Cadillac engineers had to relearn lessons the company forgot decades ago as they developed the 2024 Celestiq, an ultra-luxury electric vehicle that aims to be the world’s most personalized and advanced car, resetting expectations for Cadillac as the auto industry’s apex predator.
Cadillac hasn’t built a car to order like this since a pair of legends that cemented the brand’s former status as “the standard of the world:” the 1957 Eldorado Brougham — priced 30% above contemporary Rolls-Royces, total production: 704 — and its monumental pre-World War II V16 sedans: 4,386 built from 1930 through 1940.
New technologies like 3D printing will allow the Celestiq to offer levels of customization even those masterpieces of design and engineering couldn’t attain.
The most customization — ever
Prices for the Celestiq sedan will start at more than $300,000 and end wherever its customers run out of imagination.
The car’s personalization will be beyond what even brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley deliver, chief engineer Tony Roma said. In addition to offering custom fabrics, colors and materials common to ultra-luxe vehicles, Cadillac is using 3D printing: Even metal parts can be made to order.
Production of the Celestiq will begin late in 2023, but it’s hard to say when the first will be delivered because nobody knows what customers will order.
Getting a Celestiq will be more like working with an architect on a yacht or house than ordering a car:
- More than 200 exterior colors are in stock, and beyond that, Cadillac can color-match just about anything a customer wants.
- Painting the body — by hand, including multiple coats and sanding — will take two weeks.
- The new assembly center on the grounds of General Motors tech center in Warren, Michigan, will produce at most two cars a day.
- Customers can have the car’s hand-finished aluminum trim engraved with virtually any pattern throughout the Celestiq. Your monogram? No problem. A motif from classic art? Piece of cake.
‘The heart and soul of Cadillac‘
Development of the Celestiq began at about the same time as the Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV that went on sale this summer. The Celestiq took longer because, more than a vehicle, it was a redefinition of the brand, an attempt to regain former glory in tandem with the transition to EVs. GM chair Mary Barra and president Mark Reuss personally shepherded the car, approving the time and cost to make a vehicle unlike any other.
“We cleared the board and rethought how we approach the vehicle and the customer,” interior design manager Tristan Murphy said. “How do these people think about buying architecture or art?
“How do we come to the table with a canvas that allows the customer to create their own work of art?”
The development team’s motto was, “If it doesn’t make the car more epic, we don’t do it.”
Along with all the new features and technology, Cadillac revived the brand “goddess,” an Art Deco figure from classic Cadillac badges and hood ornaments. The figure appears in lighted optical-quality glass badges on the fenders and a multifunction rotary controller on the center console.
What makes it go?
The Celestiq will use General Motors’ Ultium batteries, electric motors and control electronics in a brand new vehicle architecture developed specifically for it.
It’ll be equipped with all-wheel drive with an electric motor on each axle. A 111 kWh lithium-ion battery is expected to deliver a driving range of 300 miles.
In addition to the overnight charging at home that accounts for most EV fueling, the Celestiq will be capable of DC charging at up to 200 kW for quick charges of 78 miles in 10 minutes.
Other noteworthy elements of the Celestiq’s running gear include:
- Bespoke Michelin 23-inch Pilot Sport EV tires with sound-deadening foam and Cadillac’s “Mondrian-strake” pattern on the sidewalls.
- Adaptive air suspension.
- Five-link front and rear mechanical suspensions.
- Continually adaptive all-wheel drive that varies front and rear torque for performance and shuts motors off to maximize range.
- Variable ratio power steering.
- Rear steering.
- Magnetic Ride Control 4.0 adaptive damping borrowed from the CT5-V Blackwing sport sedan.
- Active body roll control for improved comfort and stability in fast maneuvers.
- Active rear spoiler reduces aerodynamic drag at low speeds and increases downforce at high speed.
Cadillac’s not providing dimensions yet, but the all-wheel-drive, four-door car’s length will be somewhere between the short-wheelbase Escalade’s 211 inches and the Escalade ESV’s 227 inches.
Surgical lasers and heated door pads
The interior is full of new features and tech.
The Celestiq has no exterior door handles. The doors operate with buttons and motors. The driver’s door opens automatically when the key fob approaches and closes when a foot touches the brake pedal. The car will start when the driver’s seat belt engages. All four doors can also be opened or closed from the center console.
The switches are made from solid aluminum. Cadillac couldn’t figure out how to backlight them until someone suggested that medical lasers developed for eye surgery could use nanosecond pulses to cut the metal without distorting the metal from the heat of longer pulses for industrial lasers.
The doors have cameras and sensors to prevent opening into other objects.
You’ll also find:
- 55-inch display and touch screen for gauges, infotainment, with a section visible only to the front passenger.
- Five high-def touch screens, including two 12.6-inch screens for rear passengers.
- Google built in for navigation, music and personal assistant.
- 48-volt heated windshield and rear glass.
- A fixed glass roof that is divided into four quadrants that can be individually varied from transparent to opaque.
- Embedded LED lights around the glass plate’s edge for interior light.
- 20-way heated, cooled and ventilated front and rear seats.
- Heated arm rests and door pads to create a “warm zone” around the occupants.
Full self driving. No, really.
The Celestiq will feature every technology GM offers today and introduce some new ones.
Most intriguing, all the components are in place for Ultra Drive, a hands-free driving system that promises hands-free driving on almost all roads.
Upcoming over-the-air software updates will enable different levels of hands-free driving beyond the hands-free driving on limited-access roads the Celestiq debuts with. It’ll be a race to see if Cadillac’s Ultra Drive makes it to the road before Tesla’s long-promised Full Self Driving.
The car will also feature a 38-speaker AKG audio system and three exterior speakers: one for the federally mandated pedestrian alert sound, two for music outside and “Cadillac-curated propulsion sounds when driving.”
Other audio features will include 3D surround, active noise cancellation, conversation enhancement and phone zones for each passenger.
Cadillac’s big gamble
The Celestiq’s shape may be Cadillac’s riskiest bet. It’s a long four-door car with a short rear deck and fastback rear window.
That’s very different from the SUVs that have come to dominate new vehicle development, including luxury brands like Aston Martin, Bentley, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce.
Is the Celestiq’s sedan/hatchback profile swimming against the tide of history? Or will its striking proportions, unique features, extraordinary luxury and personalization make it a one-of-a-kind success?
Cadillac has staked its reputation — and untold millions of dollars — that the answer is yes.
The 2024 Cadillac Celestiq at a glance
Base price: more than $300,000
All-wheel drive, large four-passenger electric luxury car
Production expected to begin in December 2023, deliveries 2024
Drivetrain: Two electric motors, one on each axle. All-wheel drive
Power: Estimated 600 hp and 640 pound-feet of torque
Acceleration: Estimated 3.8 seconds 0-60 mph
Range: Estimated 300 miles on a charge
Charging time: 78 miles in 10 minutes at 200 kW
Contact Mark Phelan: 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan.
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