Cadillac Lyriq-V Reviews

From sketching Holden Commodores to designing every car in the General Motors world: one man’s epic promotion

Exhibition celebrates special concept cars that introduced stunning design and amazing innovation.

An altercation over ice cream at a McDonald's outlet in the US has resulted in a car being torched. Witnesses told US media a couple in the fast food order queue were arguing over what to order, when the situation sparked into arson.Bystander Sabryna Maré told 47 WTEV she was behind the couple in the Jacksonville, Forida McDonald's and overheard the argument. "She was saying she wanted this and wanted that, and she wanted either a McFlurry or an ice cream on top and he was not in for it. Then he was yelling at her saying he's not going to do it," Maré told the station."Next thing you know, she says 'I'm going to blow it up,' and we were wondering what are you going to blow up?" Maré said, adding that the woman then doused the car and set it alight before running off. "She got something out of the car that happened to be a bottle and then she got gasoline from who knows where. Then she poured everything all over it and next thing you know there was a match and it was up in flames."The report said other bystanders tried to help the man put out the fire, but the blaze prevented it being extinguished until firefighters arrived. The man left immediately afterwards in the vehicle.The quarelling man and woman have not been identified. The car, a 1994 Cadillac El Dorado, has reportedly found a few blocks away, with police saying the registration plates did not match the vehicle -- suggesting it may have been stolen.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

Opel cars could be back in Holden showrooms by the end of this year, starting with the sleek and sexy Cascada convertible priced about $50,000.

Elvis Presley used to sing about them -- and give them away to friends and strangers -- but Australians could soon discover what the fuss over Cadillac cars is all about.General Motors’ iconic US luxury brand is poised to return to Australia after 50 years to the fill the void when locally-built Commodore models disappear from Australian showrooms in 2018.The marketing boss of Cadillac, Uwe Ellinghaus, told News Corp Australia at the Detroit motor show overnight “we want to turn Cadillac into a global brand” and confirmed Australia is “part of our globe”.“Yes there are plans for right-hand-drive cars … but I can’t confirm timing and models and who will get them first,” he said.The former BMW marketing executive indicated the return of Cadillac would be at least three to four years away because “we already have so much growth potential … we should not enter too many markets simultaneously and lose the plot”.The most likely scenario is that Cadillac will arrive in Australia with a full model line-up in 2018, the year after Holden closes its car factory.But it will be a case of third-time lucky for the brand Down Under. Cadillac was due in Australia at the end of 2008 -- for the first time since 1969 -- but those plans were scrapped in the grip of the Global Financial Crisis, even though the first shipment of cars had arrived and dealers had been appointed.Meanwhile, the dealer network is still bruised after last year’s sudden withdrawal of General Motors’ European brand Opel from the Australian market after less than 12 months.But Mr Ellinghaus believes Australian dealers will give Cadillac another chance. “If they see a chance to sell these cars profitably, they will forgive us for all of our sins of the past,” said Mr Ellinghaus. “They see the future and the business opportunity, not the promises we didn’t live up to in the past.”There was no chance that Cadillacs could be rebadged as Holdens, he said. “Cadillac will not be successful if we do ‘badge engineering’. Customers want authentic cars, not cars they find under (another) name elsewhere.”The boss of Holden, Mike Devereux, was not at this year’s Detroit motor show. But at the same event last year he told Australian media: “Our team is talking to the global Cadillac group about if and when it would make sense to properly, 100 per cent, both feet in, launch that brand (in Australia).“But we would not do that until the conditions were absolutely rock-solidly perfect. You would have to have a full right-hand drive portfolio of the line-up.”Cadillac has won critical acclaim in the US for its new ATS sedan -- similar in size to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the third most popular mid-size car in Australia behind the Toyota Camry and Mazda6, despite its luxury price tag.The Cadillac ATS is also available as a coupe and, according to US reports, will eventually be available as a convertible and a wagon. Cadillac also has a full range of SUVs that General Motors believes would be popular in Australia, given the continued sales surge of luxury SUVs.    

The Detroit motor show may showcase some of the most stylish and extravagant of the world's upcoming automotive models, but the manufacturers also garnish these four-wheeled objects of desire

We've seen some movie cars go for top dollar recently -- among them the Lotus submarine car from James Bond and the 'Ferrari' replica from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. But a car that helped the Ghostbusters keep New York free of paranormal baddies is apparently being left to rot into a worthless husk on a Sony Pictures backlot. Ghostbusters fans are keen to rescue the car – the Ghostbuster 2 ‘ECTO-1A’, which was based on a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura ambulance -- and are mounting a petition to have the entertainment giant hand it over so it can be restored. The fan group says ECTO-1A is in "dire need of a restoration job... having sustained a magnitude of damage from its years as a public display piece at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL the original vehicle sits neglected." The project will be undertaken by the movie franchise's fan community -- some 21,000 strong and with more than 50,000 active followers on social media -- with crowdfunding likely to be raised on Kickstarter or a similar site. Ghostbusters Fans are calling for support from the public, who are encouraged to sign the petition to Sony, where they'll also find a history of the Ecto-1A and previous restoration bids. If they're successful, they could have a potentially valuable vehicle as a result. The original ECTO-1 from the first movie has been restored and does the rounds as a celebrity car for Ghostbusters events. But even a  replica of ECTO-1 -- used at the Universal Studios theme park -- sold for US$80,000 at Barrett Jackson auctions in 2010. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

With a name like 'Scary Spice', you'd imagine the singer Mel B would drive something a little more challenging than a run-of-the-mill family car. But you might not expect to find her behind the wheel of an armoured fortress bristling with hi-tech anti-personnel gadgets. However, now that the former Spice Girl is carving out a successful TV career hosting shows like Australian The X Factor, she has decided that what she really, really wants is a £200,000 ($345,000) specially modified attack-proof Cadillac Escalade capable of destroying the tyres of pursuing vehicles.Melanie Brown has joined the growing band of jittery U.S. celebrities who are driving armoured vehicles which can withstand bullets, bombs and chemical attacks. Her giant, gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle will even give an electric shock — up to 240 volts-worth of 'non-lethal current' — to car-jackers, paparazzi or anyone else foolish enough to grab the door handles in a bid to gain entry.At the push of a button, it will belch out dense white smoke to help the driver evade any pursuing vehicle, and pump out small spikes to puncture their tyres. Some customers specify pressurised cabins and on-board oxygen supplies to protect against chemical and gas attacks.Mel B's specially armoured and fully loaded seven-seater vehicle was delivered to her at her home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, recently by Jason Forston, vice-president of the Texas Armoring Corporation in San Antonio. His 38-year-old Leeds-born client also has an armoured Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz S-Class on order, he said.Texas Armoring employs 50 people and customises about 200 vehicles a year, usually for heads of state, politicians, business executives, diplomats and royal families. But more recently, Hollywood celebrities and sport stars have sparked a mini-boom in armoured vehicles as the worsening international climate — from chemical strikes in Syria to terrorist attacks in Boston and Kenya — have made them twitchy about their personal safety and the risk of kidnap or worse.These stars include British actor Sacha Baron Cohen and the rapper Kanye West, who recently ordered two outrageous Latvian-built Prombron Iron Diamonds costing around £800,000 ($1.4m) each. They are made by Dartz Motorz, the same company which built Sacha Baron Cohen's gold-plated presidential SUV which featured in his film The Dictator.Texas Armoring's Mr Forston, 32, said: 'Five years ago we had no Hollywood celebrities as customers. Nowadays, we have anywhere between 10 to 15 orders a year from celebrities and professional athletes.' They include Steven Seagal and rapper TI, who has a blinged-up version of Mel B's Cadillac Escalade, including a 32in flat-screen television with satellite TV and mobile Wi-Fi.Love-cheat golfer Tiger Woods is also understood to have one of the firm's armoured cars, which is presumably more than capable of withstanding a sustained attack from an angry wife wielding a nine-iron. Mel B — who is a judge on America's Got Talent and has been co-hosting NBC's Today show — and her producer husband Stephen Belafonte have opted for a traditional family-friendly interior to suit the lifestyles of her daughters Phoenix, Angel, Madison and stepdaughter Giselle.Mr Forston said: 'I delivered it to their house in Beverly Hills. They are very good people. We all went for a test drive so they knew how to use all the different options. Her husband is a big car guy. She drove it for a while — and on the right side. 'It's pretty much the standard leather interior. They've got kids so are pretty down to earth about things.'From the outside, these cars are virtually indistinguishable from the standard models — but have been stripped down to the frame and rebuilt with armour and hi-tech gadgets. In a country where guns are part of the fabric of day-to-day life — 'I carry a gun in my pocket every day: we're in Texas,' says Mr Forston — customers can specify a special gun-port through which to shoot at attackers on the outside. And Texas Armoring clearly has supreme confidence in its product.In an astonishing video on the firm's website — which comes with a 'don't try this at home' health warning — president and chief executive Trent Kimball is seen crouching behind a sheet of the company's bullet-proof glass while a young employee shoots at him with an AK-47. He lives to tell the tale as the triple-glazing shows up the spider-web impact of the bullets which nevertheless fail to penetrate the glass.But the American firm draws the line at emulating one South African security company which fitted a flame-thrower to a top-of-the-range BMW. At the push of a dashboard button, it shoots up a wall of fire outside the driver's car door in order to incinerate any would-be car-jacker.Demand for armoured cars is also on the increase on this side of the Atlantic. In Britain they are popular with Eastern European oligarchs. Luxury car-makers such as Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Bentley and Mercedes-Benz already have their own 'in-house' security arms which build in armouring from scratch. Mr Forston acknowledges their high level of expertise, but says his company — which takes apart existing cars and customises them with armour and gadgets before re-assembling them — can do almost as high a specification but at a fraction of the cost.Among the car makes they tackle are Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Lotus, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Maserati, Volvo and even the more humble Honda, Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford. The most expensive car Mr Forston has sold to date is a customised and armoured £500,000 ($870,000) stretch Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon for an unnamed client.When he was Prime Minister, Tony Blair took delivery of a fully armoured BMW 7-series — dubbed the 'Blair Panzer' after the German word for armour. Ironically, on delivery in London, police found that illegal immigrants had stowed away in the container lorry transporting it to Britain.David Cameron has, as his official car, an armoured, top-of-the-range Jaguar XJ. But trumping them all is U.S. President Barack Obama with his gargantuan armoured Cadillac-style limousine, dubbed 'The Beast', which follows him around the globe on official visits. Security expert Robert Siciliano, in New York, says that for the super-rich earning millions, the cost of an armoured vehicle is a drop in the ocean and a sensible investment.'What's your life worth?' he says. 'A bullet costs about 25 cents. It will go through a non-armoured vehicle pretty efficiently. So to spend three-quarters of a million dollars on an armoured vehicle isn't that outrageous.' No doubt, Scary Spice would agree. The former Spice Girl's current vehicle certainly brings a whole new meaning to the term 'girl power'. 

The newly sworn-in President of the USA and war hero, Dwight Eisenhower, stood on the back seat the white convertible as he celebrated his inauguration parade through the streets of Washington DC. The car in which he stood was General Motors (GM) new range topper, the Cadillac Eldorado.Never has a car had such a powerful introduction and global endorsement. When Cadillac was truly the ‘standard of the world’ the Eldorado stood above and beyond all else.It was the lowest, sleekest American automobile of its era. The styling derived directly from GM's 1951 La Sabre and 1952 Cadillac show cars. The convertible top was hidden below a smooth metal cover that fitted flush with the rear deck.Nothing interrupted the flowing lines of this aspiration on wheels. It was the first production car to have a wrap around windscreen which set a style trend for the next decade. It was the dream car you could buy in your local Cadillac dealership.Every luxury option in the known universe was standard on this baby. GM made just 533 Eldorados in 1953. They priced it three times higher than a normal Cadillac and sold every one of them. While the 1953 example is the star of the lineage, the 1957/58 four door hardtop Eldorado Brougham and the front drive 1967 Eldorado are similarly lusted after.The 1957 Brougham is one mother of a car. They made only 700 of these sleek hardtops with their brushed stainless steel roofs and ‘suicide’ rear doors. Prices started at a jaw dropping $13,500, which could have bought you two houses in a good Los Angeles suburb at the time. A new Rolls Royce was only $9000.Then there's the ‘67 Eldorado. Styled by David North and based on the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, (also penned by North), the ‘67 is often seen as the pinnacle of GM design in the 20th century. Big and low, vast and fast, it carried a 7.7 litre V8 under its long bonnet. Its flanks are sheer and clean of chrome and it demands your absolute attention.At the recent RMs Auction of the Don Davis collection, his white ‘53 Eldorado went for $231,000 and the ‘57 pink Brougham was snapped up for $253,000.David Burrell is the editor of Retroautos.com.au 

As car executives arrive in Shanghai for the biggest car show in the world's largest car market, companies including Volkswagen, General Motors and Toyota are looking for ways to sustain growth in China's increasingly difficult market. Volkswagen is hoping a swath of new customer service measures will help secure its position as the volume leader and sweeten relations with the Chinese government after it came under criticism from state-run media. Japan's Toyota, Honda and Nissan face challenges in reversing sales declines stemming from last year's diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo over a clutch of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. “China is the world's biggest and fastest-growing market. If you don't make it in China, you're likely to remain a second-tier automaker forever,” said Macquarie Securities analyst Janet Lewis. Carmakers are unveiling new vehicles at the high and low ends of the value chain to capture China's increasingly complex market. To spark Cadillac sales, GM recently launched an advertising campaign featuring actor Brad Pitt and plans to more than double its Chinese Cadillac dealers to 200 by the end of the year. Last year, Cadillac sold just 30,000 vehicles in China. GM said in January that it planned to increase Cadillac sales to 100,000 by 2016. More than 15.5 million cars were sold in China last year, up 7 per cent from the year before. Foreign brands accounted for more than 60 per cent of sales. But signs of a slowdown in China and increasing competition suggest growth won't come easily for much longer. China's first-quarter car sales rose a lower than expected 7.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, suggesting the world's No 2 economy hasn't entirely bounced back from a first-half 2012 slowdown. Passenger car sales growth in March unexpectedly slowed to 13 per cent, according to a semi-official industry group, from a 20 per cent gain in the first two months of the year. The industry faces other challenges. Beijing wants domestic brands to achieve a 40 per cent share of the market by 2015. Some industry observers say that increased government pressure on global carmakers is a result of Beijing's frustration that China's efforts to produce world-class domestic carmakers are lagging. Volkswagen pledged to improve its customer service practices in China, invest more and create new jobs. In March, the powerful state-run China Central Television criticised the German carmaker, saying it failed to properly address consumer concerns about faulty direct-shift transmissions in VW cars. Shortly after, the company announced a recall of more than 380,000 vehicles at a cost analysts estimate at $US618 million ($600m). VW said it had established two taskforces, one to oversee the recall and another to work long term on quality in China. It also said it would add 25,000 workers in China by 2018. Additional reporting by MICHAEL RAMSEY