WEBVTT - The Cadillac LYRIQ: Malcolm Gladwell meets an Electric Icon – Part One 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:15.796 Pushkin. 0:00:20.436 --> 0:00:22.956 This episode is sponsored by Cadillac. 0:00:23.876 --> 0:00:25.276 Do you have any guesses about what we're going to 0:00:25.276 --> 0:00:29.956 show you? Yea, no guesses, No guesses. The only thing 0:00:29.956 --> 0:00:32.596 I'm going to say in preparation is well, I'm not 0:00:32.636 --> 0:00:35.276 even to say anything. I just want your I just 0:00:35.316 --> 0:00:38.316 want your reaction. I want to know whether you want 0:00:38.476 --> 0:00:39.036 one of these. 0:00:39.756 --> 0:00:40.236 You're ready. 0:00:42.116 --> 0:00:43.996 I'm walking down the streets of a small town in 0:00:44.076 --> 0:00:46.956 upstate New York with a five year old boy who 0:00:46.996 --> 0:00:49.636 is all the typical five year old boy's enthusiasm for 0:00:49.676 --> 0:00:54.036 things with wheels. He's wearing a blindfold. We stop and 0:00:54.116 --> 0:00:56.516 I can turn him around to face the street in 0:00:56.556 --> 0:01:02.356 front of a shiny, elegant, sleek SUV. What you're going 0:01:02.396 --> 0:01:07.676 to see is something that almost no one in America 0:01:07.996 --> 0:01:14.676 has seen. This is brand new. Okay, take my arm, 0:01:14.956 --> 0:01:20.676 lift off your blindfold. Let me just say he was 0:01:20.716 --> 0:01:24.316 a little bit shy and a little overwhelmed. He's blindfolded 0:01:24.556 --> 0:01:27.076 by some random guy who's friends with his parents. So 0:01:27.116 --> 0:01:30.436 he looks up and there's a pause as he contemplates 0:01:30.516 --> 0:01:33.996 the apparition in front of his eyes. What do you 0:01:34.036 --> 0:01:37.356 think brand like? The look on his face did not 0:01:37.436 --> 0:01:41.236 just say I like it. It said, Holy Toledo, No, no, 0:01:41.316 --> 0:01:45.876 Holy Detroit. What is this now? I know what you're thinking. 0:01:46.236 --> 0:01:50.516 What's going on here? Well, to answer that, we need 0:01:50.556 --> 0:01:54.796 to go back in time not long ago, we got 0:01:54.796 --> 0:01:57.956 to call a Pushkin headquarters from Cadillac. They knew that 0:01:57.996 --> 0:02:01.316 we take cars very seriously here. In fact, I think 0:02:01.316 --> 0:02:03.116 they knew that the car I drive to work every 0:02:03.156 --> 0:02:06.476 morning is a Cadillac. I tricked out twenty twenty one 0:02:06.556 --> 0:02:10.956 Cadillac CT five V a monster. So they say, have 0:02:11.076 --> 0:02:13.716 you heard of the all electric Cadillac Lyric? 0:02:14.556 --> 0:02:15.476 Oh? 0:02:15.516 --> 0:02:19.116 I had my friend Dan, the most serious gearhead I know, 0:02:19.436 --> 0:02:22.956 had driven one in Detroit and texted me immediately, this 0:02:23.076 --> 0:02:26.236 thing is the best car Cadillac ever made. My friend Eddie, 0:02:26.356 --> 0:02:29.116 second most serious gearhead I know, spotted one in his 0:02:29.156 --> 0:02:32.596 neighbor's driveway and said it looks like the Barcelona Chair 0:02:32.636 --> 0:02:37.356 of cars. I've no idea what that means. Anyway, Cadillac says, 0:02:37.636 --> 0:02:40.316 would you like to borrow a Lyric for a few days? 0:02:40.796 --> 0:02:43.236 We gave their request a great deal of thought, held 0:02:43.236 --> 0:02:46.476 a dozen meetings to discuss, made a spreadsheet to evaluate 0:02:46.516 --> 0:02:49.956 the pros and cons. No, are you kidding me? We said, 0:02:50.236 --> 0:02:56.356 bring it now. I'm Malcolm Glawell, and you're listening to 0:02:56.396 --> 0:03:00.556 the first of two very special episodes for revisionist history listeners. 0:03:01.196 --> 0:03:04.556 Come along on an all electric road trip with me 0:03:05.436 --> 0:03:10.396 and a few friends. So the lyrics shows up at 0:03:10.396 --> 0:03:14.516 Pushkin HQ, and let's just say we have plans for 0:03:14.556 --> 0:03:18.436 the next few days. Road tests, but not boring road tests, 0:03:18.876 --> 0:03:21.996 my kind of road tests. The things that matter to me. 0:03:22.836 --> 0:03:24.836 How much can I fit in this thing? Is it 0:03:24.876 --> 0:03:26.876 fast enough? Is it better than what I have in 0:03:26.916 --> 0:03:31.636 the garage already? And first and foremost, will it impress 0:03:31.796 --> 0:03:35.076 my friends? We started with the five year old down 0:03:35.076 --> 0:03:38.116 the street. Then we parked and waited for the general 0:03:38.116 --> 0:03:41.956 public to weigh in, which they did like flies on honey. 0:03:42.796 --> 0:03:46.476 First up, a dude in an escalade literally stops in 0:03:46.516 --> 0:03:47.116 the middle. 0:03:46.916 --> 0:03:54.516 Of the street. Yeah, sharp, right out right out from 0:03:54.556 --> 0:03:55.156 the factory. 0:03:56.596 --> 0:04:01.396 Look at that thing, man, I yes, I remember looking 0:04:01.436 --> 0:04:02.116 to it now, so. 0:04:04.116 --> 0:04:05.716 I won't work about it a little bit. 0:04:07.236 --> 0:04:11.356 That's beautiful, all right, All right, enough, we realized we 0:04:11.396 --> 0:04:14.836 had to drive it for ourselves. We piled in first thoughts. 0:04:15.356 --> 0:04:18.716 It is suv presence, but drives like a car, an 0:04:18.756 --> 0:04:24.636 electric car, which means that insanely smooth, uninterrupted instantaneous acceleration, 0:04:24.996 --> 0:04:28.596 and all in a kind of hushed splendor, powered by 0:04:28.636 --> 0:04:32.916 GM's brand new ultium battery system. We called our contact 0:04:32.996 --> 0:04:37.196 back a Cadillac. Melissa Grady, Cadillac's chief marketing officer, put 0:04:37.196 --> 0:04:40.276 her on speaker. Wait, we're gonna drive down the blog 0:04:40.796 --> 0:04:44.396 because I want you to explain this sound. This thing 0:04:44.476 --> 0:04:48.836 is so insanely quiet. So there's like this kind of 0:04:49.076 --> 0:04:57.516 quiet hum. Yes, I'm referring to this sound. What am 0:04:57.516 --> 0:05:02.436 I tell me about what I'm hearing? The future? Ah, 0:05:03.956 --> 0:05:10.196 you were trained to say that. Oh, yes, was It's 0:05:10.236 --> 0:05:13.636 actually the sound the sun emits has recorded by NASA. 0:05:13.956 --> 0:05:15.036 I'm not making that up. 0:05:15.556 --> 0:05:19.156 So what that noise is is, you know, with anyv 0:05:19.476 --> 0:05:24.756 there really isn't a lot of audible sound, and so 0:05:25.876 --> 0:05:29.756 we put that sound in so that pedestrians and others 0:05:29.796 --> 0:05:33.316 can hear that the that the vehicle is approaching. 0:05:33.636 --> 0:05:36.436 Yeah, it's like the noise machine I use for my baby. 0:05:36.516 --> 0:05:42.956 It's like this calming. Next, I got fixated on the dash, 0:05:43.476 --> 0:05:47.756 so just so to describe for so, I'm looking at this. 0:05:48.396 --> 0:05:53.716 We've got this console, this screen that stretches from the 0:05:53.796 --> 0:05:56.756 driver's side all the way almost to the edge of 0:05:56.796 --> 0:05:58.436 the passage. It's like a long how long is this 0:05:58.556 --> 0:06:00.476 It's like a do you know how long? This screen 0:06:00.516 --> 0:06:03.596 looks like it's like over two feet long. It is 0:06:03.636 --> 0:06:07.196 thirty three inches thirty three inches, so everything as I'm driving, 0:06:07.276 --> 0:06:10.156 everything is in front of me, and then I have 0:06:11.596 --> 0:06:14.756 we just open the map function. Oh my god, that's fantastic. 0:06:15.036 --> 0:06:18.596 And then we've got the rearview mirror is a is 0:06:18.596 --> 0:06:23.396 a continuous HD camera. So in case you're keeping count 0:06:23.836 --> 0:06:26.996 Test number one, the five year old boy test past 0:06:27.716 --> 0:06:31.836 Test number two, the eyeball first impression test passed. But 0:06:31.996 --> 0:06:35.356 now for the hardest test of all, we returned to 0:06:35.396 --> 0:06:40.076 Pushkin HQ and pick up my friend Michael, who for 0:06:40.116 --> 0:06:42.076 the past three and a half years has been the 0:06:42.156 --> 0:06:45.356 devoted owner of an electric vehicle made by a company 0:06:45.596 --> 0:06:47.436 whose name will not pass our lips. 0:06:50.236 --> 0:06:54.996 Michael, where do I get myself for coming for you? 0:06:56.436 --> 0:07:00.596 Yeah, you need to come downstairs and then we're going 0:07:00.636 --> 0:07:04.156 to put a blindfold on you and go for la ride, 0:07:04.796 --> 0:07:07.876 the same blindfold we use for the kid. Is this 0:07:07.956 --> 0:07:12.396 going to end our thirty five? It is absolutely not. 0:07:13.516 --> 0:07:19.356 This is gonna be an educational and enjoyable experience for you. 0:07:19.996 --> 0:07:24.916 Michael is a skeptical, perceptive, hard bitten professional journalist, a 0:07:24.996 --> 0:07:28.436 man of the world, and he loves his current ev 0:07:28.756 --> 0:07:31.636 He's an evangelist for the brand. And we told him 0:07:31.636 --> 0:07:35.036 nothing except that we've got something very new parked out 0:07:35.076 --> 0:07:38.396 front that he's never been in before. We put him 0:07:38.396 --> 0:07:41.916 in the passenger seat. Let me remind you, he's blindfolded. 0:07:42.356 --> 0:07:44.916 We want him to hear and feel the lyric without 0:07:44.956 --> 0:07:49.156 his judgmental vision getting in the way. He starts running 0:07:49.156 --> 0:07:54.196 his hands over the dash, the door, everything around him. 0:07:54.556 --> 0:07:56.316 How does that? How does that seat feeling? 0:07:56.796 --> 0:07:57.516 It's it's. 0:07:58.836 --> 0:07:59.916 It's very luxurious. 0:07:59.956 --> 0:08:00.556 I hate. 0:08:02.116 --> 0:08:06.796 This, can't be it. Now. We weren't trying to rag 0:08:06.796 --> 0:08:10.036 on the competition. I mean, I've driven into Michael's car. 0:08:10.156 --> 0:08:13.236 It's a fine bit of engineering, lots of great software, 0:08:13.476 --> 0:08:17.156 pioneer in the field, blah blah blah. But it's an appliance. 0:08:17.636 --> 0:08:21.876 And now his sense is heightened. Michael sits and touches 0:08:22.156 --> 0:08:29.556 and feels and realizes, Dorothy, You're not in an appliance anymore. Okay, Now, Michael, 0:08:29.596 --> 0:08:33.836 I want you to remove your blindfold. Really, yeah, I 0:08:33.916 --> 0:08:41.876 want you to observe the interior, Wow sleek. Yeah, I 0:08:42.076 --> 0:08:43.356 love the Yeah. 0:08:43.396 --> 0:08:45.636 This is very nice. It's very different than mine. 0:08:46.516 --> 0:08:48.316 My concern is that you're gonna go back, You're going 0:08:48.356 --> 0:08:49.156 to get into your. 0:08:49.916 --> 0:08:52.996 Your car seeing me is just drive into a leak. 0:08:53.316 --> 0:08:57.436 You'll just be so desponding that I'm gonna be like, I'm. 0:08:57.276 --> 0:08:59.116 Gonna be like, what did I know? Are you going 0:08:59.156 --> 0:09:01.036 to make I can't do it. I can't go back. 0:09:02.316 --> 0:09:05.236 You can't go back, Michael, don't do it. Don't go 0:09:05.356 --> 0:09:10.476 back next time. On our special series made in collaboration 0:09:10.556 --> 0:09:15.156 with Cadillac more road tests, Comparero with the German Classic 0:09:15.356 --> 0:09:17.716 and with Cadillacs of R A little bit of a 0:09:17.796 --> 0:09:26.716 road race and babies crying Speedy, Speedy, I Like Newer. 0:09:31.396 --> 0:09:34.316 Twenty twenty three lyric orders are full. Go to Cadillac 0:09:34.396 --> 0:09:37.596 dot com and complete a pre order from model year 0:09:37.636 --> 0:09:40.316 twenty four to be among the first to order a 0:09:40.396 --> 0:09:44.796 model year twenty four win available. This episode was produced 0:09:44.796 --> 0:09:48.916 by Jacob Smith and Joey Fishground. Our editor is Julia Barton, 0:09:49.196 --> 0:09:53.276 Engineering by Nina Lawrence and mastering by Sarah Buguier. Special 0:09:53.276 --> 0:09:57.596 thanks to Melissa Grady at Cadillac and Carly Megliori. I'm 0:09:57.836 --> 0:09:58.596 Malcolm Glappa.