “a North American-focused product (but) will likely also be produced in China.” The three-row Vistiq is “a bit large for the European market which,” he added, “would be better served by Optiq and Lyriq.”
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