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Cadillac delivers on EV promises (with a side of ICE)
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 22, 2025
Chelsea — Media reviews of the three-row Vistiq SUV are out this week as the final player in Cadillac’s electric vehicle lineup goes on sale. It’s a feather in the cap for General Motors Co. as it completes an electric model line seeded at its EV Day just five years ago — central to its plan to re-establish Cadillac as the “standard of the world” above EV startup brands like Tesla, Rivian and Lucid.
Yet even Cadillac is hedging its bet on an electric future.
The brand that has been the boldest legacy luxury voice for battery-power is retaining its internal-combustion-powered XT5 SUV while updating its ICE Escalade mega-ute and CT5 sedan with the same digital technology as its EVs.
Chelsea – The 2026 Cadillac Vistiq EV is a three-row SUV that slots below the $130k Escalade IQ EV. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“We’re shifting now to meet market demand,” Global Cadillac Marketing Director Brad Franz said in an interview. “We’re going to continue to listen to the needs of customers and adjust as appropriate.”
That’s a hard turn from four years ago when Rory Harvey, then vice president of Global Cadillac, told media that “we will be leaving this decade as an EV brand, as things stand today, which means that we will not be selling ICE vehicles by 2030.”
Electrification is one leg in a broader brand reinvention that includes performance (a commitment to global motorsports like Formula One) and technology (led by GM’s pioneering, hands-free Super Cruise technology).
As its parent company ditched gas-engine development at the start of this decade and went all-in on EVs by 2035 in anticipation of market and regulatory demands, Cadillac took the lead. It now boasts five EV models — topped by the brand-redefining, $300,000-plus Celestiq sedan and including the Vistiq, Optiq, Lyriq and Escalade IQ SUVs.
Cadillac is leaning into electrification with the 2026 Cadillac Vistiq (background) the fifth EV in its stable. ICE cars like the CT5 sedan (foreground) remain in the lineup. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“Cadillac wants to be the ‘standard of the world’ again,” said auto analyst Rebecca Lindland with Allison Worldwide Communications & Marketing. “They are interested in being the premier American luxury brand. So if (GM) positions Cadillac as the EV innovator — the technology brand — they appeal to people with more disposable income who are more interested in being seen in the very latest technology.”
Spurred by Tesla’s sky-high market evaluation and an incoming Biden administration’s EV regulations backed by massive subsidies, multiple legacy automakers in 2020 made bullish predictions about battery-powered portfolios — only to pull back as the EV market stalled. According to Cox Automotive data, EV sales have stabilized at about 8% of the market with political headwinds on the way as the Republican-controlled federal government prepares to nix the $7,500 federal EV credit and claw back industry subsidies.
Cadillac plans to stay the course on EVs while being careful not to alienate its traditional ICE buyers.
The United States’ four best-selling luxury brands — BMW (371,346 units sold in 2024), Lexus (345,669), Mercedes (324,528) and Audi (196,576) — have pursued a strategy of parallel EV-ICE model lines. Audi’s electric Q4 e-tron/Q6 e-tron/Q8 e-tron lineup, for example, parallels its Q3/Q5/Q7 ICE lineup.
Cadillac (2024 sales: 160,204), by contrast, has begun to pare its ICE lineup. It is discontinuing its entry-level, gas-powered XT4 and three-row XT6 SUVs after this model year. Franz said the brand will continue to manufacture the midsize XT5 and Escalade ICE SUVs “to meet strong customer demand.”
The EV strategy has begun to bear fruit.
In Park City, Utah, the Cadillac Lyriq EV shows off its athletic proportions. The car weighs a whopping 5,610 pounds, but that weight is low in the belly for a good center of gravity. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
In 2024 the Lyriq became the No. 2-selling Caddy after the iconic Escalade (41,001 units sold) with 28,410 in sales — a healthy 210% increase over 2023.
The XT5 was the brand’s No. 3-selling model in 2024 with 26,432 sales while the XT6 moved 20,225 units, a 5.8% increase over the prior year.
“What we’re seeing right now, especially on Lyriq, is 80% conquest,” said Franz. “We are bringing in new customers, and those customers tend to be from a higher income (and) education perspective. We’re encouraged by the fact that our products are driving new business . . . but also (we’re) making sure that we take care of customers that have been with us for a long time.”
The 2026 Cadillac Vistiq EV features hands-free Super Cruise driver-assist technology. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Franz estimates that EV sales will account for 30-35% of Cadillac U.S. sales this year — key as GM faces mandates from California and other zero-emission states requiring electrics to make up 35% of sales for the 2026 model year or face steep penalties. Those mandates, however, could be overturned by a vote in the U.S. Senate this week.
Significantly, EVs accounted for 37% of Caddy’s California retail sales in the first quarter of 2025.
“From a corporate standpoint, Cadillac helps GM to meet regulatory requirements, so they can still sell highly profitable pickup trucks,” said analyst Lindland. “Positioning Cadillac as a full EV brand gives the other (GM) brands more leeway and more freedom to continue to sell highly profitable gas engine models.”
In addition to replacing ICE models with EV equivalents, Cadillac is moving its EVs upscale with price increases of $20,000-$40,000 over equivalent ICE vehicles. The $79,090 Vistiq, for example, is priced $28,000 above the three-row XT6 ICE that it replaces. The compact, $54,390 Optiq EV starts over $12,00 above the outgoing XT4 ICE; the $60,090 Lyriq starts $14k north of the XT5; and the $130,090 Escalade IQ EV is 40 grand more expensive than the gas Escalade.
Cadillac’s EV price premium is consistent with that of European competitors.
“I don’t think it’s a brand shift,” Franz said about Caddy’s pricing. “It’s just when you think about the technology, the design, the product speaks for itself. When you start to bring in things like four-wheel-steer, augmented reality, different levels of refinement in third row . . . folks will see that.”
Cadillac Lyriq starts at $60,090 – or about $14k north of the XT5 ICE SUV. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Analyst Lindland said that premium luxury pricing is the new normal.
“This is the reality that we’re in nowadays,” she said. “Luxury vehicles are, for the most part, $60,000 and up . . . with all the technology that we are demanding of manufacturers. Not just battery technology, but all the safety equipment, all the infotainment equipment.”
Technology is a big part of Cadillac’s new brand message along with the EV transition. Electric SUVs get substantial tech upgrades over most of their ICE peers with 33-inch, curved screens and standard Super Cruise hands-free driving. In a nod to their staying power, Escalade and CT5 sedan ICE models share those tech upgrades.
Super Cruise is an important selling point for Cadillac. The hands-free system competes head-to-head with Tesla’s Full Self Driving system while also pointing toward GM’s corporate mantra: zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion.
2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“You’ll see us really leaning into that as a differentiator. And it’s beyond EV,” Franz said. “We have that capability in Escalade, we have it on the CT5. Once (the customer) experiences it, it’s hard to not have.”
Cadillac is also pushing the envelope in racing, including the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula One. Cadillac will enter the series next year and plans to develop its own electrified powertrain by 2029 to burnish the brand’s image as a technology leader. But here, too, gas-power remans a key player — the CT5 sedan’s V8-powered V-Series Blackwing model echoes the V8-powered Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar that competes in international endurance racing.
Vistiq will push the EV envelope. Three-row vehicles are typically used for family travel and Vistiq offers significantly cheaper transport than the $130k Escalade IQ EV. Its 300-mile range, however, could be a challenge relative to 550-mile XT6 ICE.
The Platinum version of the 2026 Cadillac Vistiq EV tops the lineup with rear-wheel-steer and Augmented Reality HUD display. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“We get excited thinking about the competitive space (Vistiq) is playing in right now,” Franz said. “You’re talking about Lucid Gravity, Rivian R1S and Tesla Model X. Here comes Vistiq . . . that, I think, stacks up very well. There is considerable demand for a three row EV SUV, and there’s not a lot of choice out there.”
That choice includes a three-row gas-powered XT6. For now.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.