Cadillac Lyriq Sales in Q4 Increased 500 Percent Over Last Year
Cadillac’s first EV is now outselling every EV from Audi, BMW, and Mercedes.
The Cadillac Lyriq isn't exactly the newest electric SUV at the nation's dealerships, and you'd think that would play against it in the increasingly crowded EV market. But it's not. Instead of being cast aside like a Shein outfit worn once, the Cadillac Lyriq is on its way to having a surprisingly impressive year—and it's showing up its luxury rivals as it does so.
In General Motors' newly released Q1 2024 sales figures, Cadillac reported it had sold 5,800 Lyriqs through the first three months of the year. That's not a lot of cars if you're used to reading about deliveries of the likes of Tesla or BYD, but let's put it into perspective. That's a 52-percent jump from Q4 2023, and almost 500 percent up from Q1 last year. It's also a great deal of the way toward the 9,155 Cadillac moved in total across 2023.
Those 5,800 sales account for a sixth (17 percent) of Cadillacs sold last quarter, which Cadillac says makes it the brand's second-bestselling nameplate. That's misleading, as it's only the third strongest-selling model behind the XT5 at 6,275 sales and Escalade with 9,135. Blame Cadillac's weird goalpost-moving on what makes a nameplate. Still, it was the only Cadillac model whose sales increased over Q1 last year, so it prevented Cadillac's sales from sliding more than 2.4 percent year-over-year. GM also says the Lyriq outsold every EV from rivals Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.
The Lyriq's rapid sales growth can be explained by how GM rolled out the Lyriq. Though Cadillac only delivered 122 units in 2022, it built almost 8,200, which it withheld to work out problems left over from the SUV's expedited development. It sounds awfully similar to how the Chevrolet Blazer EV's launch went down, only on a less public stage. Still, the Lyriq is posting strong numbers, suggesting pent-up demand hasn't gone anywhere. But whether this is the beginning of a Cadillac renaissance or a flash in the pan like the Ford Mustang Mach-E is yet to be decided.
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