It was easy to make fun of Dodge and the “fake” exhaust it chose to employ on the new Charger EV, but it’s no longer the only one trying to capture the thrill of a performance gas engine with a silent electric powertrain underneath. We’ve seen “exhaust” systems for the Mustang Mach-E that mimic a V8 sound, and now, Cadillac’s getting in the game with a new concept car. While we haven’t seen a complete picture of the new electric Opulent Velocity concept, the automaker’s short teaser film let us hear the car, which sounds somewhere between a spaceship and an eight-cylinder’s roar.
The car’s announcement coincides with the 20th anniversary of Cadillac’s V-Series, which debuted at Sebring in 2004 with the CTS-V. Cadillac has since created several performance cars, including the most recent and most rowdy, the Escalade-V.
Cadillac currently sells two EVs, the Lyriq SUV and the Celestiq sedan. While the Lyriq is a somewhat traditional premium electric vehicle, the Celestiq pits the Cadillac name head to head with luxury heavyweights Rolls-Royce and Bentley. The brand doesn’t currently offer a performance EV, but hot sedans are nothing new to the company.
That said, GM hasn’t had the smoothest rollout with its other electric models. After announcing that future EVs would be delivered without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, GM released and quickly issued a stop-sale for the Chevy Blazer EV over software issues. Several GM EVs also lost federal tax credit eligibility, though that will likely change before too long.
[Image: Cadillac via YouTube]
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