The Cadillac Lyriq is a milestone vehicle for the luxury brand. It's the beginning of a new electrification era. The first batch of Lyriqs, the Debut Edition, sold out in just 20 minutes last September. Cadillac and GM were thrilled.

And now GM President Mark Reuss has personally announced in a LinkedIn post that pre-production is officially underway at the Spring Hill assembly plant in Tennessee. Some of you may remember this production facility originally built Saturns but underwent a major $2 billion renovation to prepare it for the Lyriq and more upcoming EV Caddies. Reuss shared an image of the first pre-production example coming off the line and the first customer deliveries will begin "in a few months."

GM's original launch plan called for the Lyriq to launch by the end of this year but later decided to accelerate those plans to the first quarter of 2022. Time is money, after all.

"Our teams have worked tirelessly on the Lyriq, bringing the launch up nine months ahead of schedule and working in parallel to convert the plant and start production," Reuss wrote. "This is an important proof point in our path to EV leadership as we introduce more high-volume EVs across price points and lifestyles."

Built on GM's Ultium architecture, the Lyriq will at first come with rear-wheel-drive only, a 100-kWh battery pack, and a starting price tag of $59,990, including destination. Not bad for just a hair under $60k. Total output comes to a darn decent 340 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque.

The Ultium architecture will underpin a significant number of new GM products, ranging from the GMC Hummer EV, Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 EVs, and the six-figure Cadillac Celestiq flagship sedan.

In a somewhat surprising move, GM and Honda inked a deal last year that will see the former provide Honda with the Ultium setup for the Prologue crossover and an unnamed Acura SUV. Earlier this past week, Cadillac unveiled what could ultimately be its final gasoline-powered model, the Escalade-V. We still don't know what lies under its hood, but there's a good chance it's a slightly detuned version of the LT4 supercharged 6.2-liter V8 found in the CT5-V Blackwing, C7 Corvette Z06, and Camaro ZL1.