After a year of teasers, General Motors (GM) has revealed the Cadillac Celestiq, a $300,000 ultra-luxury electric sedan that the automaker says is Cadillac’s most powerful Cadillac ever. The Celestiq is Cadillac’s first major effort to capture some of the premium markets currently dominated by the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
As a result, GM is using plenty of superlatives in describing the flagship electric vehicle with a 55-inch digital display powered by Ultium – even though it is still only a show car version of a production-ready vehicle expected later this year. It’s billed as Cadillac’s purest expression, inspired by the brand’s 120-year legacy, plus featuring hand-crafted materials and GM’s most advanced technology.
But what about the car itself? The low, fastback profile is reminiscent of a Porsche Panamera or Mercedes-Benz EQS – but that’s pretty much where the comparison ends when one begins to delve into the details of the design. The Celestiq’s rear end features four sets of angular brake lights, two on each side, extending all the way to the wheel wells. This is surely Celestiq’s most prominent – and most polarizing – design detail.
Interestingly, GM refers to the Celestiq as a “show car,” meaning that it is a custom job for public display rather than for sale. While this does not mean that there will be significant differences once the production version is revealed, it is still interesting that GM saw fit to make this distinction.
It’s slightly unfortunate that not much new information has been revealed other than its debut in the spotlight. Since this is only a show car, GM is keeping quiet about most of the relevant specs, including range, battery capacity, charging time and acceleration metrics.
Instead, the automaker is focusing on the custom nature of the Celestiq – each car is handcrafted, and Cadillac reportedly plans to produce only about 500 per year – and the high-tech elements designed to set Cadillac apart from all other models. Presumably, more details will be available to everyone once the production version is revealed later this year.
These include a 55-inch, pillar-to-pillar digital display with “electronic digital blinds,” which GM describes as an active privacy technology that allows passengers to watch videos while blocking them from the driver’s view. The interior is trimmed in red leather, making the Celestiq an EV fit for royalty (or maybe just the super-rich).
A panoramic glass sunroof is a common feature of modern EVs, and it can be modularly adjusted thanks to GM’s “hover particle device” technology. This allows everyone in the car to set their own level of transparency and continues the theme of customization, personalization and privacy.
The electric sedan, which is expected to debut in 2023, will be the first to include GM’s new Ultra Cruise advanced driver assistance system, which the automaker says will cover “95 percent” of driving scenarios on 2 million miles of U.S. roads. The system is also the first to use GM’s new Snapdragon Ride platform, which has the processing power of several hundred personal computers.
In addition, the automaker plans to invest $81 million to support assembly at its GM Global Technology Center in Warren, Michigan, a campus originally designed by renowned Finnish architect Eero Saarinen.
GM first showed the Celestiq to a handful of journalists at its Electric Vehicle Day event in early 2020, though it is only now releasing full images of the luxury electric car. the Celestiq is intended to serve as a companion to the Cadillac Lyriq, which went into production just earlier this year.
