The 2025 Cadillac Optiq Is An Affordable Electric Vehicle That Doesn’t Skimp On Style Or Luxury

For me, the mention of an electric vehicle often brings to mind a quirky car or one that is meant to appear futuristic. They’re designed with features that remind you of concept cars, or they’re boxy in their structure. While interesting to look at, neither design extreme seems to be enough to get the Black women I know to leave their gas-powered automobiles behind in droves for an EV.

But after making a trek to Paris to see Cadillac‘s newest electric car, the 2025 Optiq, presented at their brand-spanking new EV store, elegantly situated across the street from the massive Opéra Garnier, I think the girls could definitely be persuaded to try something new. This car is a looker.

But why were we in France? As John Roth, vice president for Global Cadillac put it during the Optiq’s unveiling, from craftmanship to style and the country’s significant stature in the racing world, “France has played an indelible role when it comes to designing, building Cadillac’s iconic vehicles.” And for the record, the company was named after a French explorer who founded Detroit, the automotive capital of the world.

So with craftmanship and style in mind, the move for the Optiq, following in the success of Cadillac’s Lyriq model, was to go bold, inside and out. That effort, the brand believes, is sure to attract customers who are intrigued by EVs but don’t want to sacrifice the look and feel of a luxury car.

“For us as a design team, an exterior design team, it was always about making this bold athletic design that looked dynamic on the road,” said Dillon Blanski, the lead exterior designer of the Optiq, at the presentation. “It has this agile stance. When you get to the front of the vehicle as you walk around it, it’s got this really wide graphic, this bold, sophisticated lighting that flows throughout the vehicle from front to rear.”

And that same innovation is also evident in the exterior hues available, as well as the luxe interior materials and the edge they offer.

“We wanted to provide energizing colors. They are timeless but passionate for us,” shared Laetitia Lopez, CMF design manager, global exterior color and CMF Advance. “We challenge traditional automotive codes by creating new approaches when it comes to material applications and nontraditional decoration as well.”

Some of those nontraditional decorations include shades of what looked like a customized salmon pink for the interior, as well as a cool gray, a dark “Phantom” blue, a rich “Autumn Canyon” brown, and a deep “Noir” black option if you just aren’t that colorful. A lowered dash panel and floating center console offer drivers more storage and space. A curved 33-inch LED screen showcases a whopping 9k resolution. Some art is also embedded in the car. A graphic pattern paying homage to the Mondrian crest in the Cadillac logo, is presented around laminate glass on the rear quarter panel windows. And the brand decided bring back classic switches and knobs that provide added character. They’re placed, as Blanski says, almost like little pieces of jewelry within the vehicle.

“More and more vehicles are starting to get rid of switches and buttons and those physical connections to the vehicle,” he shared in conversation with ESSENCE. “It felt like it was really important to make sure that we had those in the vehicle to do things like connect your air conditioning and change the temperature quickly.”

As for the other things that might persuade you, the Optiq is spacious. The cargo capacity allows you to stack up whatever you need, and the second row is roomy, too. The car, when fully charged, has 300 miles of range, and about 79 miles can be added in just 10 minutes of charging. Innovations you may also enjoy include a braking feature the driver controls that can be found on the steering wheel, one-pedal driving that allows the driver to decrease the speed or bring the car to a complete stop using the accelerator, and illuminated decor that seemingly greets you when you approach the car, and options in trim, including Luxury and Sport, which you can pick to match your style. (Whether you pick Sport model I or II will determine what features come with your car.)

But aside from the athletic look and agility, the Cadillac team laud the vehicle for being light, and easy to drive and handle. And of course, for its safety features, including five radars in the front and in the back for sensor technology that keeps drivers aware of their surroundings at all times.

This was one of the first car presentations I’ve been involved with that didn’t allow me to drive the car but I still had an immersive experience checking out the car’s different models inside of the vast Cadillac City Paris space. In addition to showcasing the latest EV models and the brand’s plans for the future, there were opportunities to enjoy the integration of Cadillac’s craftmanship in all sorts of things, like the creation of luggage tags and getting to see the end result of deconstructed designer sneakers. And, of course, there was a focus on the brand’s history, with a wall sharing a timeline of its creations, including cultural icons like the Coupe DeVille and the Escalade. Amid all that, visitors can book test drives there, and do one-of-a-kind customizations of the models they’re interested in purchasing.

As you consider your next car, for the adventurer, perhaps a trip to the City of Lights is in order to truly dive deep into Cadillac’s commitment to electric vehicles. If not, no worries! A trip to your local dealership, when the car becomes available later this year (starting around $54,000) should certainly do the trick.