Cadillac has been at the butt-end of countless jokes over the years because of its obvious parts-bin sharing with Chevy, Buick, and other General Motors brands. More than a handful of Caddies announced in the past few decades have fallen short of the “Standard of the World” tagline simply because of cost-cutting measures. There are right and wrong ways to do that, and Cadillac often seemed to choose the latter, essentially using parts from other GM products and calling it a day. With the Cadillac Lyriq, however, things are different.
GM President Mark Reuss gave the Cadillac design team carte blanche to develop an interior completely devoid of commonly used GM parts, and that’s exactly what they did. The Lyriq’s cabin is all Cadillac, down to the very last, seemingly insignificant detail. While at the first drive event, The Drive had the chance to sit down with Cadillac Interior Design Manager Tristan Murphy, who discussed just how far the team went to ensuring no pre-existing GM parts made their way into the Lyriq.
“For example, specifically, the door handle execution. When the car first started, it had a more traditional Cadillac door handle,” Murphy told The Drive. “We fully built the show car and did it, we were like, ‘Oh, we got to get those in there.’ Then we changed the strategy and we would pivot the program to enable some of these additional features that maybe weren’t in the program to begin with.”
Everything in the Lyriq’s cabin is specific to Cadillac, including the air vents, window switches, volume knob, cupholders—which can hold a travel mug with a handle—and, as Murphy points out, even the coat hook hangers.
“I remember, at the very end, I think the last little part we had was the coat hanger on the B pillar. We brought Jamie [Brewers] in and we’re like, ‘We’re so close to having literally no GM parts bin in here. Can we go after the coat hook hanger?’ She’s like, ‘All right. All right.’ So we got the commitment we went after, but yeah, I mean, from Mark Reuss down, I mean, it was really a commitment to really make this thing special right out of the box.”
The Lyriq is only the beginning of Cadillac’s interior revival. After the Lyriq, Cadillac will continue to work on the upcoming Celestiq, the potentially $300,000 luxury flagship that will set the tone for the brand as a whole.
“Celestiq was the vision, and that’s another story we’re going to tell here shortly, but really it was about re-establishing the brand,” Murphy said. “And I remember Mark Reuss, he gave us a passionate speech, and it was really about, ‘We owe it to the brand to bring it to a level that it hasn’t been at in a long time.’ And he, again, just laid it out. ‘We’re going to spare no expense. We’re really going to do it. No kidding.’ And he stayed true to that, and it enabled the team, on all sides, to come together and be collaborative and work to that vision to get there.”
Hopefully, Cadillac can continue the momentum it’s gained with the Lyriq. It seems that the few who have driven or even sat in the Lyriq are impressed by not only its interior quality but its lack of GM parts, somewhat proving that’s what fans have been wanting for years. If Cadillac can keep crafting unique, creative, and high-quality interiors, it’ll be able to truly compete with brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Lexus, and BMW. Maybe then it’ll once again be able to unironically call itself the “Standard of the World.”
Got a tip? Send it to: tips@thedrive.com