For the first time ever, General Motors will build a vehicle for sale at its Global Technical Center in Warren.
GM said Wednesday it will invest $81 million for machinery and other equipment to prepare the campus to build the Cadillac Celestiq.
The Celestiq is meant to be the brand’s flagship EV and it will be hand-built in limited numbers.
GM is not disclosing any manufacturing specifics, other than to say the product will be made in existing buildings and the renovation work has started, said GM spokesman Dan Flores. He said there’ll be two primary locations where the vehicle will be built on the campus.
“Celestiq signifies a new, resurgent era for the brand,” said Mark Reuss, GM’s president. “Today’s investment announcement emphasizes our commitment to delivering a world-class Cadillac with nothing but the best in craftsmanship, design, engineering and technology.”
Union-represented hourly workers are expected to build the Celestiq, but when asked to confirm that, Flores said, “We are not disclosing any details related to the manufacturing process. UAW 160 represents hourly employees who work on the Technical Center campus.”
UAW spokeswoman Sandra Engle said this investment was part of the 2019 contract negotiations with GM.
“The company committed to it in those negotiations,” Engle said. “The car will be hand built by members of UAW Local 160 at the GM Tech Center.”
GM has done its engineering and design at the Technical Center since 1956.
Cadillac has been tight-lipped about the Celestiq. It will follow the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq SUV, which is in production now at GM’s Spring Hill Assembly plant in Tennessee.
A luxury hatchback car, the Celestiq is reported to be targeted for the 2025 model year, according to Car and Driver. It will have groundbreaking technologies, a glass roof and a price tag estimated to start close to six figures.
The Celestiq will be built on GM’s Ultium platform, a proprietary battery system that will propel all of GM’s future EVs.
GM said the car will set a new standard for “the artful integration of technology.” For example, the roof is expected to be one of the first to feature a four-quadrant, suspended-particle-device smart glass. With this smart glass, occupants of the vehicle can set their own level of roof transparency, GM said.
GM said in a statement, “The driver and front-seat passenger will enjoy a pillar-to-pillar free-form display with active privacy to help mitigate driver distraction.”
The Celestiq is also expected to use the highest volume of 3D printed components — more than 100 — of any GM production vehicle, Flores said. Those will be structural and cosmetic parts.
GM will also use 3D printing technology on tooling, fixtures and gauges to help in the assembly process.
The 3D parts are made in GM’s Additive Industrialization Center, which opened on the Warren campus in 2020. The Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V sport sedans were GM’s first to benefit from additive manufacturing with parts including the shifter emblem, transmission components and HVAC ducts.
Cadillac will reveal a show car version of the Celestiq in late July.
Contact Jamie L. LaReau at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.