Cadillac Lyriq Drops to $95,000 Driveaway in Australia: $32,000 Off, Now Cheaper Than a BMW iX

Image credit: Cadillac Australia

If you have been quietly cross-shopping a large electric SUV in the $120,000 to $150,000 bracket, the cross-shop just got messy. Cadillac Australia has dropped the Lyriq to $95,000 driveaway on both Luxury and Sport trims until 30 June 2026, which works out to $90,000 before on-roads. That is roughly $32,000 below where this car opened in Australia, and importantly it now sits below the Luxury Car Tax threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles. For novated-lease buyers chasing FBT exemption, that is a much bigger deal than the headline number suggests.

Pricing

Cadillac has gone the unusual route of pricing both trims the same. The Luxury and Sport carry identical powertrains, batteries and standard equipment, so the only difference is exterior styling, which keeps the menu simple.

At launch in 2024, the Luxury opened at $122,000 and the Sport at $124,000 before on-roads. Cadillac says the new pricing is a permanent reposition rather than a clearance, with the $95,000 driveaway figure layered on top as an EOFY incentive. The pre-on-road figure of $90,000 is the key one for fleet and salary-packaging buyers because it slips under the LCT cutoff for fuel-efficient vehicles, opening the door to the full electric-car FBT exemption on a novated lease.

What you actually get

The Lyriq is a large five-seat luxury SUV roughly the footprint of an Audi Q8 e-tron. It is just shy of five metres long and rides on a 3,094mm wheelbase, so rear-seat room is generous and the boot is family-suitable. Power comes from a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup making 388kW and 610Nm. Cadillac quotes 530km of WLTP range from a 102kWh lithium-ion battery, with DC fast charging at up to 190kW. AC charging is capped at 11kW on a three-phase wallbox.

Cadillac quotes 128km of added range from a 10-minute DC top-up, which lines up with what 190kW peak charging gets you on a 100kWh-plus battery when the state-of-charge window is right. In practice, expect lower numbers from older fast chargers and on cold mornings, the same caveat as every other large EV in this space.

Equipment

Both Luxury and Sport roll on 21-inch alloys, sit on Continental-developed adaptive dampers, and share a long list of premium kit. Standard equipment includes a single-piece 33-inch curved LED dashboard, a 19-speaker AKG audio system, a panoramic glass roof, a power tailgate, leather upholstery with heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, and heated and ventilated outboard rear seats. Interior ambient lighting runs across the cabin and the door cards.

Visually, the Luxury keeps the traditional Cadillac chrome detailing across the grille surround, side trims and window frames. The Sport replaces all of that with gloss-black, gets a different grille pattern and runs darker badge work. Mechanically identical. Pick the look you like.

Safety

The Lyriq is not yet rated by ANCAP, and Cadillac Australia has not flagged a local crash test. That is worth taking seriously if you are buying for a fleet that mandates a five-star ANCAP, because rivals like the BMW iX, Polestar 3 and Volvo EX90 all carry recent local ratings. Cadillac points to a five-star result in the United States NHTSA program, but that test does not map onto ANCAP scoring.

Active safety kit is comprehensive. Autonomous emergency braking with intersection and pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a 360-degree camera, parking assist, tyre pressure monitoring, driver attention monitoring and front and rear parking sensors are all standard on both trims.

How it fits in the Cadillac lineup

Image credit: Cadillac Australia

Cadillac Australia now runs a clean three-EV stack. The smaller Optiq Sport AWD slots in at $80,000 RRP as the entry point, the Lyriq sits in the middle at the new $90,000 figure, and the three-row Vistiq Platinum tops the range at $116,000. The Vistiq is the obvious upsell if you actually need a third row or six seats, while the Optiq is the obvious choice if you can live with a smaller car for a $10,000 saving. The repositioned Lyriq is the volume play between them.

How it compares

Drop the Lyriq into the large electric luxury SUV category and the cross-shop changes completely. The BMW iX xDrive45 opens at $142,900 before on-roads, which puts the Lyriq roughly $52,900 below it on RRP. The Lyriq carries more headline power (388kW vs around 300kW), a similar usable footprint and a longer WLTP range, but the iX runs a more polished software stack and arrives with a five-star ANCAP rating.

The Polestar 3 at $99,900 is the next benchmark. Long Range Dual Motor gets 604km of WLTP range, a five-star ANCAP, and arguably the nicest cabin in the category. Cadillac fights back on power, screen real estate and the value angle now that the price gap is under $10,000. The Audi Q6 e-tron sits closer to $115,000 and brings the better dealer network and Audi resale, while the Volvo EX90 at $124,990 is the proper three-row option for families that need seven seats.

At the value end, the Genesis GV60 Performance comes in just under the Lyriq, with a huge 10-year Concierge warranty package and the home-charger included. The GV60 is smaller and shorter on range, but it is a strong cross-shop if you want premium ownership and a dealer footprint Cadillac cannot match yet.

The CarSorted angle

On the CarSorted directory, the Cadillac Lyriq Luxury AWD is now listed at $90,000 RRP with 388kW, 610Nm, a 102kWh battery and 530km of WLTP range. Stack that against a BMW iX xDrive45 at $142,900 and a Polestar 3 Long Range Dual Motor at $99,900 in our database, and the Lyriq is the cheapest entry into the 380kW-plus large EV SUV bracket on sale here. Run the side-by-side on our Cadillac Lyriq vs BMW iX comparison to see how the spec sheets fall.

The number that matters most for novated-lease and fleet buyers is the $90,000 RRP, because it slips under the Luxury Car Tax threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles ($91,387 for 2025-26). That keeps the Lyriq eligible for the federal electric-car FBT exemption on a novated lease, which on a typical four-year deal is worth several thousand dollars a year in pre-tax savings. A BMW iX or Audi Q8 e-tron at $130k-plus does not qualify, so the gap to those cars in real take-home cost is bigger than the sticker suggests.

Warranty and servicing

Cadillac covers the Lyriq with a five-year unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty plus an eight-year or 160,000km high-voltage battery warranty. Service intervals are 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first. Cadillac Australia runs a small but growing experience-centre network, so confirm your nearest service location before signing, because it is not at the same density as BMW or Audi yet.

What this means for buyers

If you walked into a Lyriq cross-shop six months ago, your shortlist almost certainly skipped Cadillac and stopped at BMW, Audi, Polestar and Volvo. With the Luxury and Sport now at $95,000 driveaway and $90,000 RRP, that calculus changes. The Lyriq is suddenly the cheapest 380kW-plus large electric SUV in the country, it has the longest screen on the market, and it qualifies for the FBT exemption that the German rivals at this size do not.

Where it still loses ground is dealer reach, software polish and the missing ANCAP star rating. If those three are deal-breakers for you, the BMW iX or Polestar 3 is the safer pick. If they are not, and you can run a salary-packaged novated lease, the new pricing makes the Lyriq the strongest value play in the segment. For a wider read on the category, see our Best Electric Luxury SUVs Australia 2026 guide or jump straight to Cadillac Lyriq in the directory.

Cadillac Lyriq vs BMW iX | Cadillac Lyriq vs Polestar 3 | Cadillac Lyriq in the directory