The boss of General Motors Europe says the UK is a key market for the firm’s continental ambitions, and it will finally bring Cadillac models here “soon” – with more brands promised to follow.
GM established its new European arm in Zurich in 2021, with a plan to bring an all-electric line-up of cars to market. So far that has materialised as just the €79,000 (£68,000) Lyriq SUV, which arrived in 2023 and is currently only sold in Switzerland, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the UK, GM’s presence amounts to the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, hybrid E-Ray and track-focussed ZR1, but CEO Pere Brugal, speaking to Autocar for the first time since taking the helm, said it would not be long before the Lyriq will arrive here, given that right-hand-drive production cars were completing final testing in Ireland.
He added: “We have a plan for these to come. It is one of the [markets] that we’re focusing on right now. It’s coming close.”
When that car does arrive, it will be joined by another model, said Brugal, because GM wants to arrive in the UK with more than just one mainstream offering.
“We want to make sure we launch not only with one model portfolio,” he told Autocar, speaking at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed. “We want to make sure we launch with at least a two-model portfolio.”
Brugal wouldn’t confirm what the second car would be, but the most likely option is the Optiq premium SUV (pictured below). That model is due on sale early next year, suggesting that a possible entrance to the UK market could coincide with its launch.
Following this, Brugal said, the plan was to bring even more models to the UK market. Asked if the likes of the Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer were part of the plan, he replied:“We have a lot of close relations and collaboration with our headquarters in Detroit. That’s where we discuss what are the global trends, what do customers want, and then also what are the region-specific needs.
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This will be overpriced and underengineered. Aside from Lucid Motors, legacy OEMs in the US are innovating at a snails pace. Max charging speed of 190kw/h will not cut it any more. You have Zeekr/Geely charging at 400+kw/h, Xpeng the same, and even now MB bringing out the new CLA which will solve a lot of the issues potential EV buyers have. What will this car and brand solve for consumers that they can't already get from MB/BMW/Volvo, plus the new Chinese entrants? I suspect very little, and I suspect this will be selling with some heavy price reductions before not-too-long, before a market u-turn before 2030.
This won't work. Your trying to persuade people out of Land Rovers, BMW's, Merc, Volvo's, Porsche's etc with a little known brand in the UK. GM are clueless when it comes to Europe and have been since they sold Opel
We've been here before. Why will this be any different from the other failed attempts?
Because maybe they've got it right this time?, there are other SUV's out there from other brands that are munters this doesn't look that bad and it hard to judge is size from one image with no reference in it.
big difference this time is powertrains.
It's why you are seeing massive inroads into the UK market by Chinese manufacturers.
Due to taxation, Europeans can't generally afford powerful thirsty cars.
Cadillac had a problem where their previous offerings were generally all petrol V6's, sitting in the top road tax band (now £700+ a year). It was expensive to develop and produce a decent diesel engine, so they could never compete, company car users ( probably the biggest market could never look at them).
Electric cars even the playing field.
doesn't matter if your car comes from Germany, China or the U.S., the electric motors perform pretty similarly.
The weak pound doesn't help their case to sell here, but otherwise, they are likely to be a lot more successful with electric.
Add to the fact that their latest vehicles are very well regarded and they could do well. A lot of people are bored of German premium offerings.