General Motors is slashing the prices of its Cadillac Lyriq by almost 14% amid heightening competition in China’s EV market. The move comes days after Volkswagen introduced a “historical low price” offer on its ID.3 electric car.
According to the company’s website and social media, the Cadillac Lyriq now starts at 379,700 yuan ($52,443), down 13.65% from its previous price of 439,700 yuan ($60,730).
Cadillac launched pre-orders of the all-electric Lyriq luxury SUV in China last November with a starting price of 479,900. Deliveries began just before the end of the year. Lyriq prices are down over 20% from when it was launched under eight months ago.
Based on GM’s Ultium platform, the Cadillac Lyriq has 608 km (377 m) CLTC range. The SUV produces up to 375 kW (502 hp) and 710 Nm max torque powered by two electric motors.
The inside features GM’s latest Virtual Cockpit System with 33.8-inch infotainment. The Lyriq stays true to Cadillac’s luxury roots with premium massaging front seats, a crystal electric control knob, a panoramic glass dome, and a 19-speaker studio-grade sound system.
Cadillac cuts Lyriq prices in China amid EV competition
GM’s Cadillac Lyriq price drop comes just days after Volkswagen revealed a limited-time offer on its smallest electric car, the ID.3.
Volkswagen’s ID.3 deal starts at 125,900 (roughly $17,500), down over $5,000 from its original prices, according to the company’s JV SAIC-VW.
After dominating the market, the German automaker watched overall sales fall 3.6% last year as the market transitions to pure EVs. Volkswagen sold just over 11.3K EVs in China in May, representing 2.9% of the market, down from 3.2% last year.
SAIC-VW ID.3 electric car (Source: SAIC-VW)
Volkswagen is facing intensifying pressure from shareholders regarding the China market. At the automaker’s general meeting in May, Shareholders brought up the increasing competition from Tesla and BYD.
CEO of Volkswagen Group, Oliver Blume, acknowledged the market in China was rapidly transitioning toward electric, highlighting its plans to remain competitive. Blume says the company will create EVs designed for buyers in China by working with local partners to win back market share.
Electrek’s Take
Domestic automakers like BYD and EV makers like Tesla continue to take their share of the Chinese auto market.
With the BYD starting at 116,800 yuan ($16,100) and the Yuan Plus starting at 134,000 yuan ($18,500), foreign automakers like Volkswagen and GM are having difficulty competing on price.
Meanwhile, the premium market is also gaining competition with Tesla and other domestic EV makers like NIO, taking from the luxury market. BYD sold nearly 30K Dolphin electric cars in May alone, about 11 times the ID.3.
In comparison, GM sold just over 900 Cadillac Lyriq models in the first three months of the year. Back in the US, GM is struggling with battery production as it works to bring its four Ultium battery cell plants online.
GM sold 1,348 Lyriq EVs in the US in the second quarter, up from 968 in Q1. Hummer EV sales fell 83% from last year, with only 47 sold in the second quarter. The Bolt EV and EUV continued carrying GM’s sales with 13,959 of the 15,652 EVs sold in Q2.
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EQORE, a distributed battery storage startup based in Somerville, Massachusetts, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding to help industrial buildings tackle rising electricity costs. The round was oversubscribed and includes backing from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Henry Ford III of Ford Motor Company, and Jonathan Kraft of The Kraft Group.
The timing couldn’t be more relevant. Data centers are booming, and that demand is slamming an already stressed grid. Big, utility-scale batteries help at the grid level, but they can’t fix the bottlenecks happening on local distribution networks. That’s where onsite storage steps in — storing energy when demand is low and discharging it when demand spikes, which helps stabilize costs for both the grid and the businesses using it.
MassCEC’s head of investments, Susan Stewart, said, “What excites us the most about EQORE’s technology is the dual impact: grid support and customer savings.” She noted that commercial and industrial buildings are ideal hosts for battery storage, but haven’t gotten much attention until now. “EQORE is closing that gap.”
Investor Randolph Mann highlighted what makes the company stand out: “By uniting advanced controls with high‑resolution metering and true end‑to‑end service, EQORE finally makes commercial behind-the-meter storage effortless and financially compelling for businesses.”
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EQORE comes out of MIT’s Sandbox program and delta v accelerator and is currently part of the Harvard Climate Entrepreneurs Circle incubator. CEO and cofounder Valeriia Tyshchenko, a third‑generation engineer from Ukraine and MIT graduate, said the new funding will help the company scale alongside its existing revenue.
With the seed round closed, EQORE plans to grow its team and ramp up battery deployments at energy-intensive manufacturing facilities. The company doesn’t just install batteries; it operates them. Its autonomous software shifts when a facility uses power based on market conditions and utility incentives, reshaping load in real-time without disrupting operations.
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Hyundai took the sheets of its new off-road electric SUV, the Crater Concept, at the LA Auto Show. Here’s our first look at the compact off-roader.
Meet Hyundai’s new off-road SUV, the Crater Concept
We knew it was coming after Hyundai teased the off-road SUV earlier this week, hidden under a drape. Hyundai took the sheets off the Crater Concept at the LA Auto Show on Thursday, giving us our first real look at the rugged off-roader.
Hyundai refers to it as a compact off-road SUV that’s inspired by extreme events. The concept was brought to life at the Hyundai America Technical Center in Irvine, California.
The off-road SUV draws design elements from Hyundai’s Extra Rugged Terrain (XRT) models, such as the IONIQ 5 XRT, Santa Cruz XRT, and the new Pallisade XRT Pro.
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Although it’s a concept, Hyundai said the Crater Concept is a testament to its commitment to designing future XRT vehicles that are more functional, more capable, and more emotional.
The Hyundai Crater off-road SUV Concept (Source: Hyundai)
“CRATER began with a question: ‘What does freedom look like?’ This vehicle stands as our answer,” Hyundai’s global design boss, SangYup Lee said.
The off-road SUV features Hyundai’s new Art of Steel design theme, first showcased on the THREE concept at the Munich Motor Show in September.
The Hyundai Crater Concept (Source: Hyundai)
Hyundai said the design team was guided by one clear goal: To create a rugged and capable vehicle that’s designed to go anywhere. The Crater Concept embodies that vision with added wide skid plates, 33″ off-road tires, limb risers, rocker panels, and a roof platform.
Hyundai designed the interior for “tech-savvy adventure seekers,” with a singular design centered around a high-brow crash pad that stretches across the dashboard.
The Hyundai Crater Concept (Source: Hyundai)
The concept also swaps the traditional infotainment setup for a head-up display that spans the entire front window, which Hyundai said includes a live rearview camera.
Hyundai’s off-roader includes a new Off-Road Controller for front and rear locking differentials, as well as a terrain selector with modes including Sand, Snow, and Mud. Other off-road features include downhill brake control, trailer brake control, a compass, and an altimeter.
Although Hyundai said it was electric, it didn’t reveal any further details about the powertrain. The off-road SUV could be a battery-electric or fuel-cell-electric vehicle.
Like the new Nexo, Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the concept features “HTWO” lamps exclusive to its FCEVs.
Earlier this week, the design team at Hyundai Design North America also introduced its new design and ideation studio codenamed “The Sandbox.” The creative design studio is set to serve as a global hub for future XRT vehicles and gear.
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OpenAI is partnering with Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, to design and build artificial intelligence data center components in the U.S., the AI startup’s latest announcement tied to its massive infrastructure development plans.
While no financial terms were disclosed, OpenAI said in Thursday’s announcement that it will have early access to evaluate the systems Foxconn produces, and the option to purchase them. The companies said the goal is to accelerate the deployment of infrastructure while securing long-term U.S. capacity.
Under the agreement, OpenAI and Foxconn will co-develop multiple generations of AI servers in parallel, while manufacturing core components like power, networking, and cooling systems at Foxconn’s U.S. facilities. The company’s website says it has factories in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Indiana.
“This partnership is a step toward ensuring the core technologies of the AI era are built here,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement, calling AI infrastructure a “generational opportunity to reindustrialize America.”
OpenAI has been on a dealmaking blitz of late with many of the world’s largest technology companies, and has announced spending commitments of roughly $1.4 trillion, raising concerns about whether the startup will ever generate enough profit to justify those investments. Altman said earlier this month that the company will hit $20 billion in annualized revenue by the end of this year and hundreds of billions by 2030.
Prior deals include a $100 billion announced — but unfinalized — agreement with Nvidia for the chipmaker to invest in OpenAI in phases as the company builds out infrastructure. OpenAI also has cloud partnerships with Microsoft, Google and Amazon and hefty compute buildout commitments with Oracle.
Foxconn adds a manufacturing layer, further localizing OpenAI’s supply chain and potentially speeding the pace of deployment. The company is best known for assembling Apple’s iPhones but has expanded into AI and automotive manufacturing. It builds server racks tailored for AI workloads and is a key global supplier to Nvidia, the dominant player in high-end AI chips.
“Foxconn is uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s mission with trusted, scalable infrastructure,” said Chairman Young Liu.
But the company has a checkered history in the U.S. In 2018, Foxconn broke ground on what was supposed to be a massive factory in Wisconsin for making flat-panel displays. That project was a failure, and is now the site of an AI data center being built by Microsoft.