More than 100 years ago, Cadillac (GM) stood at the pinnacle of motoring — “the standard of the world,” as the automaker called itself. Now GM’s luxury brand wants to get back on top.
Enter the Celestiq, a high-end show car that will be on sale in the near future as GM’s range-topping EV (electric vehicle) as the company goes fully electric.
“The Celestiq show car is the purest expression of Cadillac,” said Magalie Debellis, Cadillac Advanced Design manager. “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.”
The luxury EV is expected to cost roughly $300,000, the Wall Street Journal reported last month. There are currently no EV sedans in this price range, though the Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance at $179,000 and the Porsche Taycan Turbo S starting at $187,400 aren’t exactly cheap. Future EV models from Rolls-Royce and Bentley will likely sit at or near the reported cost of the Celestiq.
It will be hand-built using a number of 3-D printed parts and exclusive materials at GM’s Global Technical Center in Detroit.
The sedan — which looks like a coupe in profile — has a low-slung stance, with a wide track. The back of the car features a wagon-like design flowing into what looks like a hatch door, finished with those distinctive Cadillac vertical tail lights.
Inside the Celestiq cabin, materials and fit and finish seem even higher-end than Cadillac’s usual design. In addition to nicely finished leathers and what appears to be wood trim, Cadillac is leaning hard into tech. The cabin will feature five HD LED interactive displays, a 55-inch wraparound LED spanning the dashboard, and a “Smart Glass Roof” that can provide privacy and dim certain parts of the cabin.
Cadillac still hasn’t said when the Celestq will be available to consumers. As for that reported price tag of $300,000 price tag, Cadillac tells Yahoo Finance that it has no comment on price at this time. However, Cadillac said it’s “excited to share more information later this year and return Cadillac to the standard of the world.”
Even in this rarefied world of ultra-luxury premium cars, the Celestique will have stiff competition coming from Rolls-Royce (BMW.DE) with its upcoming Spectre EV, and a Bentley (VOW.DE) EV coupe likely based on the EXP 100 GT concept.
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Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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