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Cadillac’s LYRIQ “Al Awael” Has Arrived In The UAE & Kuwait
The carmaker’s latest electric vehicle offers high levels of luxury and comfort, plus premium in-car entertainment and active road-noise cancellation.
Cadillac has brought its first-ever electric vehicle, the LYRIQ, to the UAE and Kuwait. The new model will roll out first as a special edition called Al Awael — meaning “the firsts” in Arabic.
The carmaker initially launched the LYRIQ in the USA and China before unveiling the EV in the Middle East. The limited edition version of this hotly-anticipated SUV comes in a Celestial Metallic armor color, with an Oxford Stone interior, exclusive badging, and a panoramic roof. Single-motor rear-wheel drive and dual-motor (500hp) all-wheel-drive versions are available, with the former achieving up to 494 km of range per charge from its 102-kilowatt-hour battery.
The Al Awael’s interior features laser-etched patterns on its wood-over-metal décor, plus a large, curved 33-inch diagonal LED screen. On-board tech includes built-in Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, while Active Noise Cancellation intelligently assesses wind and vibration and uses a premium AKG speaker system to cancel road-induced noise.
Also Read: WeRide Granted First Self-Driving Vehicle License In UAE
“Our journey to an all-electric future starts now with the epitome of sophistication, the exquisite LYRIQ. Powered by General Motors Ultium platform and curated with over 120 years of Cadillac’s design craftsmanship, it combines looks, performance, advanced technology, and exclusivity to provide an unparalleled driving experience,” announced Kristian Aquilina, Managing Director of Cadillac International Operations and Cadillac Middle East.
“With LYRIQ Al Awael, the first electric vehicle to reach our region, we invite loyalists, pioneers, and optimists to inaugurate the new era of luxury electric mobility and lead the way forward,” he added.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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