To be honest, I hate talking about the set of wheels that drive modern vehicles. Most people don’t really care. They just want traction and predictability, while car enthusiasts still argue the merits of rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, or front-wheel drive with the zeal of a 2000s flame war.
It’s less important for electric cars. Electric motors and the power electronics needed to control them are typically much smaller than a large rectangular box of pistons, opening up new possibilities for packaging to maximize interior space. This means that a rear-wheel-drive electric car is often technically “rear-drive,” since the motor is small enough to fit at the back of the car between the rear wheels. This is part of the reason Many electric cars are rear-wheel drive in their base model versions, even from car brands that don’t operate much there, such as Volkswagen, Audi Or even Hyundai.
Photo by: General Motors
GM’s EV platform is perhaps the ultimate example of the flexibility of an electric vehicle drive. It’s capable of accommodating rear-wheel drive, front-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive with ease, with the Chevrolet Blazer EV offering all three drivetrain options.
Photo by: Cadillac
Now, this flexibility is leading to rapid changes. The Cadillac Optiq, the luxury brand’s smallest electric crossover, has been on sale for about a year, but it’s getting serious updates for 2026. Previously, the only Optiq Americans could buy was the forward-biased all-wheel-drive model. That’s gone now, apart from a new rear-biased all-wheel drive setup for better performance, as well as the base model’s standard rear-wheel drive.
It is not uncommon for a car to swap its drive wheels without a completely new model generation. So, during the media launch of the new Cadillac Optiq-V, I sat down with an engineer to find out why Cadillac decided to switch to rear-wheel drive after one year.
This is because the Optiq-V is focused on speed, for starters. Oh, and AI played a big role in getting it done so quickly.
Photo by: Cadillac
“V was a priority for Cadillac”
For a long time, it wasn’t clear how exactly Cadillac wanted to bring its V-Series badge of gas cars into its new electrified era. This badge has graced the trunks of many powerful gasoline cars, such as the CTS-V and CT5-V Blackwing. (And the occasional Escalade, of course.)
The Lyriq-V is Cadillac’s first electric V-Series vehicle and, by their own admission, the fastest production car Cadillac has ever built. Cadillac also wanted a hot-rodded, V-shaped version in a smaller, cheaper package than the Lyriq, which is where the Optiq-V comes in.
Photo by: Cadillac
But the 2025 Optiq’s Courage — not much different from the all-wheel-drive Chevrolet Equinox EV — couldn’t break through, said Matthew Hinds, a GM development engineer. “Basically, we wanted to offer a V-Series Cadillac, and a front-wheel-drive platform couldn’t work with a V-Series,” Hinds said. The standard Optiq previously offered 300 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque from a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup. It’s not bad from a practical standpoint, but it’s also relatively quiet, considering its 5,200-pound weight. The Equinox EV wasn’t eligible for a proper V-car trial.
Hence, the Optiq-V needed help from other parts of GM and Cadillac, specifically the Lyriq-V’s updated electric motors. This vehicle delivers up to 615 hp and 650 lb.-ft. of torque and can reach zero to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds. Much better.
Photo by: Cadillac
It wasn’t easy, Hinds said, but the Optiq team worked to install the Lyriq-V’s electric motors into the Optiq’s body. The result is a Cadillac-estimated 519 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, with zero to 60 mph acceleration in 3.3 seconds. Bigger engine, smaller body: It was called the Hot Rod 101, EV Edition.
As a concession, Cadillac engineers and product planners saw no need to keep the old forward-biased system. This would have been overly complicated and unnecessary for what was a win-win situation for the brand. The Optiq 2026 has more power, reportedly handles better in standard form, has a lower price, and goes further on a charge.
Even in non-V form, the Optiq’s upgraded Lyriq engine setup produces 440 hp and 498 lb-ft of torque for the AWD version, while the rear-drive variant bests the old car’s power at 315 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque. The drive impressions for the 2026 Optiq have been embargoed for a little longer, but let me just say it will keep the word “Equinox” out of your mouth.
V-Series speed, thanks to artificial intelligence
The Polestar 2 is one of the only other cars to see a complete shift in drivetrain within a generation, moving from front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive from 2024 onwards. But Cadillac did it in one model year.
This is a tremendous speed for the so-called “legacy” auto industry, where a large number of suppliers, bureaucrats and software hinder rapid updates as we see from Tesla or Chinese automakers. Generally, an update of this importance would require months of testing, prototyping, and stakeholder discussions to accomplish such a major change.
Not so, Cadillac engineers said. And data from artificial intelligence testing is the reason.
Photo by: Cadillac
Essentially, Cadillac has so much confidence in its AI and its internal modeling and prototyping tools that it was able to skip key steps in the final validation process. According to GM engineers, the Optiq was typically supposed to go through three different prototype versions: one 65%, one 80%, and then a near-complete 100% version.
But because of the modeling and testing done on his tools, Hinds said the only real prototype he built was the almost 100% final version.
“For this program, we didn’t have vehicles to test until we got to 100,” Hinds said. “We’ve done virtual (tests) for 65 to 80 percent, and we do those tests on what we call electric seats: we bring the infotainment system, the cameras, every unit in the car, and put all the software and calibrations in. Then we test it, make sure everything works.” He said the virtual testing was so powerful that it was able to eliminate a lot of the physical testing.
GM is not alone in this. More and more automakers are turning to artificial intelligence to speed up the testing phase and bring cars to market more quickly. The new Porsche Cayenne Electric also used artificial intelligence and simulations to skip the entire prototype stage. Just last week, Nissan announced it was doing the same with the help of its AI partner Monolith.
Of course, anyone experiencing ChatGPT hallucinations may have concerns here. Master Engineering Cadillac’s engineering team isn’t worried, since its in-house AI, individual engineers and other internal prototyping tools work in concert to deliver a solid final product. “Our virtual tools have gotten better and better,” Hinds said. Having the Optiq 2025 as a starting point also helped get the model done very quickly, he added.
“A lot of our software developers use AI to help them write some of our tools that we use to simulate our use of AI,” Hinds said. “There are people in my group who show me the AI they use to help them write code for the simulations they do.” In other words, the tools are so good that when they get a finished car to test, it’s not a complete mess.
Photo by: General Motors
It would be impossible to mention the Optiq’s upgrade speed without mentioning the elephant in the room: China. That country’s automakers are known for how fast they move: new models, new features and new upgrades are being rolled out all the time, over the course of weeks rather than years, as brands go tough to stay ahead of each other in such a competitive market.
Looks like GM got it. In fact, one of the Optiq’s engineers spent years at GM Shanghai and understands well the speed of that market when it comes to upgrades. Over time, this may be necessary to compete in the ever-evolving world of electric vehicles, especially if Chinese players come to American shores.
The upgrades to the Optiq look very similar to what I’ve seen in China. There, some brands complained that they could not keep up with the pace; GM seems to have figured out a way to try it in college. “GM’s whole goal is to move more from physical testing to virtual testing,” Hinds said.
If this really means a much better product for consumers in just one year, everyone wins.
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Source: Cadillac
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com
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