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As I reported yesterday, the share of Cadillac sales that were electric (that is, LYRIQ sales) was the highest of any major automaker — 19% — in the second quarter. The LYRIQ had a significant 7,294 sales in the second quarter to achieve that. The brand’s first full EV performed almost exactly the same in the third quarter. The LYRIQ had 7,224 sales and again accounted for 19% of Cadillac sales.
So, wait, why am I saying in the headline that Cadillac LYRIQ sales are soaring? Well, that is from looking at year-over-year sales. The LYRIQ was doing comparable to other legacy automaker EVs last year, but it has really risen this year. In Q3 2023, the LYRIQ had 3,018 sales. Going up to 7,224 sales in Q3 2024, that’s a 139% increase in sales!
Only two other Cadillac models had sales increases — the XT4 (+6.7%) and the XT5 (+6%) — and the LYRIQ had its sales go up by 4,206 units whereas those models had their sales go up by 355 units and 245 units. If it wasn’t for the LYRIQ’s sales increase, Cadillac sales would have been down by about 2,600 units. Instead, they were up by about 1,600 units, or 4.4%.
Notably, Cadillac has two big EV launches coming in the 4th quarter. Cadillac will be launching the OPTIQ and the Escalade IQ. Cadillac only has 7 models at the moment. So, with these two new EVs, the brand will have 9 models, and one third of them will be full EVs.
Also, the LYRIQ was actually the second best selling Cadillac model last quarter, just barely trailing the Escalade and well ahead of any other model.
That said, also under the GM umbrella, Buick isn’t selling any EVs in the USA. Hopefully that changes soon. One would think the positive success at Cadillac would inspire some progress at Buick.
Cadillac included a slide highlighting the LYRIQ in its 3rd quarter sales report (below). In it, GM noted that the LYRIQ is the first full-line luxury brand to reach more than 20,000 sales year to date. The company also noted that the LYRIQ outsold all of the EVs from competing luxury brands BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Lexus. That said, those first three brands (BMW, Mercedes, and Audi) have multiple BEV models available. So, EV sales at those brands are more spread out rather than focused on one model. We’ll see when the OPTIQ and Escalade IQ models come to market if LYRIQ sales drop a bit or if they just keep going while adding in OPTIQ and Escalade IQ sales.
Notably, along with the OPTIQ and Escalade IQ, Cadillac will also be introducing the VISTIQ in 2025. When it does that, GM notes that “Cadillac will have an all-electric model in every global luxury SUV segment.” I venture to say that Cadillac could be reaching 50% BEV sales by the end of 2025. Even if that’s too aggressive or optimistic, it’s clear that EVs are progressing at Cadillac — even the brand’s car dealerships must be getting onboard with the EV transition.
Also, I mentioned Buick, so I should mention one other high-market vehicle brand and vehicle class. Within the GMC brand, the Hummer EV scored 4,350 deliveries in September, a 269% increase over the 3rd quarter of 2021.
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