Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq Priced for Australia: Optiq From $80,000, Vistiq Platinum $116,000, Deliveries Imminent

Image credit: Cadillac Australia

Cadillac has triple-locked its Australian EV lineup. The mid-size Optiq opens at $80,000 before on-road costs, and the three-row Vistiq Platinum sits at $116,000 before on-road costs, either side of the existing Cadillac Lyriq that currently walks out the door on a $95,000 driveaway offer. GM ANZ is not chasing Tesla money here, it is targeting the shopper who was going to buy a BMW iX, an Audi Q6 e-tron or a Volvo EX90, and asking them to walk into a Cadillac showroom instead. On paper, at least, the money is sharp enough to force that conversation.

Pricing

On-road costs vary by state. On current Cadillac Australia offers, the Lyriq is discounted to around $95,000 driveaway nationally, which is worth having in mind when you read the Optiq and Vistiq stickers. Only the Optiq slips under the fuel-efficient luxury car tax cap of $91,387, so it dodges the LCT hit that catches the Lyriq and Vistiq at their current pricing.

Optiq: The Entry Point

The Optiq is the smallest Cadillac EV sold globally, but it lands here in a single well-equipped Sport grade that closes the gap on the more expensive Lyriq faster than the price suggests. Australia gets the pre-update US powertrain: a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup rated at 224kW and 480Nm, a 75kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt battery, a claimed 425km of WLTP range, and a 150kW DC charging peak that Cadillac quotes at roughly 94km of range added in 10 minutes on a matched charger. Zero to 100km/h is 6.3 seconds, so quick without being hot-hatch quick.

Standard kit is where the Optiq justifies the Cadillac badge. The Sport ships with 21-inch alloys, a 3D-etched crystal shield grille, a panoramic glass roof with electric sunshade, Inteluxe synthetic leather trim, heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, dual-zone climate, 126-colour ambient lighting, over-the-air software updates, alloy sport pedals, Brembo front brakes, a digital rear-view mirror and a full 33-inch curved LED display with built-in Google (Maps, Google Play Store, Assistant) alongside wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. A 19-speaker AKG Studio audio system with Dolby Atmos completes it.

Two things to flag on the Optiq. First, the US Optiq lineup was overhauled earlier in 2026, adding a new 232kW single-motor rear-wheel-drive base grade and a 328kW dual-motor upgrade, plus the Porsche Macan-rivalling Optiq-V. Australia does not get any of that at launch, and the Optiq-V is off the table entirely, with GM ANZ blaming UNECE regulatory alignment. Second, the Optiq shares its GM BEV3 architecture with the outgoing pre-update US Optiq rather than the newer platform Cadillac is developing for the next-generation car with SAIC-GM in China. What lands here is a known-quantity mid-2020s EV, not the newest thing Cadillac has.

Vistiq: The Three-Row Flagship

Image credit: Cadillac Australia

The Vistiq is where Cadillac wants to have a real conversation with the Volvo EX90, Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9 crowd. Australia gets the top Platinum trim only, with 459kW and 880Nm from a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup, a 91kWh battery, adaptive air suspension standard (the only Australian-market Cadillac so equipped) and rear-wheel steering under the skin. Cadillac quotes a 4.2-second 0 to 100km/h and an estimated 461km of WLTP range at 22kWh/100km.

Standard kit reads like an option box exercise: 22-inch alloys with Brembo brakes, dual-pane panoramic sunroof, augmented reality head-up display, quad-zone climate control, heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, a 33-inch panoramic curved display, 23-speaker AKG Studio Reference audio with Dolby Atmos, Nouveauluxe synthetic upholstery with open-pore Black Ash wood trim, sueded microfibre headliner, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and adaptive air suspension. Six seats is fewer than the seven you get in a base EX90 or Ioniq 9, but the second-row captain's chairs and the 3,094mm wheelbase give it real limousine legroom for a chauffeured second row.

Safety

Neither the Optiq nor the Vistiq has been assessed by ANCAP, and Cadillac Australia has not signalled a local crash test date. Both cars are not yet rated. That matters if you are buying for a fleet that mandates a current five-star ANCAP, because direct rivals like the BMW iX3, Kia EV9 and Volvo EX90 all carry recent local ratings. Both Cadillacs ship standard with AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise, lane-keep assist, lane-change assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a 360-degree camera, driver attention monitoring and Cadillac's Enhanced Automatic Parking Assist. Super Cruise, the hands-off highway system Cadillac uses in North America, is not part of the Australian launch package.

How It Compares

At $80,000, the Optiq sits directly on the BMW iX3 and about $20,000 below the current Audi Q6 e-tron. Range is the honest weak point at 425km WLTP against 500km-plus for the iX3 40 and 550km-plus for the Q6, so if you routinely do long inter-city runs, this is the number to watch. Where the Cadillac punches back is on cabin theatre, the 33-inch display and 19-speaker AKG audio at that money, which none of the German rivals match at the entry grade. It also lands under the fuel-efficient LCT cap, so the on-the-road maths behaves nicely.

At $116,000 the Vistiq slots between a Volvo EX90 (currently $124,990 for Twin Motor) and a fully-loaded Kia EV9 GT-Line at closer to $121,000. It undercuts both on money, brings meaningfully more power (459kW versus 300kW-ish rivals), and is the only three-row electric SUV in the segment with standard air suspension at this price. What it gives up is seats (six versus seven) and a proper local ANCAP number. The Polestar 3 at $131,100 Dual Motor is close on money but is a two-row cabin, so it is a different buyer.

Warranty and Service

Both Optiq and Vistiq are covered by Cadillac Australia's 5-year unlimited-km vehicle warranty and an 8-year, 160,000km high-voltage battery warranty. Cadillac is sold and serviced through GM Specialty Vehicles dealerships (the same network that handles Corvette in Australia), with over-the-air software updates handled remotely. Cadillac has not published capped-price servicing figures yet, but has confirmed servicing is only required every two years or 30,000km for the drivetrain, with brake and cabin filter checks in between.

The CarSorted Angle

On CarSorted, the Cadillac Lyriq Luxury AWD is listed at $90,000 RRP with 388kW, 610Nm, a 102kWh battery and 530km of WLTP range. Slotting the new Optiq at $80,000 with 224kW, a 75kWh battery and 425km WLTP creates a 10 grand step-down in money, a 164kW step-down in peak power and a 105km step-down in range. For anyone shopping the Lyriq purely to get a Cadillac badge into their driveway, the Optiq is not the same car with less kit, it is a smaller, slower, shorter-range car. You are buying the crest and the interior tech, not the powertrain. The Vistiq is the harder sell to justify against the Lyriq: $26,000 more for a three-row cabin, air suspension, an extra 71kW and less range. If you never need six seats, keep your money and buy the Lyriq. Run those three cars side by side on our CarSorted compare tool to see the trade curves in one view. For the closest cross-shop on either car, put the Optiq up against the BMW iX3 in the directory and the Vistiq against the EX90 and EV9.

What This Means for Buyers

If you were already looking at a $115,000 BMW iX3 40 xLine, the Optiq is now the disruptor at $80,000 that forces you to justify the German. You lose about 80km of WLTP range and a mature dealer network. You gain the biggest screen and best audio system at the price, plus an under-LCT sticker that saves real money at rego. Whether that trade works depends on whether you actually do long-distance drives that expose the 425km range, or you commute inside a metro area and charge at home most nights.

On the Vistiq, the question is different: is a six-seat, 461km-range, $116,000 luxury EV enough car when a seven-seat Kia EV9 GT-Line lands at similar money with a five-star ANCAP and a proven Australian dealer network? For a two-couple family that wants captain's chairs in row two and does not need every seat every day, yes. For a family of six that needs a genuine third-row occasional seven-seater with a known safety rating today, the answer is closer to no, or at least not yet. Run the numbers on our compare tool and check the Cadillac Lyriq, Kia EV9 and Volvo EX90 before you sign either paper.

Related reading: Cadillac Lyriq $95,000 driveaway offer | Polestar 3 800V update | Volvo EX90 Single Motor under LCT.