Author: Wang Xuan
On June 6, SAIC-GM Cadillac announced that the luxury pure electric mid-to-large SUV – Cadillac LYRIQ Ruige commenced large-scale pre-orders at 10 am today, with three models priced between 439,700 yuan and 479,700 yuan. Users can complete the pre-order by paying a deposit of 5,000 yuan through the Cadillac IQ app.
Cadillac LYRIQ Ruige can be said to have whetted everyone’s appetite. From its official debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show last year to the launch of large-scale pre-orders today, more than half a year has passed. According to Cadillac’s plan, the vehicles will be delivered gradually according to the customer’s pre-order time from the end of September to early October 2022. The delivery time of different versions will vary slightly.
Product power has almost no shortcomings
Priced at 439,700 yuan, the positioning of Cadillac LYRIQ is very clear, which is to take the lead in the luxury pure electric SUV market. The competing products include NIO ES8, NIO ES7 which may be unveiled later this year, and mid-size pure electric SUVs under BBA.
First, let’s compare Cadillac LYRIQ with BBA’s products. LYRIQ’s overall advantages come from the Ultium platform.
Firstly, the pure electric platform has given LYRIQ more space for expansion. The length, width and height of the vehicle are 5003 * 1977 * 1637 mm, and the wheelbase is 3094 mm. The overall size has exceeded that of BBA’s mid-size fuel SUVs, such as Mercedes-Benz GLE, BMW X5 and Audi Q7, so Cadillac LYRIQ has an overwhelming advantage over Mercedes-Benz EQC, BMW iX3 and Audi Q5 e-tron.
Another direct advantage is the electrification capability brought by the pure electric platform. The CLTC model of rear-wheel drive long-endurance version has a range of 653 km, and its acceleration is 6.35 seconds per 100 km. The CLTC model of four-wheel drive high-performance version has a range of 600+ km, and its acceleration is only 4.9 seconds per 100 km. The entire series supports fast charging throughout the life cycle, and can be charged for 96 km in 10 minutes.Currently, among all pure electric SUVs in BBA, only BMW iX’s xDrive50 has a range of over 600 kilometers, and its acceleration of 4.6 seconds from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour is slightly faster than LYRIQ’s all-wheel-drive performance version of 4.9 seconds, but its price is double that of LYRIQ. The three-electric advantages brought by the Ultium platform to LYRIQ are very significant, and compared to BBA’s pure electric SUVs, both performance and range are unparalleled. Therefore, the advantage of starting from scratch to develop a pure electric platform is obvious. For Cadillac, the Ultium platform is also an important advantage for them to isolate BBA from the luxury pure electric SUV market.
Compared with NIO ES8, the two are comparable in size and three-electric capacity, but NIO’s ability to swap batteries adds to their advantage. In terms of charging efficiency, Cadillac is gradually deploying 120/180KW brand charging stations to enhance the user experience.
In competition with new energy vehicle companies, intelligence is an essential key quality. In the past, many traditional car companies’ pure electric products lagged behind new energy companies in intelligence. We must admit this, but LYRIQ does not have this shortcoming. The LYRIQ series uses a car-grade 8155 chip that supports 5G connectivity. The standard version is equipped with a 33.8-inch curved 9K ultra-high-definition retina screen, which can display 1 billion colors, and is paired with the AKG studio-level high-fidelity sound system with 19 speakers. At the same time, Lyrical also features the next-generation Super Cruise advanced driver assistance system, which adds automatic and command lane-changing functions for drivers and has OTA iterative upgrade capabilities, ensuring continuous expansion of usage scenarios.
The biggest difference between Cadillac LYRIQ and NIO ES8 is style. LYRIQ has more design details and stronger texture, which is the advantage that luxury brands have always maintained, while NIO’s products are more simplistic. Of course, the choice of stylized things still depends on personal preferences.
Regarding the sales and service of LYRIQ, here are some answers from Pan Mengmeng, the Director of New Energy Strategy Department at SAIC-GM.
First of all, let’s talk about the price. The pre-sale price of Cadillac LYRIQ announced at the beginning of the year was 439,700 yuan, and the actual starting price remained consistent with the pre-sale price. In the past, this matter was not worth mentioning, but this year, the repeated outbreaks of the epidemic and geopolitical issues have greatly affected the prices of battery and chip raw materials. Many pure electric products have adopted the strategy of price increases to cover the increase in costs.
Regarding this issue, Pan Mengmeng stated that before officially starting the pre-order, the Cadillac team also had a discussion on whether to raise the price, but based on the principle of being responsible to users, the pre-sale price was ultimately maintained. After collecting a large amount of user feedback, the rear-wheel drive Long Endurance Elite version also provides features such as heated rear seats, air quality detection, three-zone air conditioning, and advanced Nappa punched leather seats for users with higher requirements for luxury.
Currently, Cadillac adopts a completely direct sales method to sell LYRIQ. At present, there are 19 pure electric IQ Space stores open nationwide, covering 12 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen. In the future, it will accelerate the layout of pure electric IQ Space in more cities. Online reservation is the only channel for users to reserve LYRIQ.
Direct sales is a very popular sales method now. It can make the service received by users more standardized, with unified pricing without the need for price comparison from one dealer to another, and at the same time, it can avoid dealers’ discount behaviors from affecting the second-hand car residual value in the short term.
Terms such as “Small Order” and “Big Order” also come with the direct sales model, of course, there are also problems in between. The direct sales model is a queued delivery process, whoever pays the deposit first, will be prioritized. This is completely different from the traditional dealer model. In some previous direct sales cases, there have been some unexpected situations, such as when Small Order owners are still hesitating, the Big Order users have already filled up the earliest batch of delivery channels. During the period of subsidy policy changes in the new year, many people will also face the problem of policy changes. This also makes many Small Order users who are still in the hesitation period feel a sense of “ordered and forgotten”.
To avoid such situations, SAIC-GM adopts a strategy of providing a two-week order protection period for Small Order users. As long as the Big Order is paid within two weeks, it can be queued according to the time of the Small Order.
For traditional car companies, it is difficult to give up their dealer network. Establishing a direct sales model means they would have to re-establish the network, which would waste opportunities to attract customers. To address this issue, Pan Mengmeng said that Cadillac will adhere to the direct sales strategy but will select a few dealerships to partner with for transformation, allowing them to play the role of service providers. This approach can quickly expand the service network and allow users to choose a closer store for maintenance and repair after picking up their cars.
Accompanying the sales network is the energy supplement system. Cadillac provides users with three types of charging facilities: Cadillac IQ premium charging station, AutoNF ultra-fast charging station, and interoperable charging station as part of the Cadillac IQ program. The Cadillac IQ premium charging station, located in the city’s core business district, is a charging station exclusively for Cadillac new energy vehicle owners, with a maximum output power of 120/180 kW for fast charging. The first Cadillac IQ premium charging service center was launched at the “insignificant” Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, providing users with exclusive premium services, including energy supply, parking, and rest, while also offering up to 48 hours of free parking service during charging to ensure a smooth and efficient travel experience. In 2022, Cadillac plans to establish premium charging stations in 25-30 cities and select parking spaces for the construction of AutoNF charging stations in 15 cities, providing users with services above the market standard.
Notably, to improve the convenience of charging, Cadillac cooperates with many mainstream charging operators in the market, including Teletubbies, Xingxing Charging, State Grid, Anyue Charging, and EV Energy, to provide users with interoperable charging station services that cover 320 cities. This year’s goal is to exceed 300,000 charging piles. Through the Cadillac IQ App, users can directly search for charging piles, plan routes, navigate, use, and pay without downloading multiple charging operator Apps.
Finally, about the assisted driving functions. The Cadillac LYRIQ is equipped with a new generation of Super Cruise super-assisted driving system, which currently supports the guide-assisted driving function in closed-road scenarios such as highways, loops, and expressways. However, due to the impact of the epidemic in Shanghai, the guide-assisted driving function of open roads will not be delivered to users as scheduled when delivering vehicles in late September. Pan Mengmeng stated that this function is expected to be made available to users by the end of this year through OTA, and for those users who have received cars but have not received all functions, Cadillac will provide 5 years of free maintenance as compensation.Keep the pre-sale price, insist on direct management, build self-supplementing network and service system, and compensate users. Through these things, we can see that Cadillac, as a traditional luxury brand, has the responsibility and organizational ability to serve customers.
Last
We also did some product interpretation about LYRIQ before. My boss has already expressed affirmation of its product strength by being the first to order this car.
Of course, the arrival of new forces in the automotive industry has disrupted the rhythm of the whole industry. Product strength is no longer the only standard for users to consider when purchasing a car, and service capability and system have also become a key evaluation criterion. In this respect, Cadillac is obviously not behind. After doing all one can, sales may come easily.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.