Cadillac Confirms Optiq as Next V-Series Performance EV
Cadillac’s V performance sub-brand has done remarkable work since the first CTS-V debuted over 20 years ago. Remarkable like the 668-horsepower CT5-V Blackwing — not only the last rear-drive performance sedan in its class but also the last to offer a manual transmission — and sometimes weird, such as the Escalade-V, which packages a 682-hp version of the same engine in a 3-ton, three-row SUV.
The first electric V-Series product, the 2026 Lyriq-V, already promises to keep the crazy fires burning into the electric era, and now Cadillac has confirmed its second V EV: the 2026 Optiq-V. At this point, the brand has only said the Optiq-V will exist and released the pair of images you see here. Based on the Lyriq-V, though, we can speculate as to what the go-fast Optiq might be like.
Related: 2025 Cadillac Optiq Review: Entry-Level Never Felt So Good
More Power! More Speed!
The all-wheel-drive Lyriq-V generates a total of 615 hp and 650 pounds-feet of torque from a pair of electric motors. That’s 100 more hp and 200 additional pounds-feet of torque than what is available in the regular Lyriq, and it will send the V from 0-60 mph in what Cadillac claims is just 3.3 seconds. Using the same 102-kilowatt-hour battery as the regular Lyriq, the V is said to have a range of 285 miles, 34 less than the best the non-V AWD model can manage.
Compared to the Lyriq, the standard-issue Optiq is somewhat tame. Its sole powertrain configuration musters 300 hp and 354 pounds-feet, also from a dual-motor AWD setup. Cadillac is likely to provide a bigger output bump in the V-Series Optiq than it did for the Lyriq, as no V since that first CTS has had a mere 400 hp. If the Optiq-V, too, shares its battery with its regular counterpart, it will have an 85-kWh pack.
Some of the Lyriq’s other upgrades — such as Brembo brake calipers, summer performance tires and sport seats — seem like certainties for a smaller high-performance EV. Others, like the standard adaptive sport suspension, are harder to pin down. For now, we’ll just have to be satisfied knowing that Cadillac’s V-Series has a bright future — one in which an electric Escalade IQ-V suddenly seems a lot more likely.
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