Cadillac is celebrating the launch of its first dedicated electric vehicle, the Lyriq, at GM’s largest facility, the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee, which is now the third GM site to produce electric vehicles.
GM President Mark Reuss and Cadillac Vice President Rory Harvey were joined by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for a special ceremony to mark the start of production for the 2023 Lyriq.
The ceremony took place at the assembly plant in Spring Hill, which recently underwent a $2-billion renovation to prepare for electric vehicle production. The renovations started in October of 2020 and were finished early, helping to speed up the launch of the Cadillac Lyriq.
“This is a monumental day for the entire GM team. We retooled Spring Hill Assembly with the best, most advanced technology in the world and the team worked tirelessly to complete the preparations nine months ahead of the original schedule,” said Reuss.
The facility is the largest GM plant in North America and is responsible for the production of almost 200,000 vehicles annually. Since opening in 1990, over 4.5 million vehicles have driven out its doors. The upgrades to the plant focused on the paint and body shop, as well as new tooling and technology for the general assembly area.
The Lyriq is based on GM’s Ultium BEV3 platform, which uses a single electric motor to provide 340 horsepower and 324 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels. GM estimates the range to be 300 miles (483 km) on a full charge of the 12-module, 100.4 kWh Ultium battery pack.
Reservations for the Lyriq opened at the end of summer 2021, and within 10 minutes all available units were spoken for. Order books were once again opened on May 19, 2022 due to high demand, and Cadillac plans to increase the production numbers from an initial 3,200 vehicles up to roughly 25,000 in 2022.
PHOTO GALLERY
Keyword: Cadillac Starts 2023 Lyriq EV Production In Tennessee Ahead Of Schedule