The 2023 Cadillac Lyriq – the luxury marque’s first fully-electric vehicle – sets out to make a statement. It does so with the help of cutting-edge LEDs integrated into the front “grille”, which make the luxury crossover seem to come alive.
The 2023 Lyriq greets its driver with a mesmerizing light show created by 50 LEDs mounted in the “black crystal” grille. First to illuminate in the Luxury and Premium Luxury models is the Cadillac crest itself, which has been optimized to appear cleaner and more easily recognizable when backlit. Lights fill up the electric vehicle’s grille, leading the eye to the outer edges of the exterior via the horizontally-oriented sequential turn signals. Light then cascades downward, in a droplet-style fashion, to both sides of the vehicle’s vertical headlights.
The pattern is picked up by the Lyriq’s taillights in a similar fashion. Much like the front turn signals, the rear turn signals feature sequential lighting that flows from the center of the inner part of the lenses to the outboard part of the lights, before bleeding into and fully illuminating the rear vertical brake lights. 
The Lyriq represents a new era of styling and technology for Cadillac, evidenced by the front end’s “complex animation pattern,” as described by Andrew Smith, who served as Cadillac Chief Designer during the Lyriq’s development. Since there’s no need to leave gaps for as much air induction needed by vehicles with an internal combustion engine, the Lyriq can take full advantage of the flat plane of its black crystal grille.
“It’s an opportunity to really push the fashion of car design,” said Candice Willet, Lyriq Lead Creative Designer, Lighting, in the Lyriq debut video originally published in 2020. “EV Luxury is something that takes care of you when you least expect it. It’s walking up to a vehicle and having it welcome you and really awaken all of your senses.”
Check out a video of the Lyriq’s lighting pattern below.
Initially launched for the 2023 model year, the Cadillac Lyriq rides on the all-new BEV3 platform. Rear-drive models are powered by a single rear-mounted Ultium Drive motor fed by the 100.4 kWh lithium-ion Ultium battery pack. Total system output is rated at 340 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac estimates that the 2023 Lyriq will have 300 miles of driving range from a full charge. The all-wheel-drive model adds a second electric motor at the front axle, resulting in total system power of 500 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque. The high-performance Lyriq-V variant will join the lineup in the very near future.
We’ll bring you more details on the Cadillac Lyriq as soon as we get them. Until then, be sure to subscribe to Cadillac Society for Cadillac Lyriq news and to-the-minute Cadillac news coverage. We also invite you to join the latest discussions in our Cadillac forums and Cadillac Lyriq forum.
