General Motors is pressing ahead to mass produce the Cadillac Lyriq crossover, the brand’s first full-electric vehicle, in Shanghai even though the city remains locked down because of COVID-19.
Pre-production of the Lyriq started at the Cadillac plant in Shanghai last week, GM’s China unit said.
The automaker has begun optimizing manufacturing processes, and conducting reliability tests and local validation of various Lyriq functions, including infotainment systems and driver assist technology, according to GM China.
The Lyriq being built initially for the Chinese market is a rear-drive, long-range variant. It will have a range of more than 650 kilometers (403 miles) and feature a 33-inch-diagonal LED infotainment screen, large panoramic glass dome and GM’s Super Cruise driver assist technology with lane-changing capability.
GM expects to start delivering the locally produced Lyriq to Chinese customers in mid 2022.
The Detroit automaker produces cars and light trucks at SAIC-GM, its joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp.
SAIC runs plants in Shanghai as well as the east China port city of Yantai, the northeast China city of Shenyang and the central China city of Wuhan.
With production and shipments disrupted by the lockdown of Shanghai and restrictive measures adopted by other Chinese cities to control the coronavirus outbreak, SAIC-GM sales plunged 70 percent to 23,829 in April, with year-to-date volume slipping 28 percent to 298,365, according to SAIC.
