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Photo by: General Motors<\/p>\n
General Motors’ EV platform\u00a0is perhaps the ultimate example of EV motor flexibility. It’s able to accommodate RWD, FWD or AWD drivetrains with ease, with the Chevrolet Blazer EV offering all three drivetrain options<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photo by: Cadillac<\/p>\n Now, that flexibility is yielding quick changes.\u00a0The Cadillac Optiq<\/a>, the luxury brand’s smallest EV crossover, has only been on sale for about a year, but it’s getting serious updates for 2026<\/a>. Before, the only Optiq that Americans could buy was a front-biased AWD model. Now that’s gone, in far of a new, rear-biased AWD setup for better performance, plus a standard RWD base model.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s uncommon for a car to switch drive wheels without a totally new model generation. So while on the media launch of the new Cadillac Optiq-V<\/a>, I had a sit-down with one of the engineers to find out just why Cadillac decided to go rear-drive after one year.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s because of the speed-focused Optiq-V, for starters. Oh, and AI played a big part in getting it done so fast.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by: Cadillac<\/p>\n ‘V Was A Priority For Cadillac’<\/p>\n For a long while, it wasn\u2019t clear how exactly Cadillac wanted to bring its storied V-series badge from the gas cars into its new electrified era. That badge has graced the trunk of many a potent gas car, like the CTS-V and CT5-V Blackwing. (And the occasional Escalade<\/a>, naturally.)<\/p>\n The Lyriq-V is Cadillac\u2019s first electric V-Series, and is, by their own admission, actually the quickest production car Cadillac ever made.\u00a0Cadillac also wanted a V-trimmed hot version in a smaller and cheaper package than the Lyriq, which is where the Optiq-V comes in.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by: Cadillac<\/p>\n But the 2025 Optiq\u2019s guts\u2014not much different from the AWD Chevrolet Equinox EV\u2014couldn’t hack it,\u00a0said Matthew Hinds, a GM development engineer.\u00a0\u201cBasically, we wanted to offer a V-series Cadillac [EV], and the FWD platform just cannot work for the V-series,\u201d Hinds said.\u00a0The standard Optiq previously delivered 300 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque from its dual-motor AWD setup. Not bad in practice, but also relatively sedate, considering its 5,200-pound curb weight. The Equinox EV’s motors weren’t up for the job of making a proper V-car experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hence, the Optiq-V needed help from other parts in the GM and Cadillac stable\u2014namely, the Lyriq-V\u2019s upgraded electric motors. That car offers up to 615 horsepower, 650 lb.-ft. of torque and can hit zero to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds. Much better.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by: Cadillac<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t easy, Hinds said, but the Optiq team worked to shoehorn the Lyriq-V\u2019s electric motors into the Optiq body. The result is a Cadillac-estimated\u00a0519 hp\u00a0and 650 lb-ft of torque, with a zero to 60 mph time of 3.3 seconds. Bigger engine, smaller body: call it Hot Rod 101, EV Edition.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a concession, the Cadillac engineers and product planners didn\u2019t see a need to keep the old front-biased system around. That would have been too complex and unnecessary for what was a win-win situation for the brand. The 2026 Optiq has more power, is said to handle better in standard form, has a lower price, and goes further on a charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even in non-V form, the upgraded Lyriq motor setup in the Optiq yields\u00a0440 hp and\u00a0498 lb-ft of torque for the AWD version, while the entry RWD variant beats the old car’s power at\u00a0315 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque. Drive impressions for the 2026 Optiq are embargoed a bit longer, but let me just say it’ll keep the word “Equinox” out of your mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n V-Series Speed, Thanks To AI<\/p>\n The Polestar 2 is one of the only other cars that saw a whole drivetrain shift within one generation<\/a>, going from FWD and AWD to RWD and AWD from 2024 onward. But Cadillac did this in one model year.<\/p>\n That’s warp-speed for the so-called “legacy” auto industry, where tons of suppliers, bureaucrats and software hangups get in the way of quick updates like we see from Tesla or China’s automakers.\u00a0Generally, an update this significant would entail months of testing, prototyping, and stakeholder discussions to get such a major change done.<\/p>\n Not so, said Cadillac engineers. And data from AI testing is why.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by: Cadillac<\/p>\n Basically, Cadillac has so much faith in its AI and internal tools for modeling and prototyping that it was able to skip key steps in the final validation process. According to GM\u2019s engineers, the Optiq would have normally gone through three different prototype versions: one at 65%, one at 80%, and then a near-complete version at 100%.<\/p>\n But because of the modeling and testing done on its tools, Hinds said the only real prototype it built was the final, near-complete 100% version.<\/p>\n \u201cFor this program, we didn’t have vehicles to test until we were at 100,” Hinds said. “We did virtual [tests] for the 65 to 80%, and we do those on what we call electrical benches: we bring in the infotainment system, the cameras, every module on the vehicle, and put all the software and calibrations in that. Then we test them out, make sure everything works.” Virtual testing was so robust that it was able to eliminate a lot of physical testing, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n GM isn’t alone in this. More and more automakers are turning to AI to speed up the testing phase and get cars to market more quickly. The new Porsche Cayenne Electric<\/a>\u00a0also used\u00a0AI and simulations to skip an entire prototype phase. Just this past week, Nissan announced that it’s doing the same thing with help from AI partner Monolith<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Naturally, anyone who’s experienced a ChatGPT hallucination may have concerns here.\u00a0Cadillac\u2019s engineering team isn\u2019t worried, Hinds sid, since its internal AI, individual engineers other internal prototyping tools work in concert to deliver a strong final product.\u00a0\u201cOur virtual tools have gotten better and better,” Hinds said. He added that having the 2025 Optiq as a starting point also helped the model get done so fast.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our software developers are using AI to help them write some of our tools that we use to simulate we’re using AI,” Hinds said. “There are guys in my group that were showing me the AI that they’re using to help them write the code for the simulations that they run.” In other words, the tools are so good that when they do get a final car to test, it\u2019s not a hot mess.<\/p>\n Photo by: General Motors<\/p>\n It would be impossible to mention the Optiq\u2019s upgrade speed without mentioning the elephant in the room: China. Automakers in that country are infamous for how fast they move<\/a>: new models, new features and new upgrades roll out all of the time, over weeks and not years, as brands get ruthless to stay ahead of each other in such a competitive market.\u00a0<\/p>\n GM seems to get it.\u00a0In fact, one engineer for the Optiq spent years at GM Shanghai and all too well understands the speed of that market when it comes to upgrades. Over time, this may be necessary to compete in the ever-evolving world of EVs, especially if Chinese players come to American shores.\u00a0<\/p>\n The upgrades done to the Optiq feel very similar to what I\u2019ve seen in China. There, some brands have complained that they can\u2019t keep up with that pace; it looks like GM has figured out a way to give it a college try.\u00a0\u201cGM\u2019s whole goal is to go to move more from physical testing to virtual testing,\u201d Hinds said.<\/p>\n If that really means a vastly better product for consumers in just one year, then everyone wins.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 7 <\/p>\n \n Source: Cadillac <\/p>\n Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com<\/a><\/p>\n \n \t\tWe want your opinion!\n\t<\/p>\n What would you like to see on Insideevs.com?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n