Compact five-seat Optiq and mammoth seven-chair Vistiq soon to join Lyriq.

ONE smaller, one bigger than the one here now, with an interesting pricing strategy involved.

Having a tough time so far getting Kiwis sparked up, Cadillac is forging ahead with an expansion to its electric car range in New Zealand, with the compact five seat Optiq (top) and upsized, seven chair Vistiq (above), availing immediately.

As per a play announced 12 months ago, these will site either side of the Lyriq that paves the make’s return after more than 50 years - but only just.

A downward reprice of the Lyriq, now to $95,000 for the foreseeable future in the Luxury and Sport configurations that originally placed at $117k and $119k, means that car is barely above the Optiq, which will start at $90k.

The Vistiq, meantime, is set to be from $120k.

Lyriq went into special pricing months ago, ostensibly to shift older landed stock.

Last year was the type’s first here and the reception in a dulled EV sector was cool, with the registrations count barely into double figures. That was not necessarily an indictment on the car, which made the top 10 finalist consideration for the just-announced New Zealand Car of the Year.

In releasing pricing today, General Motors New Zealand and Australia made no mention of its 2026 market aspiration.

It also remains unclear where the other intended entry for 2026, a higher performance V-Spec Lyriq, will place.

All three cars site on General Motors’ ‘BEV3’ platform and use its ‘Ultium’ drive motors.

Optiq provisions with an 85kWh lithium ion battery for a claimed 425km range, while power comes from a 224kW/480Nm dual-motor all-wheel drive system.

Vistiq’s outputs are 459kW/880Nm, feeding from a 102kWh battery for a range of around 416km. A dual-motor all-wheel drive drivetrain is standard.

When confirming the cars last March, GM high-ups were keen to enforce the make’s “commitment to global right-hand drive markets”.

While no specific rivals in this market for the cars have been mentioned, in the US Optiq positions against the Mercedes-Benz EQB, Audi Q4 e-tron and BMW iX3. All are dearer here.

Conceivably the Vistiq’s main rivals for now might be considered to be the Kia EV9, which in it the most comparable GT-Line form is also pricier, and the slew of China brand electric MPVs, which are also in the main pricier than the Cadillac.

US specifications for the US cars have carried into right hand drive.

The Optiq runs to a 33-inch combined instrument and infotainment display, a 19-speaker AKG Studio audio system with Dolby Atmos support, 126-colour configurable ambient lighting, has 21-inch alloy wheels shod with 275/40 rubber and gets an illuminated front grille. The big absentee, for lack of a support infrastructure, is Super Cruise hands-free highway driving support.

Vistiq (cabin above) is known as a baby Escalade on its home turf and is the second-largest electric SUV Cadillac builds, beaten only by the iQ L which revealed Stateside last year but is not yet being considered for right hand drive.

Vistiq is nonetheless longer than the Kia EV9 and Mercedes-Benz EQS.

It places on the same platform as Lyriq, and has an identical wheelbase, but is 217mm longer, 226mm wider and 184mm taller. The wheel choice is 22-inch rim, with 255/40 rubber.

US market appointments continued here include heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, five-zone climate control system, a 23-speaker AKG Studio sound system, ambient lighting, unique speaker grilles with a herringbone pattern and a panoramic sunroof that is joined by a second glass panel over the third row of seats.

Cadillac nationally represents from a single outlet, in Auckland, with a direct sales programme.