Cadillac Celestiq Concept: Is This Striking Flagship EV Surprise the Standard of the Future?
1We did not see this one coming. No one did. Today, General Motors pulled the wraps off a new flagship sedan, the Celestiq. It will be all-electric and won't be mistaken for anything else when it hits the streets in a few years. Surprised?
The Celestiq is a massive four-door, four-passenger full-size car with a hatch instead of a trunk in back. It will be a four-passenger lounge on wheels with acres of stretch-out room inside for both people and, well, the air between those people. A giant black glass roof extending from the top of the windshield to the rear hatch opening supercharges the sense of airiness inside. It's quite striking. You'll have to trust us on this one because Cadillac isn't releasing images of the Celestiq—for now, at least.
Beyond its scale, the Celestiq is yet another drop-dead concept from GM's luxury division to stir up long-faded embers of Cadillac's Standard of the World era. Other jaw-dropping would-be flagships have come and gone in recent years, including the Ciel four-door convertible, Elmiraj coupe, and Sixteen concept cars, all of which held the promise of returning Cadillac to the upper echelons of automotive luxury alongside the best from Europe and beyond.
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We're not going out on a limb here—Cadillac is very self-aware of its aspirations. "Cadillac used to be the Standard of the World," says Michael Simcoe, vice president, global design. "When you tell designers to reinterpret that, this is what you get. " GM is not providing timing on this designer's dream creation, but the Celestiq could be one of the automaker's 20 new electric vehicles on the road by 2023. And it definitely will be built, says GM President Mark Reuss. "It's the dream car for the company and our customers."
Assuming the Celestiq actually makes its promised leap into production, it could very well take Cadillac back to the lofty station it held from the 1930s through the 1960s. Helping Cadillac plant its flag in that gilded ground? Each car will be bespoke and hand-built in the Detroit area—the exact location is still being sorted out—and each one will be completely customized for individual customers.
Detailing is said to be rich. For example, flower petals will be imbedded in acrylic in the décor, although we're taking GM's word for it at this point. The Celestiq concept car we saw on display at GM's complex in Warren, Michigan, was an early styling buck with no interior (or flower petals) yet. (At the same event, GM showed us several future EV concepts and projects, including the new Hummer pickup.) But, designers claim it will be the ultimate in luxury.
The styling on the car originated with the Celestiq team and was later ported to another electric Cadillac, the upcoming Lyriq, an electric midsize crossover that will go into production in late 2021. (The Lyriq will be shown publicly at an event in California in April 2. ) Both electric Cadillacs lack formal grilles and instead wear a series of backlit lines in a precision pattern amidst Cadillac's iconic crest between vertical headlights. The taillights, too, are vertical—a Cadillac signature that curiously stands in contrast with the brand's latest design direction, which, as recently established by the Escala concept, employs almost Audi-like visual restraint along with thin, horizontal lighting elements. (See: The new 2020 XT6 crossover, 2021 Escalade SUV, and 2020 CT5 sedan.) We like the classic, more distinctive vertical theme better.
Thanks to the giant battery pack the Celestiq requires, the car is very wide, further adding to its imposing presence and part of the reason the cabin is so huge. Why a hatch and not, say, a traditional trunk? Designers tell us it gives the Cadillac proper elegance and sophistication-extending the car's lines all the way to the rear-while improving functionality. The idea is the three-box sedan shape might be passé, but cars are not and this interprets a future look that is more like a grand tourer but without a trunk.
An electric, American-scale, hand-built luxury car from Cadillac might not have been on anyone's radar until now, but now that it is, consider us excited. Cadillac has been searching for its soul for some time, having pivoted to building neo-BMW sport sedans even while its priciest model, the popular Escalade SUV, seemed to best represent the company's traditional luxury character. A flagship such as the Celestiq should help reset Cadillac's True North, elevating the rest of the lineup and setting a standard going into the future. Will that standard be that of the rest of the world? Time, and the production Celestiq, will tell.
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