Cadillac has started delivering the Lyriq to dealerships across the country and the very first of them went to a particularly prominent dealership in Novi, Michigan.
Production of the all-electric Lyriq kicked off in March and the first deliveries have started in the highest demand markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit. Those dealers taking delivery of the first examples are giving the vehicles “a white glove treatment,” Cadillac of Novi general manager Ed Pobur told The Detroit Free Press.
“These first early cars, we’re going to make sure everything is perfect. I don’t know if we’ll do that at every dealership. But with Lyriq we’re doing everything we can to assure this launch is perfect.”
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Mere minutes after rolling its Lyriq onto the showroom floor, the dealership lifted it up on the hoist and for seven to 10 days, will inspect it and teach service technicians how to service it. Only then will the keys actually be handed over to the customer.
Cadillac of Novi was likely the first dealer to receive a Lyriq because it has been the top-selling Cadillac dealership in the United States for eight of the last 12 years.
“I do the most business in Detroit and I do the most business in the country, so I get preferential treatment on some of this stuff,” Pobur explained. “That’s the way it should be when you sell the most cars.”
Cadillac has required its U.S. dealerships to each invest around $200,000 to sell its electric vehicles or, instead, accept buyouts. Approximately one-third of the automaker’s dealers weren’t willing to make the necessary EV investments and were bought out. Cadillac of Novi was quite the opposite, its manager states, revealing that it spent roughly $900,000 to get it EV-ready. “I didn’t want to do it half-ass,” Pobur said. “I wanted to do it right. So we spent a little more than we probably wanted to, but we’re ready now.”
