Because if you want your brand to be seen and viewed as a tech and luxury leader, you need to be at the cutting edge of technology.
And that means being an/the EV leader.

And Cadillac didn't stumble like the Germans and Japanese. And it's arguably better than the Koreans.

Key next steps is to keep moving forward and iterating and not backtrack on their electrification plans.

 

Cadillac can move forward with their electrification plans, but they still need to have hybrid and ice vehicles. You can see that they need them by looking at their current sales trends. They are only 25% EV and the EVs that they have are all brand new.

 

Apparently, Cadillac knows like many of the rest of us that electrification IS the future sooner or later, and by toughing it out now they'll be ahead of everyone else when the inevitable happens.

 

I agree - Cadillac should continue down the EV path. That said, for now they should keep a small but strong portfolio of ICE vehicles. The transition is definitely going to be a long slow one.

 

I don't think they're going to back track on their plans (maybe slow down with them a little). But I do think they might keep ice cars around a little bit longer then they original planned.

 

They had plans to keep ICE until 2030 at the earliest and at least until 2035. That still at least 10 years away.
Also, "electrification" has never meant full BEV. It includes PHEV with 50 mile all-EV range.

If they keep with the 2035 date, that can include another full generation of Escalades on ICE-only. And they can bring back a PHEV Escalade if needed as well.

 

Cadillac was very lucky the Germans (plus Toyota/Lexus) stumbled AND GM actually had great product to counter the stumble with. Auto makes may have stumbled in the past but GM was never fielding great product to pull in the dissatisfied masses. Painful that GM took so long to figure out the need to build great product.

Best Cadillac take advantage of their lead while it lasts. The specs on iX3 and GLC EQ are really nice. and the range is far greater than Optiq.... at least on paper.
I'd expect a really solid Optiq MCE in 2027 just based on what Merc and BMW have just announced. Hopefully it's not just a color change, which is something Cadillac does tend to do sometimes.

I'm hoping Mercedes and Audi take a page out of BMW's BEV playbook and make their vehicles ugly to stand out If there was ever a foreign brand I'd consider buying it was BMW. But not now - things are looking pretty weird to my eyes.

I actually really like the new GLC. The grille is a nice homage to the W108, making for a nice heritage cue. I still think the overuse of the 3-pointed star is overtly tacky. The iX3 is better than I thought it would be. The Q4/Q6 eTron are some of the frumpiest cars I've seen in a long time. And the accelerator and brake pedals are oddly too close together in the Q4, which I found very peculiar and potentially dangerous.

 

Best Cadillac take advantage of their lead while it lasts. The specs on iX3 and GLC EQ are really nice. and the range is far greater than Optiq.... at least on paper.
I'd expect a really solid Optiq MCE in 2027 just based on what Merc and BMW have just announced. Hopefully it's not just a color change, which is something Cadillac does tend to do sometimes.



I actually really like the new GLC. The grille is a nice homage to the W108, making for a nice heritage cue. I still think the overuse of the 3-pointed star is overtly tacky. The iX3 is better than I thought it would be. The Q4/Q6 eTron are some of the frumpiest cars I've seen in a long time. And the accelerator and brake pedals are oddly too close together in the Q4, which I found very peculiar and potentially dangerous.

Yep, the German's aren't leaving the door wide open for an extended amount of time like Detroit did back 40 or so years ago. Nor is what they did so bad that I think it would stop anyone from returning to the German brands if they bought a BEV Cadillac. Either way, it's Cadillac's big change.

I'm still holding tight to GM's 2nd gen battery chemistry, hopefully it comes out sooner rather than later.

Audi really took a turn - they were the "it" brand for awhile - A4's and A6's everywhere in my area. There are certainly still plenty of Audi CUV's, but my unscientific eye counter doesn't see as many as when the A4/6 ruled. Frumpy and boring - even the A5 is just ok looking in my eyes where it used to look awesome to me.

 

MB / BMW's BEV reinvention had better be fantastic; Cadillac is not standing still.

 

Yep, the German's aren't leaving the door wide open for an extended amount of time like Detroit did back 40 or so years ago. Nor is what they did so bad that I think it would stop anyone from returning to the German brands if they bought a BEV Cadillac. Either way, it's Cadillac's big change.

It takes time and consistency to ruin a reputation. What the 3 Germans + Porsche have hit is merely a speed bump. Though, it has the potential to really screw them over in the long run if they don't fix things. But it looks like they're on their way to doing that by 2026-7.
IMHO, Cadillac's the leader right now in the luxury EV space. Their conquest buyers are thru the roof, which points to good things, so long as Cadillac can continue to iterate on their designs and technology at the appropriate times. THey've got a captive audience. All they need to do is ensure they keep them in the fold.

I'm still holding tight to GM's 2nd gen battery chemistry, hopefully it comes out sooner rather than later.

Yeah. Mercedes' solid state battery seems to be getting all the press these days.
The sooner GM gets their version out, the better.
I'd also hope Cadillac get an 800v charging system across the line as well.

Audi really took a turn - they were the "it" brand for awhile - A4's and A6's everywhere in my area. There are certainly still plenty of Audi CUV's, but my unscientific eye counter doesn't see as many as when the A4/6 ruled. Frumpy and boring - even the A5 is just ok looking in my eyes where it used to look awesome to me.

Audi's a disaster. Their interior quality fell off a cliff hard. I thought Mercedes was bad; Audi is worse. The panels and handles squeak and bend. That never used to happen. Though, I think one of their execs did come out recently admitting that their interiors have failed. But it will still take at least a full model cycle in some cases to get back up to par.