With the Lyriq, Cadillac currently has one of the best luxury electric SUVs on the American market. The first examples were delivered to customers in the United States earlier this year and now the brand is increasing production of battery-powered machines. It’s definitely not cheap – basic rear-wheel drive models start at $62,990 – but it combines a striking design with solid EV characteristics and plenty of interior space. What if this successful formula was turned into a smaller electric crossover?
This is probably the question General Motors designer Jason Chen had in mind when designing the virtual crossover you see attached above. The sketch is from the automaker’s design team at Instagram and shows a side view of the muscular compact utility with the stylistic influence of the Lyriq. To some extent, it looks better due to its sportier and more aggressive proportions – very short overhangs, oversized wheels, and a sloping roofline at the rear.
Whereas the Lyriq is more luxury-oriented, this nameless concept looks like a smaller performance product. However, there are key design similarities, including the shape, size and angle of the C-pillar, slim headlights, and muscular fenders. There seems to be a big resemblance to the vertical LED daytime running lights as well, which is a defining part of the Lyriq’s lighting signature. We can’t say for sure if this rendering has some sort of grille or just a closed panel to make the front fascia more aerodynamically optimized.
Hypothetically, if this smaller electric crossover got Lyriq hardware even in its base form, it would be a real performance product. With 340 horsepower (253 kilowatts) and 325 pound-feet (440 Newton-meters) of torque from a single electric motor, the Lyriq RWD takes about 6.0 seconds to reach 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour). Theoretically, the lower weight and better aerodynamics of this virtual crossover would make it off the beaten track faster. The Lyriq’s 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack could be too big.
