Cadillac akan hadir di Australia

General Motors’ luxury brand Cadillac is coming back to Australia.

While not expected to be officially confirmed until next month, the American rival to BMW and Mercedes-Benz is planning a global expansion that will include our market. Specialist website, GM Authority, reports that Cadillac has been working on right-hand drive variants of its newer electric vehicles and this will help lead its international expansion.

This would seemingly explain GM’s decision to use the Cadillac brand for its proposed Formula 1 entry with Andretti, providing an international platform for the brand to promote its global growth. Cadillac is working with GM’s Ultium platform to develop a new range of electric models, which currently includes the Lyriq SUV and the upcoming Celestiq luxury sedan.

It’s believed this right-hand drive push will focus only on the electric models, with the likes of the supercharged V8 CT4 and CT5 Blackwing models still restricted to the US market.

Earlier this year, YouTube channel Baba Jibagte posted a video of a right-hand drive Lyriq prototype being tested in the US. Cadillac models have been tested in Australia over the years, utilising Holden’s proving grounds in Lang Lang, Victoria, but have never been offered for sale here officially in recent decades.

Cadillac came so close to launching in the Australian market in 2008 that 89 CTS sedans were imported into Australia and a brand ambassador was even appointed, but the program was hastily cancelled as the global financial crisis hit the local economy. Expanding into right-hand drive markets will also mean Cadillac is offered in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan.

General Motors’ decision to remain in the Australian market after the demise of Holden, using the GM Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) operation, was long seen as a way of keeping the company’s options open to sell more than just the Chevrolet Corvette and Silverado models. Cadillac can now be added alongside those and still sit underneath the GMSV umbrella.

Notably, the Corvette C8 offered in Australia is the only factory-produced right-hand drive model GM builds at present, with the Silverado’s converted locally. That’s likely to change with the Cadillac’s however, with the global expansion likely to mean a full factory right-hand drive production program. It’s unclear what models Cadillac will offer Australia long-term but the Lyriq SUV is almost certain to be the first offered given it’s already in production in the US.