Q-Tip: Cadillac Introduces 2026 Vistiq

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

The onslaught of all-electric vehicles into the Cadillac lineup continues unabated with the introduction of this, the three-row Vistiq.


Said to slot between the Lyriq and Escalade IQ, the Vistiq can be thought of as taking the XT6’s lot in life compared to that model’s stature against other gasoline-powered cars in the Cadillac showroom. Details such as power and battery size weren’t disclosed today but a quick glance at this car shown today reveals a ‘600’ badge on its rear hatch, a detail which provides plenty of clues.


In case you need a reminder, someone deep within the bowels of Cadillac thought it was a great idea to place badges on the rumps of all its vehicles indicating total torque output in newton-meters, rounded to the nearest 50th because why not. In this case, ‘600’ works out to roughly 450 lb-ft of twist, a sum (and badge) also appearing on the smaller two-row Lyriq crossover. With this in mind, there’s an excellent chance at least some trims of the Vistiq will have roughly 500 horsepower and 450 lb-ft torques. 


In that Lyriq, a 102.0-kWh battery pack provides just over three hundred miles of driving range on a fully charged battery as per the federal eggheads measuring this type of stuff. As such, this larger and heavier three-row Vistiq could slide in just under the 300-mile limbo bar, a performance which would put it in line with the three-row Kia EV9. The fact we’re talking about Cadillac and Kia in the same breath is a development not lost on us.

Styling of the Vistiq takes much from its Escalade IQ larger brother, with a shield of sorts living on the front fascia where a grille would usually reside on a gasoline-powered car. Scads of LEDs line its face and will likely animate themselves in some sort of Vegas approximation when the owner approaches with key in pocket. Around back, the weirdo taillamp arrangement has been lifted almost wholesale from the Escalade IQ, creating a vertical look that’s separated about halfway up the D-pillar and massively flared at its bottom. This reminds us of the old Mirai, and not in a good way.


Promoted as a 2026 model, there’s a solid chance we’ll see this thing in the metal at an auto show sometime in the next calendar year - along with more items featuring the letter Q.


[Images: Cadillac, Toyota]


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Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Redapple2 All this BEV investment. A bigger impact (less oil consumption) would have been made if we had made PIG UP trucks smaller since 2000 and not HUGEr. (And raised gas tax by $2-3/gallon.)
  • ChristianWimmer One of my clients is a company that is actually producing eFuels in Leipzig. Yes, they require a lot of energy to produce but this would not be an issue if Germany had nuclear energy or used the excess energy from wind and solar to produce these fuels. In such a scenario the energy losses wouldn’t really matter.Also, I am told that nations like Spain or the North African nations like Morocco or Tunisia could be ideal places to produce eFuels/Hydrogen due to their abundance of solar power. Again, the energy loses here would not matter since the energy used to produce these fuels is essentially “free”. If this path were pursued, Morocco and Tunisia could become wealthy nations and exporters of eFuels and Hydrogen. Countries with an abundance of solar or wind or hydro energy could be producing eFuels for their domestic consumption and export.Another argument which to me is irrelevant these days ist the poor thermal efficiency of ICE engines (25-35% gasoline, 40-45% diesel). One long trips with cruise control set to 130 km/h and even the occasional venture into the 180-200 km/h zone, my fully loaded (with my gear) A250 (2.0 4-cylinder 224-hp Turbo) can achieve an impressive gas mileage of 6 L / 100 km. That’s phenomenal - I am looking at six 1 liter bottles of water right now and that’s all my car needs to travel 100 km… amazing.So, I am a supporter of eFuels. I love internal combustion engines and if we want to use them in a climate neural way, then eFuels are a must. Also, to me every ICE car is way more sustainable and longer-lasting an an EV. Mazda, Toyota etc. are making the right move IMO.
  • Blueice Once you infuse governmental unit regulation & [marketing] and taxpayerfunding, one knows quite well, dat the product or service isdestine to fail; which includes battery vehicles. Just axe yourself how revolutionary have your home batterydevices become ??? I am still waiting. after three decades, for a battery shaver whichonly requires charging two or three times per year.I am glad that I do not have a plug in Frau.
  • Tassos Such a heavy breadvan on stilts, with so much HP, AND with ONLY 100 KWH Battery, I doubt if you will ever see 250 miles, let alone 300, under the best of conditions. In the winter, count on 150 miles range.And NO, it looks TERRIBLE. The only SUV that looks great is the RANGE ROVER.
  • Tassos They sure are doing the right thing in the SHORT and MEDIUM term.As for the long term, in the long run, YOU'LL ALL BE DEAD, so WHO CARES.
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