Cadillac and Chevrolet Silverado EV edge closer to Australia

General Motors backflipped on its plan to launch Cadillac in Australia at the 11th hour back in January 2009, when imports of the large CTS sports sedan were instead sent to New Zealand, before it axed local Commodore production in 2017 and killed off Holden in 2020 – when the GMSV brand was established to sell locally converted Chevrolet Silverado pick-ups, Camaro muscle-cars and the Corvette supercar.

But now it appears Cadillac is back on the agenda for Australia, where the all-electric Lyriq mid-size SUV could spearhead the local return of the historic American luxury brand as soon as this year.

Based on GM’s ground-breaking new Ultium EV platform, the Cadillac Lyriq was revealed as the first battery-electric model from Cadillac in August 2020, and will be a key plank in the 120-year-old US car-maker’s plan to be an EV-only brand by 2030.

GM has flip-flopped several times since its about-face on Cadillac’s Australian launch more than decade ago, suggesting it would introduce the CT6 limousine here in 2015, before later that year ruling out Cadillac for Australia or any other right-hand drive markets before 2020, then pushing back that estimate to at least 2021 or 2022.

Last year GM gave the strongest hint yet that it would return to right-hand drive markets, as part of a “regional ambidextrous strategy” for its GM International (GMI) division, which includes markets outside the Americas and China, such as Australia.

GM is investing more than $US35 billion in electric and autonomous vehicle technology “to deliver the industry’s best EV portfolio with vehicles that are fun to drive and capable, at every style and price point”.

“As for growth, GM is implementing once-in-a-generation transformational investments which will reshape mobility – and we are developing our plans to bring those technologies to our markets,” said GM in a statement when it invited international media to drive its EVs in Michigan in July 2022.

“GMI presents a lot of opportunities for us to grow the business … A diverse region like GMI brings GM global scale that will enable us to transform the auto industry all around the world.

“This transformation will happen at different paces across the markets within GMI and we’ll be engaging different parts of the value chain as we make this transition – from sales to production to supply chain to partnerships, to customer service and much more.

“Stay tuned for announcements later this year and in the beginning of next year.

“We aren’t making any announcements about right-hand drive at this time but stay tuned.”

Asked for an update at last week’s launch of the MY23 Chevrolet Silverado, GM Australia and New Zealand managing director Marc Ebolo said: “In July last year we took a contingent of media across and started to speak about GM’s future EV plans and we made some specific comments in relation to our market.”

He would not elaborate, but when asked whether anything had changed since mid-2022, GMI Communications director Lauren Indiveri told carsales: “Not yet. We are always studying the market. We are always exploring our opportunities here. We have some exciting things that will be coming this year but whether that’s going to be a Silverado EV or not we can’t say at this point, but we are exploring opportunities for our market.

“I think compared to the US, [EV] infrastructure in Australia isn’t quite where it should be. We really need to study what we are able to bring and what’s going to work for our customers.

“Silverado is a very big truck that people do their outdoor sports with, whereas if you look at the EVs coming into this country they’re mostly family sedans and small sedans and SUVs that suit that sort of city lifestyle and so we have to study what makes the most sense for our business and whether we want to bring anything here at all.”

Beyond the MY23 Silverado range, it’s known that GMSV will release the Corvette Z06 in Australia later this year.

Asked specifically about Cadillac launching Down Under, Ebolo said: “I can’t comment on that at all.”

However, GM lodged a trademark application for the Cadillac Lyriq name in Australia in November 2022 and has previously talked about the flexibility of its Ultium EV battery tech.

“GM offers flexibility in our architecture, which is underpinned by Ultium,” the company said. “The Ultium platform has the unique flexibility to use pouch cells stacked either vertically (pick-ups and SUVs) or horizontally (performance vehicles), allowing us to build vehicles for every customer and segment.

“GM’s Ultium cells, arranged in different combinations of flexible modules and battery packs can provide the energy for every segment on the road today, from performance vehicles to work trucks.”

Last year GMI president Shilpan Amin said GM is committed to deploying its zero-emissions and autonomous technologies globally.

“Our zero-emissions, all-electric future is underway right now. GM is moving faster than ever – and we are fully focused on bringing our new technologies to customers around the world,” he said.

“Our international markets are well positioned to bring global scale to GM’s growth investments, benefiting our planet and our communities in the process.

“There is a strong demand for these products in the international markets, customers are really looking forward to buying our EVs. We have the talent, the investments and strong financial and commercial momentum to leverage opportunities around the world.”

When it was revealed in 2020, GM said the Cadillac Lyriq would be the first of at least 20 new electrified models from the US car-maker by 2023.

Since then in North America it has launched the small Bolt EV, the Silverado EV, the GMC Hummer EV pick-up and SUV, and the Cadillac Lyriq, which is the first production model to use GM’s latest BEV3 modular EV architecture and Ultium lithium-ion pouch-style batteries developed with LG Chem and Honda.

In the US, the Cadillac Lyriq is available with single-motor/rear-wheel drive and dual-motor/all-wheel drive powertrain options, powered by a big 100kWh battery that offers a range of up to 502km (RWD) and can be charged at up to 19kW (AC) and 150kW (DC), making it a direct rival for the Tesla Model Y, Audi Q8 e-tron, BMW iX3 and Mercedes-Benz EQC.

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