After a year of teasing, General Motors has unveiled the $300,000 ultra-luxury electric sedan, the Cadillac Celestiq.
The Celestiq is Cadillac’s first major effort to capture the high-end market currently dominated by the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley. So GM gets the upper hand with the rendering of this Ultium-equipped sports flagship EV with a 55-inch digital display — though it’s still the show car version, which is expected to be a production-ready car later this year. . It’s the “purest expression of Cadillac,” “inspired by the brand’s 120-year heritage,” a shock block with “handcrafted” materials and all of GM’s cutting-edge technology.
But what about the car itself? The low-slung fastback shape is reminiscent of the Porsche Panamera or Mercedes-Benz EQS, but the comparisons pretty much stop when you start digging into the design details. At the rear end of the Celestiq, there are four sets of angled brake lights, two on each side, that extend into the wheel wells. This will undoubtedly be the Celestiq’s most distinctive and polarizing design detail.
Interestingly, GM calls the Celestiq a “show car,” implying that it’s not for sale, but rather a special case intended for public display. While this doesn’t mean there will be major differences once the production version is revealed, it’s interesting that GM saw fit to make the distinction.
But apart from the fact that it’s in the spotlight for the first time, there’s not much else that’s been announced. Since this is just a show car, GM is holding back on most of the relevant specs, including range, battery capacity, charging time and acceleration measurements.
Instead, the automaker is focusing on the bespoke nature of the Celestiq — each car will be handcrafted, and Cadillac reportedly plans to produce about 500 a year — as well as the high-tech elements designed to set this Cadillac apart from the rest. . from others. It’s likely that we’ll get finer details once the production version is revealed later this year.
It includes a 55-inch, pillar-to-pillar digital display with “electronic digital curtains,” which GM describes as active privacy technology that allows passengers to watch videos out of sight of the driver. The cabin is finished in red leather and makes the Celestiq look like an EV fit for royalty (or maybe just the rich).
A common feature in modern electric vehicles, the panoramic glass roof is modularly adjustable thanks to GM’s “Suspended Particle Device” technology. This allows each occupant of the vehicle to set their own level of transparency, realizing this theme of personalization, customization and privacy.
Expected to debut in 2023, the electric sedan will be the first vehicle to incorporate GM’s new model. Ultra Cruise advanced driver assistance systemIt will cover “95 percent” of driving scenarios on 2 million U.S. roads, the automaker claims. System as well The first to use Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Ride PlatformIt will have processing power equivalent to “several hundred” personal computers.
We get more details on GM’s production plans for the Celestiq. The automaker plans to invest $81 million to support assembly at GM’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, a campus originally designed by famed Finnish architect Eero Saarinen. The Celestiq will be the first car to be produced here since the center opened in May 1956.
GM first showed off the Celestiq to a handful of reporters at its EV Day event in early 2020, but it’s only now releasing full images of the extravagant EV. Celestiq is designed to serve as a companion Cadillac Lyricwhich just entered production earlier this year.
