Hey big spenders - General Motors’ top make will position Lyriq against swankiest electric Audi, BMW and Benz sports utilities.

EXPECT Cadillac’s Lyriq to pitch against three premium German rivals that cumulatively fit into a $182,000 to $239,000 price band.

Broad pricing indication for the big sports utility comes with General Motors’ luxury marque affirming it is still on track to establish here from around October despite the electric market being in poor state.

The Audi Q8 e-tron, BMW iX and Mercedes-Benz EQE sports utilities being the cars Cadillac views as the relevant competitors came from a briefing in Australia, at which the make’s Detroit-based global marketing chief involved.

Comment attributed to Jess Bala, GM’s managing director in Australia and New Zealand, has indicated just the best versions of those rival types are being specifically targeted.

That’s because the five-metre long Lyriq is set to provision in purely its own finest twin-motor, all-wheel-drive form with nearly every available option included as standard.

Cadillac is also proposing it won’t undercut its luxury rivals on price and that buyers can expect to pay similar money as for the equivalent German fare, according to media reports.

“We are targeting the European luxury brands and our price will be right in the realm of where their entries or equivalent entries are,” Bala has been quoted as saying.

Which potentially means? The Audi is the cheapest of the three and provisions here in Q8 e-tron 55 at $166,990 and S line 55 at $181,990. Conceivably, the latter is more likely to be considered by Cadillac’s local product planning.

Will Mercedes’ EQE SUV flagship, the AMG 53 4Matic Plus, which costs $199,900 - plus another $7400 with a handling-enhancing Dynamic Plus Pack -  hold same status in the strategy planning? EQE also pitch in at $139,900 EQE 300 - but that’s purely rear-drive - and $149,900 EQE 350 4Matic.

When BMW is in the frame, the evaluation skews again, as the iX in its finest form is the M60, which offers for a big gulp $238,900. There’s also a $163,900 xDrive40, again a single motor so likely not a contender, and a $197,900 xDrive 50, which is all wheel drive.

The reason why reinforcement of the electric-only pathway was sought is that the timeline of Cadillac’s commitment to a battery pure future has altered in the United States. 

Having previously said it was on course to only selling electric cars by 2030, it now has decided to be more flexible as it transitions away from combustion power.

The altered stance is fuelled by global demand for EVs having dropped. 

The trend is all the more apparent in NZ, where battery car favouritism has basically plummeted since the Clean Car rebate, on sub-$80,000 choices, curtailed at end of last year.

Even when electrics were doing well, the interest was primarily in mainstream, $40,000 to $79,990 choices, rather than the elite end cars.

However, the premium sector has certainly lost more pace since end of 2023. 

Registrations data for this year up to end of April shows the iX and Q8 in all their formats have respectively achieved 13 and 10 registrations. EQE count comes to 20 units, but that tally includes the sedan as well as the SUV. 

Are those the sort of volumes that can sustain the Lyriq, whose presence here demands a single retail outlet - in Auckland - that is wholly separate to the General Motors Speciality Vehicles’ network that largely sustains with Silverado truck, though it also has the Corvette?

That question has been put to Bala.

Cadillac is the latest in a growing list of brands to walk back from self-imposed hard deadlines for adopting ranges powered solely by electricity.

Mercedes-Benz also recently backtracked on plans to be EV pure by 2030 and Ford and GM have delayed major investment into new EV manufacturing plants.

 GM global chief marketing officer Melissa Grady Dias, in Australia for last weeks round-table event with Australian media, said that new planning doesn’t mean GM has less commitment. But the brand does recognise that the EV market is going to ebb and flow.

“What I can tell you is that when the market is ready, whether that's in two years or whether that's in six years for EV, we have what I believe are absolutely the best and very competitive EV vehicles to meet those needs,” she is quoted as saying.

“We’re following customers. And I think as any good brand does we listen to our customers and follow them.”

When asked if the change in sentiment could open the door for petrol-powered Cadillacs to come to Australia, Bala is quoted as responding: “No, in Australia and New Zealand we are 100 percent EV for Cadillac.”