If the spectre of an extravagantly priced all-electric Cadillac causes you to quake in your Cole Haan loafers, it’s best you turn away now. The brand has unveiled a concept car intended to take on the likes of Bentley and Rolls Royce — with a price to match.
It’s called the Celestiq (technically written in all-caps but we refuse to play that marketing game), one of many upcoming all-electric Cadillacs which will surely have a name ending with the letter ‘q.’ Hey, at least it’s better than the moronic alphanumeric soup currently in use, a decision thrust upon the brand a few years ago by Johan de Nysschen. The Celestiq show car is described as a vision of innovation and purpose which previews the brand’s future handcrafted and all-electric flagship sedan.
“The Celestiq show car is the purest expression of Cadillac,” said Magalie Debellis, manager, Cadillac Advanced Design. “It brings to life the most integrated expressions of design and innovation in the brand’s history, coalescing in a defining statement of a true Cadillac flagship.”
Debellis was also responsible for the recently introduced Lyriq, so it makes sense why some of the Celestiq’s design elements are shared with that model. Peep the L-shaped taillamps and giant front fascia as key familial resemblances. Described as a fastback sedan, this Celestiq show car previews the upcoming vehicle which will serve as the halo vehicle for its EV era.
The interior of this show car includes gobsmacking tech such as Suspended Particle Device technology which permits four zones of variable lighting and opacity. Ultra Cruise is the latest iteration of GM’s excellent Super Cruise, and there are an IMAX-rivalling level of screen inches on the car’s dashboard. Power numbers, battery capacity, total driving range — all those details will apparently come later. For now, Cadillac wants to let the world know it’s no longer content playing second fiddle to other luxury automakers.
It will not go unnoticed that, even as recently as a few years ago, Cadillac was fighting the image of being a so-called ‘discount luxury brand’ and had a hard time competing with BMW and Mercedes. Will the great all-electric reset, arguably one of the biggest changes in the automotive segment since the invention of the car itself, serve as Cadillac’s chance to reclaim its status as Standard of the World? There’s an argument to be made that a vehicle of this nature is precisely what Cadillac needs to achieve that goal — an aspirational moonshot luxury item which draws attention to other models in the range.
We’ll find out eventually. Cadillac insists the Celestiq is destined for (hand-built) production as part of an $81 million investment at its Global Technical Center.
Keyword: Cadillac reveals all-electric Celestiq show car