Cadillac price in Australia to target BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi
US luxury-car brand Cadillac is gunning for the 'Big Three' German brands – as well as Volvo, Lexus and Porsche – with its new range of electric vehicles in Australia.
The Cadillac Lyriq will be priced in line with rivals from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – rather than designed to undercut them – when the new electric SUV comes to Australia later this year.
Cadillac – owned by US car giant General Motors – is preparing to launch in Australia and New Zealand in late 2024 with the Lyriq large electric SUV, with more electric vehicles (EVs) to follow.
Executives told Australian and New Zealand media that Cadillac intends to compete with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and other top-selling luxury-car brands – and will price its vehicles in line with them.
"We are targeting the European luxury brands and our price will be right in the realm of where their entries, or equivalent entries are," Jess Bala, managing director of General Motors Australia and New Zealand, told local media including Drive.
A presentation shown to Australia and New Zealand listed seven main 'luxury' brands as rivals for Cadillac globally: BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Lexus, Land Rover and Porsche.
The Lyriq – a five-metre-long large SUV with dual electric motors and all-wheel drive – will rival vehicles such as the Audi Q8 E-Tron, BMW iX and Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, as well as the Polestar 3.
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Comparable versions of these competitors are priced from around $130,000 for the Polestar, $145,000 for the Mercedes-Benz, $155,000 for the Audi, and $185,000 for the BMW, all before on-road costs.
Ms Bala said the US car maker also expects buyers of cheaper electric cars – including Teslas – to trade-up into a Cadillac once they're ready to move on from their current vehicle.
"We know there are a lot of other EV brands in market here, and some of those brands have done incredibly well the last few years, but we see our entry as a real luxury EV.
"So if we've got buyers that, for example, want to be early adopters – because we know we have a lot of those customers here in Australia and New Zealand – and they're in a Tesla, we know that now their next step will be a luxury EV, and that's where we will come into play and be on their shopping list."
Cadillac will sell cars in Australia through a similar 'direct-to-consumer' model to the likes of Tesla, through its website and an initial network of two 'Experience Centres' located in Sydney and Melbourne.
Customers who live elsewhere in Australia can order a Lyriq online and have it delivered to them, though Ms Bala said there are plans to expand Cadillac's showroom footprint at a later stage to other states.
"We're not going after a mainstream play. This is a luxury play for a whole realm of reasons," the GM executive told media.
"One being we want to be something that's sought after, and to be sought after there needs to not be a tonne of them driving around. So [it's] definitely a luxury play.
"We know we've only announced Lyriq so far, but I can promise you there are more [models] in the pipeline and we will make more announcements in the not-too-distant future around other models that are coming.
"And also we are well underway with securing showrooms. We'll be opening some of those Experience Centres later this year. So we are definitely excited about the future that Cadillac has here."
The first examples are due in showrooms in the final months of this year.
Ms Bala said "the number of hand raisers we've had" is "well into the thousands and thousands", even though the first static preview events with customers are not until next week – six months after Cadillac's Australian launch was announced.
"We know we have some amazing competition, but think that once we get our customers in and around vehicles like the Lyriq ... [they] will hopefully agree that it's just a stunning car," the executive said.
"The attention to detail is incredibly luxurious, the materials and everything else, and we think we really are bringing the right vehicles to market to rival those European luxury brands."
Standard features for Australian-market Cadillac Lyriqs are yet to be announced, but Ms Bala told media "it's going to basically have everything loaded on it" and customisation "will come in the colour palette instead."
Australian examples are expected to be powered by dual electric motors making 373kW/610Nm, matched with a 102kWh battery pack.
