In the strange world of automotive news, automakers have different ways of teasing a new vehicle over a certain period of time before a full reveal happens. We’ll get images or clues as to what it looks like or how much power it has, or sometimes automakers will go another direction and fully show us the car but hold on to the rest of the info later. The latter is what Cadillac is doing with its newest V model, the electric Lyriq-V.
Cadillac shared just two images and a 30-second video of the 2026 Lyriq-V for us to lust over, and it looks great. The regular Lyriq is already a looker of an EV, and the V model enhances that. Up front, the fascia has a pattern reminiscent of the one used on the Lyriq Sport, and in place of the regular Lyriq’s simple air dam the Lyriq-V gets a mesh grille. The ride height is lower, the wheel arches are body colored and there are small V badges at the rear of the seemingly deeper side sills.
Around back, the body color paint extends to the lower bumper, which is black plastic on the regular Lyriq. There’s also dark exterior trim, a mesh-like diffuser design, and of course an obvious V badge on the tailgate. This is also the first time Cadillac has offered matte paint on a Lyriq, which looks great, and the V also seems to have different wheels.
The video offers a bit more detail. A quick glimpse of the wheels show high-performance Continental Premium Contact 6 all-season tires and big Brembo brakes, and a quick flash of the interior shows a V-badged steering wheel that has a button marked with a red V, which could be for some kind of performance or boost mode. And that’s it, that’s all we know for now.
So what kind of power could the Lyriq-V have? We can look at GM’s current crop of Ultium EVs to make a good guess. The most powerful Lyriq you can currently get is the dual-motor model, which has 515 horsepower and 450 lb-ft. When the Chevrolet Blazer SS finally hits dealers early next year it will have 575 hp and 645 lb-ft — maybe the Lyriq-V will match that, though we bet it’ll probably pack even more power. Cadillac’s massive Escalade IQ will have 750 hp and 785 lb-ft from a dual-motor setup, which would be awesome in the Lyriq, though it’s more likely to land somewhere in between the Blazer and Escalade given that competitors like the Mercedes-AMG EQE and BMW iX M60 have horsepower figures that start with a 6.
Whatever Cadillac’s plans are, we’ll have to wait and see. Cadillac says detailed specs for the Lyriq-V won’t be made available until early 2025, and it will go on sale soon after.
