Author: LYNX
At the Guangzhou Auto Show, Cadillac LYRIQ (hereinafter referred to as LYRIQ) is undoubtedly one of the most eye-catching electric models among traditional luxury brands.
The popularity is naturally based on product strength. The highlight configuration of LYRIQ has already had overwhelming reports on the Internet, and the supercharging station has been introduced in detail through text (单电机大电池, 43.97万的凯迪拉克 LYRIQ 是传统豪华的新答案吗?) and video (凯迪 LYRIQ 体验：开启纯电豪华生活 | 2021 广州车展).
To sum up, with LYRIQ, we can feel that Cadillac is serious about electric cars transformation and is working with its partner SAIC General Motors:
Now, like all pure electric vehicles, LYRIQ uses a closed front face. But what is different is that Cadillac fully leverages the luxury-feeling building ability that traditional manufacturers are good at, and installs 736 LED light sources on LYRIQ’s body. At the moment when the new car’s headlights are turned on, the sense of technology is maximized.
Inside the LYRIQ, in addition to high-end luxury configurations commonly found in fuel vehicles such as 26-color ambient lights, wood-grain material, and recording-studio-level sound system, Cadillac also brings a 33-inch, 9K resolution surround-style ultra-retina central control screen to the car owner.
Regarding the quality of this screen, an editor who has seen the real car at the supercharging station described it: “There is no more powerful screen under 400,000 RMB. Moreover, it can surpass the screens of the latest consumer digital products such as mobile phones and computers.”
At the same time, we cannot forget the blessing of General Motors’ Ultium OT energy pure electric platform. With the pedigree of the pure electric platform, the rear-wheel drive long-endurance luxury version LYRIQ, with a vehicle length of 5003 mm and a wheelbase of 3094 mm, has a battery capacity of 95.7 kWh and a CLTC endurance of more than 650 kilometers.
Besides, the deployment of Qualcomm 8155 chip, the brand new VIP intelligent electronic architecture, and the latest general Super Cruise advanced driving assistance system finally shows that traditional luxury brands are beginning to converge with the leading new force brands in the field of intelligentization and autonomous driving assistance systems.
Of course, the most important thing is not to forget the pre-sale price of the LYRIQ long battery life version announced this time- RMB 439,700.
It’s worth mentioning that, also at the Guangzhou Auto Show, the new all-electric flagship SUV iX brought by BMW is priced at RMB 846,900, and the EQB with moderate configuration exhibited by Mercedes-Benz is priced at RMB 437,800.
Compared with the above highlights and the pre-sale price of RMB 450,000, consumers can feel the sincerity and see Cadillac’s determination to enter the mainstream luxury pure electric vehicle market.
All these have provided LYRIQ with a good start when entering the world’s most fiercely competitive electric vehicle market: it opened online pre-sales on November 17, and the number of orders exceeded 1,000 within one hour. By now, the total number of orders has exceeded 2,000.
And this is just the beginning. At the Guangzhou Auto Show, LYRIQ was only a simple debut and pre-sale. The actual delivery time was set for the middle of next year.
As we all know, nowadays, for a good electric vehicle to be highly discussed and truly sell well, in addition to the competitiveness of the product itself, all aspects of marketing, channels, and services need to be strengthened synchronously.
So, after LYRIQ starts pre-sale, how will Cadillac plan and integrate the overall marketing plan? With such a question, the super charging station interviewed Mr. Pan Mengmeng, the head of the new energy strategy department of SAIC-GM during the auto show.
From his words, we can also glimpse into Cadillac’s future plans around LYRIQ and some insights into the Chinese luxury electric vehicle market.
About Chinese Name
Although the official always emphasizes that “all greatness comes from a brave beginning” is the spirit of the Cadillac brand, the people’s direct perception of this brand seems to have changed subtly long ago due to a Gaode Map car owner behavior report.
After the official pre-sale of LYRIQ began, many enthusiastic netizens expressed their imagination about the Chinese name of this new car in the comments section of the official Cadillac Weibo account.
As for whether LYRIQ will have an official Chinese name in the future, Minister Pan did not give a direct response but emphasized the importance of listening to customer opinions:
For LYRIQ’s marketing strategy, we have adopted a new model this time. The core of the new model lies in “user direct connection” – before the new car is launched, we will build up digital tools such as APP and mini-programs to enhance interaction with real users and listen to their opinions.
Regarding the name of LYRIQ, we also want to listen to the voice of the customers first, including the acceptance of the English name LYRIQ, and then decide whether we need to use a localized Chinese name and the direction of the name.
Although it seems like “I listen to what you have to say, as if hearing the same thing again,” considering General Motors specially gave Ultium a Chinese name previously, the chance of LYRIQ having a good Chinese name in the future is still high.
Therefore, the most difficult problem facing SAIC GM may be how to balance the “luxury brand” and the “grounding” of public demand. After all, considering the naming of new energy vehicles of domestic independent brands today, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as “freely expressing oneself.”
About Price and Channels
Behind the booming growth of China’s luxury car market in recent years, in addition to the growth of consumer demand, there is also the reality of continuously lowering price barriers for luxury brand products.
Over time, price fluctuations are both the honey that increases manufacturers’ sales and the arsenic that damages the reputation of the brand.
So, will the price of LYRIQ be fixed at 4.397 million yuan? Will the problem of frequent price reductions of Cadillac models reappear on this electric vehicle?
According to Minister Pan, 4.397 million yuan is the pre-sale price of LYRIQ. The official price will be adjusted slightly according to market feedback, but overall, it will be maintained at this price level.
The way to maintain the selling price is not new – it adopts the direct sales model commonly used by electric vehicle manufacturers today:
The first batch of Cadillac’s pure electric IQ space, accompanied by the LYRIQ pre-sale launch, will be available in 5 cities and 6 stores nationwide. Currently, all sales consultants and management personnel in the direct sales stores are official employees of SAIC General Motors. With this direct sales model, customers can be reached directly and price fluctuations under the traditional dealer model can be avoided.
However, Minister Pan also introduced some special insights of SAIC General Motors regarding the impact of price reduction on consumer psychology: “The core concern of consumers is not price, but a willingness not to be taken advantage of. We must first ensure the transparency of prices, as any product will be considered cheap by some people, appropriate by others, and expensive by yet others due to different consumer perspectives.”
As for the advantages and disadvantages between direct sales model and dealer model, ultimately it depends on which model can bring more convenience to consumers.
Today, Cadillac has nearly 400 dealers nationwide. For consumers, such a massive channel can bring more convenience for repairs, accident handling, and so on. Therefore, while adhering to direct sales, Cadillac will also explore more diversified marketing models in the future.
“Regardless of the sales model adopted, the most important thing is still to provide consumers with consistent high-standard service.”
About Competitors and Pure Electric Transformation
After the LYRIQ debut, people will naturally list electric car counterparts of the same price range in their minds.
However, in Minister Pan’s view, the electric vehicle market today has developed to a stage of “competing in the same field” with gasoline-powered vehicles, meaning that LYRIQ’s competitors are not only electric cars of the same price range, but also luxury gasoline-powered vehicles of the same price range:
From the perspective of manufacturers, our target users’ needs are our pursuit. Because this market is in a rapid development process, the overall outbreak of new energy this year has exceeded our expectations at the beginning of the year.
Behind this are two reasons: one is that the overall market’s acceptance of new energy is constantly increasing. At first, a group of people tried buying new energy vehicles, but now it has spread to mainstream consumer groups. There are many mainstream consumer groups in first-tier, second-tier, and even third and fourth-tier cities who are very open to new energy when buying cars.
On the other hand, from a policy perspective, the country is now advocating a dual-carbon direction of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, so the entire industry perspective is definitely to develop towards environmental protection and low-carbon.New energy is definitely the direction of future development, and this is beyond doubt. Everyone has the opportunity based on two foundations, but this opportunity does not mean targeting a certain competitor. Essentially, we hope to target the needs of consumers through LYRIQ, providing them with a one-stop solution for luxury, intelligence, and safety when buying an electric car in the future.
As for how traditional car companies should transform to electric vehicles, the question of whether Cadillac will also be a brand of electric vehicles is answered by Minister Pan. This can provide us with a set of template ideas for the pure electric transformation of traditional car companies.
Marketing is always the second step. The first step is to start from scratch by developing a native electric vehicle based on consumer demand. Therefore, LYRIQ is the first mass-produced car based on the OTE electric car platform in China. The OTE platform was developed before the entire electric car development.
Only on this foundation can we take the second step of marketing. After the product is developed, in order to make consumers recognize that you are a member of the new energy club, you need to innovate in terms of brand image and user operation. Direct sales models and user APP development fall within this category.
But fundamentally, whether it is an electric vehicle or a fuel vehicle, for consumers, it is ultimately a solution to their needs. Whether the actual demand is met is what consumers care more about.
About production capacity, charging, and “general standards”
Production capacity is a problem facing many new players today. The problem of real vehicle delivery not keeping up with orders frequently arises.
For LYRIQ’s mass production, the future of domestic models will be produced in the Cadillac plant in Shanghai Pudong Jinqiao. The battery pack will be produced by the OTE super factory. From the perspective of the factory’s production capacity, the production capacity plan can currently meet market demand.
In addition, besides the “front-end” product manufacturing, the “back-end” charging network layout work will also be gradually carried out. SAIC-GM will cooperate with domestic mainstream third-party charging operators to provide users with one-stop charging service. Based on this, a dedicated Cadillac brand charging network will be established, and relevant information will be released synchronously when LYRIQ officially goes on the market.
If you watched the LYRIQ pre-sale event, you may have noticed that the majority of the presentation focused on the screen and audio configurations, similar to a smartphone product launch, rather than a traditional car release. Pan, the director of Cadillac China, explained that in the earlier stages of research, consumers had no doubts about General Motors’ ability to produce cars, so the priority was to communicate the less well-known features.
However, this does not mean that the LYRIQ will solely rely on its high-resolution screen to attract attention. The car still adheres to General Motor’s strict standards, such as the safety-first approach taken by the Ultium electric vehicle platform battery experiments which exceed national standards.
Another example is the Super Cruise driver assistance system in the LYRIQ, which, although not as well-known as similar systems in other competitors, has already travelled over 11 million kilometers safely in North America, accounting for one-tenth of the total driving time of some car owners.
In other words, beneath the LYRIQ’s attention-grabbing exterior design, safety and reliability remain the foundation of General Motors’ product.
In conclusion, after the interview, I gained a deeper understanding of the significance of the LYRIQ for the Cadillac brand and General Motors. For large automakers such as General Motors, following in the footsteps of pioneers like Tesla is a wise strategy. The so-called “Nokia moment” does not occur instantly in the automobile industry. As long as they keep up with the market trends, produce competitive products that meet consumers’ real demands, both new automakers and traditional brands will have ample opportunities.
Today, the LYRIQ is one such luxury pure electric SUV that takes advantage of the current market. It has exciting luxury technology configurations and a solid engineering foundation with the Ultium platform. However, we also know that the top-selling brands in China’s new energy vehicle market are those that combine the whole vehicle technology with user service systems.
Therefore, the critical point for the LYRIQ to succeed or achieve both popularity and acclaim is whether the combination of the vehicle technology and user service system is proper or not.
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.