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Cadillac Confirms Long-Term Commitment To Australia, New Zealand

After decades of being absent, Cadillac is on the precipice of returning to Australia and New Zealand, ready to bring the 2025 Cadillac Lyriq (and future EVs) to roads in the two Oceania countries. According to a recent report from Drive, the luxury marque fully intends to put down roots in the country and stick around for a while.

Cadillac execs have reiterated their plans to become an established brand in Australia, meaning that it won’t leave the markets like its corporate cousins, Holden and Opel. Jess Bala, head of GM Australia and New Zealand, said that the luxury marque’s investment into developing and building right hand drive (RHD) vehicles right from the factory underscores its commitment to Oceania, which has been reportedly in the works since 2015.

Right-hand-drive 2025 Cadillac Lyriq

“We’re not here to talk about any of the history and the [previous attempted launches of the] brand, there’s been a lot of that in the past,” Bala said, “but to focus on Cadillac [today] and the exciting future that we have, hopefully just the fact that these vehicles are being built in factory right-hand drive, they’ve been part of the plan for years.”

She added, “I know everyone is very familiar with how long it takes to bring a car to market, so hopefully that [length of time invested] really cements the commitment as well.”

The RHD 2025 Cadillac Lyriq headed for Australia will be built at the Spring Hill plant in the U.S. state of Tennessee alongside the left-hand-drive (LHD) variant currently on sale in North America and elsewhere around the world. To make this possible, the Spring Hill facility now features a production line dedicated to RHD models. Once built, the RHD Lyriq will then be exported from the U.S. to Australia. Interested customers will be able to shop for the luxury crossover at boutique showrooms inside shopping malls, also known as “experience centers.”

Cadillac is expected to offer more electric vehicles in Oceania in the future. In fact, the luxury marque has already filed to trademark the Optiq and Escalade IQ names as well as the Vistiq name in Australia. It’s important to note, however, that Caddy does not plan on vehicles with internal combustion engines in the country.

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