The interior of the Cadillac Optiq, the American luxury brand’s new entry-level electric SUV, has been revealed.
The General Motors-owned brand, which will re-enter the Australian market this year, has confirmed the Optiq will appear at this month’s Beijing motor show, which starts on April 25.
We expect Cadillac to finally publish specifications for the new SUV at this time, though we do know from an earlier Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology filing that it’ll offer 150kW or 180kW outputs.
The Optiq measures 4822mm long, 1912mm wide and 1642mm tall on a 2954mm wheelbase, which makes it 72mm longer, 66mm narrower and 18mm taller than a Tesla Model Y.
Before the Optiq’s in-person debut, Cadillac has released a raft of interior images of its Model Y rival.
The Optiq closely resembles the larger Lyriq inside, down to the door-mounted power seat controls and the digital instrument cluster and infotainment touchscreen neatly integrated in one wraparound assembly.
There are some key differences from its larger sibling, however.
The pictured example features bold, metallic blue trim running from one side of the dash through to the centre. This matches the dark blue textured inserts on the lower half of the doors.
The compartment under the centre stack controls doesn’t have a door like in the Lyriq, while the floating centre console has a different shape.
The Optiq debuted in November 2023, and while GM hasn’t officially confirmed it for our market, it has trademarked its name locally.
It has also trademarked the Vistiq and Escalade iQ nameplates. These are larger electric SUVs joining the Cadillac stable.
The Lyriq will spearhead the brand’s return to Australia late this year, but it mightn’t be alone in Cadillac showrooms for long.
General Motors (GM) Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala told CarExpert in March that announcements of new Cadillac models beyond the Lyriq will come “towards the end of the year, early next year”.
“We want to get [the] Lyriq out and do an awesome job with [the] Lyriq first as well,” said Ms Bala.
“We do want to obviously give that incredible car its time as well, but also want to give everyone the confidence knowing that it’s not just one entry, we have more amazing cars coming.”
In response to whether the Optiq, Vistiq and Escalade iQ are the next vehicles coming to Australia, Ms Bala said “there are more EVs coming, obviously we’ll confirm what they are at a later date”.
She stopped short of confirming whether all these vehicles will come here.
“I will say that just from a process standpoint, whenever we, GM, have new vehicles coming in, trademark a name because we’ve decided well in advance what our vehicles are going to be called,” said Ms Bala.
“We do generally go out globally and trademark them everywhere because in the instance we do decide to bring a vehicle somewhere, we want that consistency to be there from a brand standpoint.”
Cadillac intends to stick with an electric-only strategy in Australia. It’s aiming to be EV-only by 2030 globally.
The brand will launch with three retail stores, or ‘Cadillac Experience Centres’: Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, and Auckland in New Zealand.
Executives have made multiple mentions of Cadillacs selling in “exclusive volumes”, though Ms Bala has been enthusiastic about its chances.
“It’s going to do incredibly well here,” said Ms Bala late last year, saying Cadillac will appeal to luxury car buyers who want to stand out and who consider themselves trendsetters.
Despite all the talk of “exclusive volumes”, Ms Bala said pricing of its debut model in Australia, the Lyriq, wouldn’t be lofty.
“It’ll be priced competitively inside that mid-sized SUV [segment],” said Ms Bala, confirming the Lyriq will battle similarly sized electric SUVs from European luxury brands like the BMW iX.
The company wouldn’t confirm pricing, but the Lyriq starts at the equivalent of around A$90,000 in the US.
In addition to selling vehicles through separate retail spaces, GM indicated there will be a different after-sales experience for Cadillac vehicles vis-à-vis those sold in GMSV showrooms.
“We’re all about providing an elevated luxurious experience to that customer from the minute they may enter their details in a website or visit one of our Cadillac Experience Centres, all the way through to purchase and beyond that,” said Ms Bala.
“Because we know that your purchase doesn’t end the minute that we hand you the keys to your vehicle, it’s an ongoing relationship that we want to maintain and provide something that is very consistent.
“A very high-end customer experience, sort of like that ‘white glove’ that you would expect as a luxury customer to get.”
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