Cadillac Shares Photos of Its First-Ever Electric Car

An American icon enters the EV age.

Elvis Presley, Hugh Hefner, Frank Sinatra – maybe not the kind of men you’d expect to embrace environmentally-friendly technology even if they were around to see it. 

However they were all diehard Cadillac guys, and we have to think that if anyone can convince its set-in-their-ways customers to go electric, it’s Detroit’s most famous luxury brand. 

Hence Caddy’s first-ever EV, just unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show, is bound to make the competition extremely nervous. The first model derived from parent company GM’s future EV platform, it places Cadillac firmly “at the vanguard of the company’s move toward an all-electric future.”

Cadillac President, Steve Carlisle tells Maxim that the EV will “provide the foundation for an entirely new kind of Cadillac,” offering customers “exciting design and driving dynamics.” The design is suitably sleek and high-tech, but he notes the as yet-unnamed crossover will not be some wimpy Euro-wagen or Silicon Valley-inspired geekmobile, but rather “the height of luxury and innovation.”

GM’s new EVs can be configured in front-, rear- or all-wheel drive, with a variety of power options and body styles possible, but all will follow Cadillac’s lead. 

While additional details are still to come, we think Cadillac should take the opportunity to return to the days of Hef and Sinatra when you could get all kinds of items custom-fitted items installed in your new Eldorado, from smoking sets to rear-seat drinks cabinets. 

News of the vehicle comes on the heels of an already aggressive product deployment this week, fronted by the all-new XT6 crossover – Carlisle tells Maxim it’s “an arsenal of technology wrapped in Cadillac’s bold design” – along with hints about a relaunched Escalade and an upcoming performance sedan; the company plans to introduce a new model every six months through 2021.

GM’s future EV platform, which Cadillac will be the first to use, will be flexible, allowing the company to respond quickly to customer preferences with a relatively short design and development lead time. The Cadillac portfolio will eventually benefit from a variety of body styles that can be spun off this architecture.