I’ve to confess that I did not assume a lot of the Cadillac Optiq when it first debuted, and even proper up till I acquired some seat time in a single. It isn’t that Normal Motors is not making good electrical automobiles; today, it very a lot is, and it has the gross sales numbers to again this up.
As an alternative, it is simply {that a} “new midsize electrical luxurious crossover” excites me about as a lot as the discharge of yet one more superhero film. Most of them are high-quality. A couple of are abysmal. However on the entire, it is all stuff we have seen earlier than.
However from time to time, one thing new surprises you. And I am happy to say the Optiq did precisely that—beginning with its refreshingly authentic cabin.
2025 Cadillac Optiq Inside
Picture by: Patrick George
Take a look at this! It is blue! Aggressively blue, actually. And that is solely a part of the story: the Optiq’s cabin is full of a captivating assortment of various textures, supplies, touchpoints and coloured accents.
My Optiq tester’s inside scheme is known as Sky Cool Grey with Santorini Blue accents, a zero-cost improve from the bottom automobile’s (known as Luxurious 1) all-black cabin. However that is not all: improve to the nicer Luxurious 2 or Sport 2 trims, and you’ll double down with the Phantom Blue trim’s navy leather-based seats, dashboard and door accents.
Cadillac Optiq Phantom Blue
Picture by: Cadillac
Reader: When you purchase an Optiq, resist the temptation to get the tan or all-black leather-based. Cadillac does not make dangerous interiors (not anymore, anyway) and so I’m positive they’re very good. However you deserve some spice in your life. Be daring. Be fascinating. Get one of many blue interiors. You may be lifeless sometime, like all of us, and the possibility to drive one thing fascinating—and type of bizarre—shouldn’t be handed up throughout your restricted time on earth.
2025 Cadillac Optiq Inside
Picture by: Patrick George
2025 Cadillac Optiq Inside
Picture by: Patrick George
2025 Cadillac Optiq Inside
Picture by: Patrick George
Let me be clear that I imply “bizarre” within the nicest potential approach right here. The EV world wants extra bizarre. Each automobile firm is making an attempt to determine an electrified, software-driven future so desperately that they do not take dangers in different methods.
2025 Cadillac Optiq Inside
Picture by: Patrick George
The ethos behind most EVs we take a look at is usually “do extra display screen,” itself a by-product of “be extra like Tesla, primarily for cost-cutting causes.” There are actually explanation why this occurs. They don’t seem to be all the time good for the buyer, nevertheless, nor do they find yourself being all that memorable. It is also exhausting to outline a model by being precisely like the opposite manufacturers.
The Optiq itself is actually screen-forward. It has a 33-inch LED show with one thing known as 9K decision. The software program suite can be acquainted to anybody who’s pushed one other GM EV. However the neon blue accents? Now we’re speaking.
2025 Cadillac Optiq Inside
Picture by: Patrick George
The dashboard trim, storage space under the middle console, door playing cards and different bits actually serve to boost this cabin. The fascinating touches transcend the cabin; one pervasive materials is the “patterned accent cloth” that is woven from 100% recycled polyester yarn, and it is splayed throughout the doorways and sprint too.
After which there’s that heart console. That chrome-adorned rotary-dial management knob seems to be nearly like some inside bit out of your grandfather’s Cadillac, again within the tailfin period. I do not know the way else to explain it, nevertheless it has this old-school vibe that pairs nicely with a contemporary electrical automobile.
2025 Cadillac Optiq Inside
Picture by: Patrick George
The entire Santorini Blue package deal is simply enjoyable. It jogs my memory of the avant-garde stuff that the French automakers used to place out, earlier than the calls for of recent expertise and company possession made them much more boring. It is also deep in Cadillac’s DNA, as the corporate’s glory-days vehicles provided wild blue and pink interiors, amongst different mixtures. The Optiq’s blue interiors—each of them, actually—appear to be GM let its inside designers get pleasure from their jobs, and that vitality is obvious all through.
It is actually a pleasant antidote to screen-focused EV minimalism. I’ve had about all of that I can take for a bit. It is time to carry some maximalism to this discipline for a change.
We want extra stuff like this. Extra carbon fiber and recycled supplies just like the BMW i3. Extra wacky stuff like the Genesis GV60’s Crystal Sphere. Hell, half the vehicles we noticed in China this yr have been purple. Life does not should be simply an limitless sea of grey.
Contact the creator: patrick.george@insideevs.com
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Supply: Patrick George
