Of year had grown in different, I discovered a world awakened and enlivened.
I
and as a little kid, Cadillac was the ultimate symbol of American luxury.
It's always this brand that I kind of held out as this this incredible American icon. If you think about the Cyclone from the 50s or the Eldorado from the 60s, I mean,
it's always been this future Ford brand. The Cadillac was not only the premier luxury brand that was a sign of innovation.
Every new entry for Cadillac is an
It's always been defined by performance, by technology, by styling, by innovation. Everything has
to feel extraordinary. There's no detail too small. There's no selling that gets left unturned.
With the shift now to electrification, it gives us yet another opportunity for a whole new future for the Cadillac brand.
This is what we need. This is what our world needs.
Lyric announces the next revolution in personal mobility.
It represents ingenuity. It's everything that I went to engineering school for.
It's an honor to represent the Crest and
Work on a branch that really believes in
Changing the world. Not just for us, but for our children Our children's children. Given the transformation that the entire industry is going through, and I think it's very fair to say that Cadillac can play a lead role, and we can bring it back to where
it really belongs. What's in a charge? A belief? A wish? Or something more steadfast?
An electric charge that does more
Altium system is the battery cell itself where our strategy is to use the fewest number of the largest cells possible. These for each vehicle design. The Altium Propulsion System will be launching with a new chemistry where we've taken a standard nickel manganese cobalt chemistry and we've added aluminum, which gives customers more range at lower cost.
We'll be able to achieve much better mileage, much better charging capability.
We've designed Lyric to achieve 300 miles of range on a full battery charge.
We will also offer both a level 1 and a level 2 AC charging, as well as DC fast charging capability up to 150 kilowatts to make sure that the concern of range and the concern of charge time is not something that will ever get in the way of the KLA customer being able to enjoy their driving experience.
When you reflect on what we have to work with in terms of the Ultium propulsion system, the battery technology itself, the drive motors, the controls, that all comes together. Lyric is just the beginning.
Mountains, waves, the sky. With every breath, I know I am not I. The Earth never tires. The road is before us. Every destination, another memory that makes us whole.
Sometimes awe inspiring. Sometimes jubilant, always human.
You spend years at drafting tables, in conference rooms, at computers, math modeling in clay to get the vehicle to the point where you actually sit behind the wheel and drive it.
The electric propulsion system really opens up a lot of windows for us to offer a wide variety of range and performance options.
The battery pack is tied into the underbody to help stiffen the vehicle such that your handling, your steering feel and your responsiveness are going to be quick.
The way the Ultium battery is integrated, it really helps us lower the center of gravity.
That combined with a nice wide stance to the vehicle is going to give you a great road hugging experience around corners. We designed this vehicle to have nearly a fifty-fifty weight distribution, which means
the more precise and the more fun to drive a vehicle is. The fundamental architecture of lyric is rear wheel drive. And then lyric goes a step further with a performance all wheel drive option that offers another drive unit in the front of the vehicle.
So not only are you getting power distribution to all four tires, but you're actually increasing your horsepower. This vehicle will be a no excuses performance Cadillac.
Lyric is our first execution of a vented roof spoiler, so that allows us to maintain the square back shape of an SUV, but also get the optimal performance.
With EVs, we define performance on dimensions not just for Cadillac, but for the industry.
The birds renew their notes, and through the air, their mingled music flows. Light, sound in color, technology, design, intelligence. New freedoms
When you approach the Lyric interior, the first thing that will be prevalent is the beautiful curved 33 inches display.
We have graphics that go all the way to the edge, the beautiful colors. The UX team did a beautiful job.
Traditional heads up displays have one plane of information. This new dual plane HUD has 2 different planes of information. 1 looks like it's floating on the HUD and another looks like it's floating on the road. It's
transport the customer into our recording studio to establish that emotional connection. AKG is the right brand for Cadillac.
Often designing new features that you don't fully understand
yet is a challenge. Super Cruise is a great example.
Super Cruise is
industry's first truly hands free driver assist system and it will be coming to the lyric. We've added many new features, the biggest one being our lane change on demand feature, where the driver can request a lane change and then the vehicle same. And
we're
also seamless for the customer that we give them all the space and comfort that they expect in a luxury product.
As we strive for the best electric vehicle in the world, we are also making sure that we are providing a true luxury tailing.
The challenge we had was how do we keep moving forward and how do we take Cadillac into a new direction where people see it as still a Cadillac, but very much a future forward vision for Cadillac?
It is a designer's dream to start with an all new architecture. Attention to detail
end of the
Cadillac. The interior designers start out with that first read, the beautiful surfacing, striking the lines and making sure that they are uninterrupted. And the placement of woods, metal, the contrast
speakers below. If you look
on the end of the IP, we've got murrelets in there that's kind of like an Easter egg as you open the center console. The little
drawer opens and it's beautifully lined like a jewelry box. It's the texturing within the metal that you find around
by a watchmaker or a jeweler. That's the kind of surprises that we wanted to develop for a luxury customer.
The exterior design is no longer limited with a
constraint of a combustion engine. So it's an opportunity to really push the fashion of car design.
The Lyric unveils the new face of Cadillac.
We want to reinvent the crest in a way that looks very technologically advanced, but had a very bespoke appearance.
The black crystal appearance of the grill and the avant garde lighting are integrated halfway.
When we walk up, the lighting sequences start with the badge. And then it fills in through the grille, pushes the light down and back from the nose to the tail.
My ultimate goal was to make this, hands down, the best
and
next generation technologies.
We knew that we were working on something really special when we started to give luxury EVs a soul.
This is going to be one of the most fun to drive vehicles that I've ever worked on.
There's nothing about it that doesn't captivate me. When we get aligned behind a task and a mission and a vision, we can accomplish just about anything.
Never forget, up first.
This is truly a monumental night for Cadillac and General Motors. Thanks to everyone especially the team who delivered Lyric tonight and all of our employees watching right now. We are live tonight from GM's historic design dome, a place that for decades has borne witness to many iconic vehicle designs and kept our secrets hidden until the right moment. Tonight Lyric joins that list of vehicles and the time is right to show the world. The Lyric is the first Ultium powered vehicle we've shown publicly so we've made some history right here tonight.
It pairs our next generation battery technology with bold design that advances the storied Cadillac brand even further. Advanced technology and gorgeous design have been the cornerstones of Cadillac for more than a century. And tonight, Lyric marks the beginning of a transformation that will shift the Cadillac portfolio to electric over the next decade. And it cements Cadillac's role as technology spearhead for General Motors leading the way not only in electrification but also in connectivity and automated driving. The key enabler is really the Ultium battery paired with the all new architecture engineered specifically for EVs.
The flexibility of our approach allows us to drive high volumes and multiple segments for multiple brands. But tonight is an exciting night for all of us at GM and we look forward to telling you more about Lyric.
So Mike. Thank you, Mark. Good evening, everyone. It is an honor to be here in this room, Mark, with you and our colleagues. We want to welcome all of you for joining tonight.
How this is going to work? Let me lay the groundwork a little bit. We're going to take questions from you online and then I'm going to direct those questions to some of our experts in the room. We have experts here from Cadillac and leadership. We have experts from design and of course from engineering.
So with that we are going to get started. Mark, while your microphone is still hot and live, we're going to go right back to you if you don't mind with the first question. The first question comes from Shanghai China. Why is Cadillac going electric now Mark?
Well, Mike, you know, Cadillac, like the rest of GM, is committed to delivering all electric feature with 0 emissions. Advancements in battery technology and increased availability of public charging infrastructure have made it easier than ever to own an EV and we are working to make it even easier. GM has more than 25 years of EV production experience. Beyond engineering and manufacturing expertise, we also learn in real time from our customers charging habits where when and how often as well as average commutes and other information. We use all this data when developing the next generation of Cadillac EVs to make sure we nail the customer experience and make it as seamless as possible.
But Steve, what do you think? Well, thanks, Mark.
When you reflect on it and everything that you just said, my conclusion is it's time to put the hammer down. All these elements are coming together. We have a huge opportunity to take advantage of the convergence of all those things that you mentioned, which maybe is a couple of years out, but it also feels like that's all approaching us very fast. So at Cadillac, we see a great opportunity for EVs in the luxury market. Customers in this segment tend to have a greater interest and acceptance of technologies, but the technologies need to be relevant and to make lives better.
Mike?
Thanks, Steve. Next question is for Jamie Brewer, our Chief Engineer on Lyric. Jamie, Mark had mentioned the Ultium battery early in his opening. We've heard a lot about it leading up to this event tonight. What opportunities did the Ultium battery play for you and your engineering team when you were developing the Lyric?
Well, thanks for the question, Mike. The Altium battery system, because it's a brand new system that we've just been developing for the our next generation of EVs. It's a modular system. So the opportunity to mix and match propulsion combinations, drive units with different amount of battery modules to get different range and performance options has been incredible. The other real benefit of the LTM system is because we developed it at the same time that we developed the vehicle architecture, we've been able to design the LTM battery system to actually be an integral part of the vehicle structure.
So we're taking advantage of the battery and we're leveraging it to get better ride, better handling, better vehicle dynamics and better crash performance as well. Thanks Mike.
Great. Thanks. The next question is going to go to Melissa Grady. It comes from Toronto, Canada. Melissa engineering in electric car is one thing but the challenge of marketing it, that seems like it's an all new opportunity for Cadillac.
How do you plan on marketing this vehicle?
Thanks, Mike. When we look how we're going to market this vehicle, and Mark talked about it, this is the future of Cadillac. This is our part of the GM000 vision. So when we look at this, it's really how we completely reimagine the entire customer experience, all the way from any kind of shopping through to purchase, all the way through ownership. So if we think about the mobile app, which is already really functional and great, we're completely reimagining how that works.
When we look at range anxiety that customers have, how are we solving that through the charging network? What is the dealership experience like? And how do we really make that not only seamless and frictionless, but really delightful? And as we're trying to delight those customers, that goes not only from the experience, but all the way through to the product. When we look this beautiful car that we have, Mark was talking a little bit about autonomous driving.
When we look at Super Cruise and the dual plane air HUD, the 33 inches screen that is so beautiful. I think this car, it's really about our future. It's not about a marketing campaign. It's not a marketing stunt that we have. It's really about how do we reimagine the entire future and the entire experience with Cadillac.
Great. Thank you, Melissa. Next Mike Simcoe from design. Mike, this is an interesting one. I think you and I had this discussion actually maybe as early as last night.
Because the Ultium battery offers such flexibility, you could have really changed the design language of the Cadillac Lyric. However, it kind of has that familiar feel of an SUV, the proportions feel like an SUV. Why did you make that decision and why didn't you make a radical change when you have the opportunity?
Okay, Mike. Thanks. It is a good question. We do get asked this quite a lot related to EV architectures because the EV architecture does give us choice and allows us flexibility. Now our customers are turned on by, I guess, a premiumluxury proportion.
And premiumluxury proportion is dash to axle, is a sharp profile. I'd defy anyone to call the Lyriq a traditional SUV in form. This is a really, really cool vehicle. The designers got really turned on doing it and the customers will see that. And so as I said, a sharp profile, long to axle, long wheelbase, what's not like not to like.
I mean, it's yes, I'm lost for words. I really can't answer that one any better. It's not a traditional SUV, doesn't come across that way. Our customers are turned on by premium
I might not make it home this evening. Ken Morris is with us. Ken leads our electrification area of the business and he's got the next question. It comes from Seoul, Korea. Ken, what is the background of our relationship as a company with LG Chem and what benefit does Cadillac get from that relationship?
It's a super important relationship. It's bringing together 2 companies that are bringing the best that we can do and the expertise of both companies so that we're able to do a very important task for Cadillac and for really General Motors as a whole. And that is to bring battery costs down as far as we possibly can. So General Motors brings 100 years of manufacturing leadership and supply chain understanding to the forefront. And LG Chem brings the chemical know how and the battery chemistry background.
And we're working together and we're helping each other improve, improve, improve. And also, we've with this partnership, we've actually built a battery plant or in the process of building a battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and that's going to allow us to make
the customer. It's for Steve Carlisle. Steve, how is Cadillac going to separate themselves from other luxury automotive brands that will also be coming into the EV market here in the near future?
Well, as this is a customer, this is the hard sell time, right, Mike? Go for it. Yes.
Ask what color.
So I think Lyric is it's a terrific example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. And we have some terrific parts to work with. And what I mean by that is others have already talked about the LTM battery system. We've talked about Michael just described the design, which I find just compelling and captivating. Super Cruise that we have with this car, the displays that we have in the car, the AR HUD.
So all that really comes together in a truly compelling proposition that I just don't see out there. And if you think about, as others have talked about, the experience that's gone into that to get us to this point, it's really unmatched in the industry. So you put all those parts together and the whole just takes it completely beyond. And then put it in the context of this customer experience that Melissa described. So I think when you add all that up, each independent element of it is really impressive.
But when you look at it in its totality, I think that's what will set us apart truly from our competitors.
Great. Thank you. Andrew Smith from design. When we start a project like this, I know your team sits down and receives a design brief. We've got a a question actually from Paris, France, asking what was the design brief for Lyric like?
What did you tell to your team as you sat down and started to sketch the first interiors and exteriors of the car?
Okay. Well, thanks, Mike. I guess in the simplest terms that I could put, rather than to ask an attempt to develop a new EV, what we really did was get an opportunity to develop an all new Cadillac. So what we wanted to do was clean sheet approach, where will we take Cadillac in the future, where will we take the styling of the vehicle, where will we take the detailing of the vehicle, and frankly, where will we take the portfolio as we frame a whole new future for Cadillac. So really, it was a very exciting opportunity for the team.
I think you can see their enthusiasm in the product. But at the same time, we've tried to hold some of the heritage of the brand, and you'll see that in some of the detailing like way that we've executed the crystal crest or some of the details on the interior and really just the general enthusiasm for the brand as we think about the luxury customers and what they're looking for. So that's kind of the brief. Thanks.
On the way in, Mark, I saw the charging port of the Lyric hidden behind the door of the panel, which is awesome. We've got a question from a customer in San Francisco who wants to know, will General Motors build out its own charging network like some of our competitors done in my custody?
Yes. That's a great question, Mike. As you might know or have seen in the last week here, we announced that we're entering a partnership with EVgo, which is a really compelling DC fast charge network. And we're actually tripling the size of EVgo's current network, which that's not the end of it. We will seed it.
We will fund the 2,700 with EV Go. And we will look for additional capital and investment into this network that's ubiquitous. It really is for all electric vehicles. So it's not just general motors cars, but EVs for everyone. And so we will continue that journey until we have an infrastructure and a charge convenience for everybody who wants to have an electric vehicle charge it fast and do it at a convenient spot whether it be a grocery store, your work, on a trip, whatever that may be, it will give you the freedom to still experience transportation and the passion behind vehicles like the Lyriq to be able to really enjoy it.
And a lot of people haven't really driven EVs quite yet. But I think if you drive something like the Lyric with the Ultium battery, and Jamie described this a little bit, but we have all the elements on a purpose built EV platform to create incredible excitement, refinement, elegance, and finally just happiness. And that's what we're trying to do and that's what we're doing with this car.
Great. Comments from that instant torque window?
Absolutely. Absolutely. You can do anything you want with an EV in terms of steering torque, center of gravity, all of it.
Because of the battery placement?
That's right.
Michael, let me try to make amends. Another question for you, a lot of interest in design tonight, as usual. Will Lyriq's design element be consistent among future Cadillac EVs?
Thanks, Mike. Yes, the Lyriq sets the benchmark now for where Cadillac's start and design has to continue from here. So all future Cadillac EVs particularly will have the character and some of the detailed features that exist inside the Lyric. Obviously, proportion will be different as we create the vehicles that fill out the portfolio, our EV portfolio. But the Christmas, the premium proportion, the sheer surfacing, the technicality of the face, the I guess, the novel execution of the vertical signature in the front and the rear of the vehicle.
I mean, the headlamps, in fact, the vertical is the headlamp these days. That's the level of technicality in the vehicle. And when you see the rear of the vehicle, it's no Cadillac you've seen before, and it'll be absolutely recognizable on the road. So it would be a sin for us not to take this as a starting point and then pull it through the rest of the portfolio as we move forward. Back to you, Mike.
It's stunning. Thank you to you and the team. Jamie, a big question on the minds of many EV enthusiasts and those who are considering EVs is how long does it take to charge the Lyric?
Could you give us a
little insight on charging time?
Yes, that's a great question, Mike. From the day we started developing the Lyric, we knew that both range and charging time and charging availability were going to be top of mind for any of our EV adapters. What we tried to do with the Lyric was make sure that we're providing options to our customers. So the Lyric will have multiple charging opportunities and options for customers to pick from. We'll offer both a level 1 and a level 2 AC charging.
And our level 2 AC charging will offer up to 19 kilowatts, flexible charging. We'll also offer DC fast charging without over 150 kilowatts available. So the customer will have the ability to choose where they charge, be it at home, at work, on the go and how they charge and make the most of the time they have available to fill their battery. Thanks, Mike.
Great, Jamie. Thank you. Melissa, a question that we've received from a number of journalists is about the name Lyric and where did that name come from and how did you come up with that name Lyric?
I love this question, Mike. Thank you. There's a few things. I think, 1st of all, moving into this new phase of Cadillac's future, we moved from alphanumeric back to having full names. So as we started to explore what was the right name for this vehicle and moving forward, we were talking to a lot of people.
And IQ when you have IQ in something, it conjures up feelings of intelligence, of boldness, of innovation. We did a lot of research on this. We talked a lot of people. So that's how we landed there. And then when you think about, well, first of all, if you look at this car, and it really hearkens to our history and the beautiful design.
And if you think about Cadillac having that place that's really in like arts and especially music, what are we going to call this car, but a Lyric? I mean, Cadillac's in more song lyrics than any other vehicle. So that's how we came up with Lyric. Thank you, Mike.
The beginning of a new history. Andrew, speaking of history, Cadillac's history of innovation and design and have always had a little place of leadership. How does that has that influenced our EV future?
Yes, again, that's a good question. And certainly, it's something from the minds of the designers as we began the project. But think about Cadillac, it was the first brand to have an electric starter. It's had history of innovation all the way through to Super Cruise. And so when we came to this vehicle, which was a clean sheet approach, it really was an opportunity to do what we've done all the way through the history of the brand, which is artistically integrate technology into the vehicles to make the customer happy, to delight the customer.
It begins, I guess, at the front. We talked about this new face, but it actually is radar transparent. It features multiple sensors behind here that are all, set up for the Super Cruise system. Or we have the headlamps that Mike mentioned, which are a world first. You turn to the interior, and we've got the 33 inches screen.
We've got the decor, which is on the screen behind me, which is a laser cut veneer of a metal with back lighting, that's just absolutely incredible. And then hidden features throughout the interior like the bright blue lined kind of jewelry box, drawer or other features and the rear set entertainment. So really, for us, this vehicle is kind of the embodiment of Cadillac in the past, but moving it very much into the future. So thanks.
Mark, I can understand why our designers are excited about Lyric. I can certainly understand why our engineers are excited about the EV future and then the Ultium battery pack. But customer acceptance is something that we know needs to grow. What makes you think that customer acceptance will expand and grow over the next few years?
That's a great question. A couple of years ago, when we started the journey on batteries, cell chemistry and the creation of Ultium and then the decisions around our portfolios and what we're going to do in Cadillac first and things like Hummer. Those decisions were made because a lot of the vehicles that you see on the road today and in the past that were electric vehicles were, in some cases, very expensive, did not have the range that customers really needed. And the infrastructure, which I spoke about just a few minutes ago, was not growing the way our customers needed for adoption. At the end of the day though, the vehicle and the product is king.
And if we get the vehicle right, and we have an infrastructure for charging, and we have battery cell technology and scale that becomes very competitive from a price and cost standpoint, from a value standpoint for our customers. Things begin to change and they begin to change very rapidly. The driving experience as Jamie pointed out and Ken, the driving experience is phenomenal. You can tune a car just like to a personality of a customer and you can do it with our new electrical architecture that you'll see in Lyric as well. The car will continually get better throughout the ownership experience.
That's really important. And so when you have something like that that continually gets better with over the air and different things that we can offer customers through that electrical architecture in an electric vehicle, Things get very interesting and they get very very compelling for people because at the end of the day the passion and the reflection of who you are and what you like is still present in an electric vehicle just like it is in an internal combustion engine. Those curves of what it takes to put an internal combustion engine on the road from an emissions standpoint versus the battery cost, which is going down at an incredible rate within our LTM battery pack. We saw that a couple of years ago when we planned it and executed it. And what you're seeing here today is the first fruit from that.
So that's really what we think.
That's great. Ken, Mark mentioned our pedigree and our heritage in EV design and leadership. What learnings have we taken from current or previous EVs that we have done or maybe some of our competitors have done and apply that to the Lyric?
It's an interesting question because obviously, the automotive industry is the most competitive industry, one of the most competitive industries in the world. And so we have to understand what our competition is doing. So clearly, we benchmark. We do the research on that. But the most important thing for us to do with the Lyric as well as all of the other vehicles that we have coming in our portfolio is understanding what does our customer want, what tremendous amount of research there.
And we've defined tremendous amount of research there, and we've defined certain elements that we have to have. For example, customers do want a full portfolio of vehicles so that if they want a pickup truck, they can get a pickup. If they want a sedan, they can get a sedan. They also have told us a 300 miles range is kind of the baseline of the amount of range that they require. They also told us that they're going to have just a slight acceptance for a higher cost, but that's also told us we better plan for trying to be basically at parity with ICE vehicle or internal combustion vehicles.
And so long story short, we're trying to make sure that we're tailoring our vehicles to customers because we have every opportunity to do that. They're brand new platforms. We can integrate them however we want to integrate them, just like Mark said, and we can make them the best Cadillacs we've ever made.
Great. Thanks, Ken.
Mark, I
think the last time I was with Ken was out at Nurburgring in the fall where working on the C8. And we know that you also are a competitive driver and have spent some time behind the wheel in many tracks. And how would you describe the driving dynamics of Lyriq? How does it compare with other cars?
Well, I think, Michael talked a little bit about how this is not a anything it's anything but a traditional design around some usability that you see on some of the crossovers and SUVs on the road today. I would say that the driving dynamics are infinitely tailorable for the Lyric. And why that's important is because in the Cadillac portfolio today, we have things like Blackwings V Series. We have sports. We have just elegant that have an unbelievable balance of ride, but also handling.
And I think this vehicle, and Jamie talked a little bit about it, but the low center of gravity, the fifty-fifty weight distribution, it sets a standard that frankly I'm not sure we've seen before and you'd be familiar with some of our most advanced chassis and suspension technologies with magnetic ride and things like that. This has the bones and the basics to be able to do just about anything. And I mentioned the over the air capability of this as well with the new electrical architecture that we're launching right now today. And that is very compelling because the vehicle that you drive today may not be the vehicle that you want to drive tomorrow, depending on where you're going, what you're doing, or just what your win is. And that flexibility and that tailoring to a customer will all be present.
And that's very exciting to me. So if there was one word that described it, I would say personal.
Great. Jamie, it sounds like we're going to the ring. Well, Jamie, tell us a little bit more. What was the most exciting part about developing the Lyric as an engineer?
Yes, I mean developing the this has probably been the most exciting product I've gotten to work on so far in my career. And in the video, you heard Crystal Windham say that having a blank sheet of paper is a designer's dream, having a brand new architecture is a designer's dream. But honestly, for anyone in the automotive industry, getting to start with a blank piece of paper and design a product from the ground up, the architecture, the propulsion system, the interior, the customer interfaces, that's just that's something that you only get to do once or twice in your career. So having had that opportunity and getting to develop the vehicle in conjunction with the battery and the drive unit and our creative design partners, that's just been really a wonderful experience. Thanks, Mike.
Great. Thank you all. And thank you all for joining us. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Steve Carlisle for some closing remarks.
All right. Thanks, Mike. Well, thank you all for joining us live from the design dome tonight as we introduced the Cadillac Lyriq. So much has changed across the globe in 2020, but our vision of a 0 emissions future has not wavered. We remain steadfast in that commitment, and our electric future is now.
It's been an absolute pleasure to introduce you to the team behind Lyric and to show you the 1st Ultium powered vehicle to be publicly revealed. Within the next decade, Cadillac's propulsion system and supporting technologies will lay the foundation for a wide range of Cadillac EVs that will continue to redefine American luxury. For more on each verse of the Cadillac Lyric, please go to cadillac.com. Thanks again. Good night, good afternoon, and good