Autobayng News Team
I low-key hate talking about which set of wheels drives modern vehicles, to be honest. Most people don’t really care. They just want traction and predictability, while car enthusiasts out there still argue the merits of rear-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive or front-wheel-drive with the fervor of a forum flame war in the 2000s.
It’s even less relevant for electric vehicles. Electric motors and the power electronics needed to control them are generally much smaller than a big rectangular box of pistons, opening up new avenues for packaging to maximize interior space. This means that an RWD EV is often technically “rear-engined,” since the motor is small enough to fit at the back of the car between the rear wheels. That’s part of why plenty of EVs are RWD in their base model versions, even from car brands that don’t dabble too much there, like Volkswagen, Audi or even Hyundai. GM EV Motors Photo by: General Motors
General Motors’ EV platform is perhaps the ultimate example of EV motor flexibility. It’s able to accommodate RWD, FWD or AWD drivetrains with ease, with the Chevrolet Blazer EV offering all three drivetrain options. Cadillac Optiq Photo by: Cadillac
Now, that flexibility is yielding quick changes. The Cadillac Optiq, the luxury brand’s smallest EV crossover, has only been on sale for about a year, but it’s getting serious updates for 2026. Before, the only Optiq that Americans could buy was a front-biased AWD model. Now that’s gone, in far of a new, rear-biased AWD setup for better performance, plus a standard RWD base model. 
It’s uncommon for a car to switch drive wheels without a totally new model generation. So while on the media launch of the new Cadillac Optiq-V, I had a sit-down with one of the engineers to find out just why Cadillac decided to go rear-drive after one year.
It’s because of the speed-focused Optiq-V, for starters. Oh, and AI played a big part in getting it done so fast. 2026 Cadillac Optiq-V Photo by: Cadillac
‘V Was A Priority For Cadillac’
For a long while, it wasn’t clear how exactly Cadillac wanted to bring its storied V-series badge from the gas cars into its new electrified era. That badge has graced the trunk of many a potent gas car, like the CTS-V and CT5-V Blackwing. (And the occasional Escalade, naturally.)
The Lyriq-V is Cadillac’s first electric V-Series, and is, by their own admission, actually the quickest production car Cadillac ever made. Cadillac also wanted a V-trimmed hot version in a smaller and cheaper package than the Lyriq, which is where the Optiq-V comes in.
2026 Cadillac Optiq-V
Photo by: Cadillac
But the 2025 Optiq’s guts—not much different from the AWD Chevrolet Equinox EV—couldn’t hack it, said Matthew Hinds, a GM development engineer. “Basically, we wanted to offer a V-series Cadillac [EV], and the FWD platform just cannot work for the V-series,” Hinds said. The standard Optiq previously delivered 300 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque from its dual-motor AWD setup. Not bad in practice, but also relatively sedate, considering its 5,200-pound curb weight. The Equinox EV’s motors weren’t up for the job of making a proper V-car experience.
Hence, the Optiq-V needed help from other parts in the GM and Cadillac stable—namely, the Lyriq-V’s upgraded electric motors. That car offers up to 615 horsepower, 650 lb.-ft. of torque and can hit zero to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds. Much better. 2026 Cadillac Optiq-V Photo by: Cadillac
It wasn’t easy, Hinds said, but the Optiq team worked to shoehorn the Lyriq-V’s electric motors into the Optiq body. The result is a Cadillac-estimated 519 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque, with a zero to 60 mph time of 3.3 seconds. Bigger engine, smaller body: call it Hot Rod 101, EV Edition.
As a concession, the Cadillac engineers and product planners didn’t see a need to keep the old front-biased system around. That would have been too complex and unnecessary for what was a win-win situation for the brand. The 2026 Optiq has more power, is said to handle better in standard form, has a lower price, and goes further on a charge.
Even in non-V form, the upgraded Lyriq motor setup in the Optiq yields 440 hp and 498 lb-ft of torque for the AWD version, while the entry RWD variant beats the old car’s power at 315 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque. Drive impressions for the 2026 Optiq are embargoed a bit longer, but let me just say it’ll keep the word “Equinox” out of your mouth.
V-Series Speed, Thanks To AI
The Polestar 2 is one of the only other cars that saw a whole drivetrain shift within one generation, going from FWD and AWD to RWD and AWD from 2024 onward. But Cadillac did this in one model year.
That’s warp-speed for the so-called “legacy” auto industry, where tons of suppliers, bureaucrats and software hangups get in the way of quick updates like we see from Tesla or China’s automakers. Generally, an update this significant would entail months of testing, prototyping, and stakeholder discussions to get such a major change done.
Not so, said Cadillac engineers. And data from AI testing is why.
2026 Cadillac Optiq-V
Photo by: Cadillac
Basically, Cadillac has so much faith in its AI and internal tools for modeling and prototyping that it was able to skip key steps in the final validation process. According to GM’s engineers, the Optiq would have normally gone through three different prototype versions: one at 65%, one at 80%, and then a near-complete version at 100%.
But because of the modeling and testing done on its tools, Hinds said the only real prototype it built was the final, near-complete 100% version.
“For this program, we didn’t have vehicles to test until we were at 100,” Hinds said. “We did virtual [tests] for the 65 to 80%, and we do those on what we call electrical benches: we bring in the infotainment system, the cameras, every module on the vehicle, and put all the software and calibrations in that. Then we test them out, make sure everything works.” Virtual testing was so robust that it was able to eliminate a lot of physical testing, he said.
GM isn’t alone in this. More and more automakers are turning to AI to speed up the testing phase and get cars to market more quickly. The new Porsche Cayenne Electric also used AI and simulations to skip an entire prototype phase. Just this past week, Nissan announced that it’s doing the same thing with help from AI partner Monolith.
Naturally, anyone who’s experienced a ChatGPT hallucination may have concerns here. Cadillac’s engineering team isn’t worried, Hinds sid, since its internal AI, individual engineers other internal prototyping tools work in concert to deliver a strong final product. “Our virtual tools have gotten better and better,” Hinds said. He added that having the 2025 Optiq as a starting point also helped the model get done so fast.
“A lot of our software developers are using AI to help them write some of our tools that we use to simulate we’re using AI,” Hinds said. “There are guys in my group that were showing me the AI that they’re using to help them write the code for the simulations that they run.” In other words, the tools are so good that when they do get a final car to test, it’s not a hot mess. GM Software Lab Photo by: General Motors
It would be impossible to mention the Optiq’s upgrade speed without mentioning the elephant in the room: China. Automakers in that country are infamous for how fast they move: new models, new features and new upgrades roll out all of the time, over weeks and not years, as brands get ruthless to stay ahead of each other in such a competitive market.
GM seems to get it. In fact, one engineer for the Optiq spent years at GM Shanghai and all too well understands the speed of that market when it comes to upgrades. Over time, this may be necessary to compete in the ever-evolving world of EVs, especially if Chinese players come to American shores.
The upgrades done to the Optiq feel very similar to what I’ve seen in China. There, some brands have complained that they can’t keep up with that pace; it looks like GM has figured out a way to give it a college try. “GM’s whole goal is to go to move more from physical testing to virtual testing,” Hinds said.
If that really means a vastly better product for consumers in just one year, then everyone wins. Gallery: 2026 Cadillac Optiq-V
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com More Cadillac EV News We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Insideevs.com? – The InsideEVs team
