{"id":29397,"date":"2022-06-25T17:26:50","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T21:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=29397"},"modified":"2022-06-25T17:26:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-25T21:26:50","slug":"payne-more-than-a-new-car-lyriq-ev-is-a-redefinition-of-cadillac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/payne-more-than-a-new-car-lyriq-ev-is-a-redefinition-of-cadillac","title":{"rendered":"Payne: More than a new car, Lyriq EV is a redefinition of Cadillac"},"content":{"rendered":"

Park City, Utah<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Cadillac is going back to the future.<\/p>\n

The new, battery-powered Lyriq SUV is more than a new car, it is a return to Cadillac’s 20th century, “Standard of the World” iconography. For all its high-tech wizardry, Lyriq is a throwback to a time when the Cadillac brand was the pinnacle of American style, its craftsmanship a hallmark of the brand.<\/p>\n

Capitalizing on\u00a0 21st century advances in electronics and electrification, Lyriq wants to set the tone for a return to Caddy\u2019s brand heyday. Designed with extraordinary detail from climate-control knob knurling right down to\u00a0windowpane monogram\u00a0fonts, the midsize\u00a0chariot struts with high style\u00a0and big brand ambitions.<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n
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\u201cLyriq is a really big project. Not only from delivering this car through\u00a0the production pipeline, but envisioning a brand new future for Cadillac,\u201d said interior design chief Tristan Murphy. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to pivot a brand and really go into the future with EV technology and all the things that enables from a design standpoint.”<\/p>\n

There are no tailfins on the $59,990 Lyriq or missile-shaped chrome bumper like the ’50s Eldorados that ruled American streets and inspired Aretha Franklin songs, but there is an embrace of fashion different than the sleek, more austere XT5 and CT4 models that have led sales in recent years.<\/p>\n

The Lyriq\u00a0is lit up with lighting and chrome accents from the outside in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re really not being shy about it,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cYou go back to some of (the 1950s icons) and there was nothing shy about those original tailfins and the colors we used to do. It\u2019s not about looking back and being retro, but taking some of that swagger into the next generation of cars and leaning into what it means to be American luxury.\u201d<\/p>\n

To communicate this swagger to buyers, Cadillac in six weeks put together\u00a0a sassy ad campaign that pairs Lyriq with strutting fashion models in eyeball-burning outfits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ads catch your attention. You see luxury and design in these people;\u00a0it\u2019s aspirational,\u201d said Lyriq marketing guru Kristin Lewis. \u201cCadillac has been an icon in our\u00a0culture. The Lyriq is a return to that iconic status.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n
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The\u00a0transformation began with an obsession\u00a0with detail. Consider the simple, universal, microscopic glass monogram usually stamped with a General Motors\u00a0logo.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll automotive glass have monograms that with a manufacturer’s logo on it. This is standard across every vehicles globally,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cWe used our own Cadillac-specific font . . . and replaced the GM logo with the little Cadillac crest in there. It\u2019s a subconscious thing that helped say this isn\u2019t just a GM vehicle \u2014 it\u2019s a Cadillac.”<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s team was\u00a0determined to carry that obsession\u00a0throughout\u00a0the\u00a0interior.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0have no bin parts in this car. No more parts shared with a Buick or\u00a0a Chevy,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cThere is that subconscious level of detail (here) that makes it feel ‘wow.’ Everything\u00a0is bespoke in here \u2014 you\u2019re not going to see it in any of our other products.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n
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If Tesla created the luxury EV segment with its\u00a0Apple-simple\u00a0smartphone on wheels, then Cadillac’s team wanted to bring their own Detroit swagger. At night, the grille lights up like a Christmas tree. Inside, passengers can use a touchscreen color\u00a0wheel to create 36 different combinations in the interior lighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0had a lot of conversations about that,\u201d said Murphy.\u00a0“There are things that (Tesla does) great, and they have moved the industry forward\u00a0in a different way. But it is not Cadillac to be a smartphone on wheels. It\u2019s not true to the brand, it\u2019s not creating a unique experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where many EV\u00a0screens dominate their interiors, Lyriq\u2019s huge, curved, 33-inch dash display is but one element of a cabin full of jewelry.<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe screen is. . . a\u00a0technological showcase, the first in the industry with this advanced\u00a0LCD display. It\u2019s fantastic and has beautiful features \u2014 but we fell like when\u00a0you talk about a luxury product and how you can tie it into human emotion \u2014 it\u2019s the little physical things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Physical things like exquisite, curved sliver door speakers integrated into the armrests. Or a floating console punctuated by a knurled, radial screen controller. Or an industry first, laser-cut wood door trim.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take a piece of black ash wood and then we come through with a blue light laser. It comes through twice to cut the pattern, then we overlay that over a very thin \u2014 almost a film of metal veneer \u2014 that fills in the holes. It\u2019s so thin that at night we are able to shine light through (the) holes. We\u00a0think that gives it\u00a0emotional wealth that customers are always looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Marketing chief Lewis said\u00a0this emotional connection is a key piece of Cadillac luxury. \u201cIt\u2019s like staying in a luxury hotel. It\u2019s the secondary elements you discover during your stay. We want to run everything through the lens of being iconic. In the Lyriq you see boldness, color saturation, humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Lyriq\u2019s media introduction here in Park City, the Cadillac display\u00a0was anchored by design sketches and the brand\u2019s cutting-edge, 800-volt battery platform. But it was also littered with symbols of Cadillac’s glorious past: an elegant 1936 hood ornament here, a\u00a01975 hood ornament there.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetails are how you create those little memories that stay with you,\u201d\u00a0Murphy said. \u201cIt\u2019s a deeper philosophical question that we had about making these very deliberate\u00a0decisions on what the engagement was going to be and (which)\u00a0becomes a very different experience than Tesla.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy points to the past decade in which Cadillac gained industry\u00a0respect for its athletic, corner-carving V-series\u00a0and Blackwing sedans that could hang with German icons like the BMW M-class\u00a0at the famed Nurburgring test track. But despite those cars’ technical progress, the brand struggled to gain sales.<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, Cadillac \u2014 which in the early 20th\u00a0century\u00a0pioneered technology like the automatic\u00a0transmission, steering column shifter\u00a0and electric starter \u2014 failed to capitalize\u00a0on innovations like the plug-in, compact ELR that came to market eight years ahead of the $40,000 Tesla Model S, but\u00a0was priced at an uncompetitive\u00a0$80,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe proved to ourselves that we could make world-class cars like the Blackwing,\u201d said Murphy. “It allowed us to go back to really embrace who we are and be confident about that. . . not try to chase like we\u2019ve maybe done in certain aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Park City, Utah\u00a0\u2014 Cadillac is going back to the future. The new, battery-powered Lyriq SUV is more than a new car, it is a return to Cadillac’s 20th century, “Standard of the World” iconography. For all its high-tech wizardry, Lyriq is a throwback to a time when the Cadillac brand was the pinnacle of American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29398,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397\/revisions\/29398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}