Electric Cadillac Lyriq SUV teased as brand's new era

It's been over a year since Cadillac announced its intentions to spearhead General Motors' march into a totally electric future, but in less than a month, we'll see how well equipped the luxury division is to accomplish the goal.

On Wednesday Cadillac issued a couple of teasers and an invitation for the reveal of "the first step towards Cadillac's electric future." The first teaser shows the Cadillac crest lighting up and doesn't give away much at all, but the second shows the silhouette of the brand's previously teased electric SUV. Cadillac first showed sketches of the electric vehicle in January 2019, which depicted a sharp EV with obvious design cues stripped from the Escala concept.

Cadillac also confirmed the name of the crossover: it will be called the Lyriq. That aligns with Cadillac's plan to give its electric cars real names instead of alphanumerics, and we couldn't be happier about it. 

Most importantly, the Lyriq will boast GM's dedicated EV architecture, called BEV3. The automaker engineered the platform to support front-, rear- and all-wheel-drive electric cars. So yes, it'll be highly versatile. The platform makes use of GM's new Ultium battery packs, which are modular and can range from 50 to 200 kWh and offer over 400 miles of range and 0 to 60 mph times of just 3 seconds.

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The debut, scheduled for April 2, comes after rumors swirled this particular model was meant to debut at CES 2020. GM confirmed with Roadshow at the time the automaker originally planned for quite a presence at the event, though plans "changed" and the automaker's involvement had "been reduced." Reports speculated the UAW-GM labor strike left the automaker with insufficient time to complete a prototype version of the electric Cadillac SUV.