2024 Cadillac Celestiq EV Is a Hand-Constructed $300K Flagship

• The 2024 Cadillac Celestiq debuts as essentially the most extravagant and costly mannequin the model has ever constructed.
• The electrical Celestiq is an avant-garde, four-seater hatchback that is made by hand and constructed to order.
• Cadillac suits each mannequin with an anticipated 600 horsepower, an estimated 300 miles of vary, and a base value of greater than $300,000.

When was the final time Cadillac was actually thought-about the Commonplace of the World? In case you’re like us and must cellphone a pal to reply that query, then you definitely may have to have your grandparents’ landline on velocity dial. The purpose is it has been a very long time, however the model appears to return to these former glory days as a legit luxurious coachbuilder with the 2024 Celestiq, a moonshot mannequin the corporate claims is without doubt one of the most vital in its 120-year historical past.

For these already accustomed to the Celestiq idea that Cadillac revealed again in July, the manufacturing automobile’s specialness will not be a shock, particularly because it’s practically equivalent to the previous present automobile. Cadillac mainly simply changed the idea’s camera-fed exterior mirrors with conventional ones and known as it good.

Nonetheless, this is a fast recap or primer: The Celestiq is a battery-electric avant-garde four-passenger hatchback that is constructed by hand and tailored for particular person prospects. It additionally contains a bespoke platform based mostly on Basic Motors’s Ultimum battery expertise

A Caddy for Kings and Queens

If you have not already linked the dots, this Caddy is not attainable for blue-collar people, regardless of how fats their yearly bonus examine is. And that is the purpose. Cadillac commissioned this bold automobile to reconnect with its heritage, reboot its picture, and be the flagship of the model’s plans to go fully electrical by 2030.

For sure, the Celestiq is extraordinarily costly, with a $300,000-plus base value that’ll rise based mostly on prospects’ particular person customizations. Cadillac additionally says it can solely construct a restricted quantity yearly at GM’s World Technical Heart in Warren, Michigan. These allocations will solely be accessible to these on a waitlist.

So, what does Celestiq imply and the place did the title come from? That is not vital. What’s vital is that it does not have a generic alphanumeric moniker like another fashions Cadillac sells.

It additionally maintains Cadillac’s plan to make use of the suffix “iq” on the finish of its electrical automobiles’ mannequin names, a pattern that started with the lately launched Lyriq electrical SUV. That is higher than the Celestiq being known as the CT7 or one thing equally uninspiring.

Dramatiq Celestiq

What’s not uninspiring is the Celestiq’s dramatiq (see what we did there?) proportions. We had been fortunate sufficient to see it in individual, and to name it beautiful is an understatement.

Shining in hand-painted Santorini Blue (simply one in every of 200 accessible exterior colours Cadillac mastered for the Celestiq, not counting the infinite color-match choices), the massive EV appears extremely lengthy and low-slung. We’re instructed its windshield is angled steeper than that of the newest Corvette.

Not like the mid-engined Chevy sports activities automobile, the electrical Celestiq’s bodywork is tastefully sculpted. Its slippery floor hides in depth carbon-fiber physique panels which can be nearly void of outlined strains.

There isn’t any belt molding or door handles, both. The massive power-operated entrance and rear doorways open on the contact of discreet buttons on the B-pillar, however not earlier than the Celestiq welcomes the driving force with a lightweight present when it detects the important thing fob is inside 15 toes. We’re instructed the sequence takes benefit of Cadillac’s first-ever “digital micromirror” headlights that function 1.3 million pixels every.

Whereas the Celestiq’s grille design and hockey-stick-like taillights look just like these of the Lyriq, its remaining particulars supply a singular showcase of the actual manufacturing processes Cadillac employs to construct this machine. The Celestiq’s underbody consists of six mega-sized aluminum castings which can be stated to cut back usually obligatory parts by 30–40 elements apiece.

Each mannequin additionally options 300-plus fabricated bits which can be made by a course of that may bend and fold steel like origami (versus conventional stamping methods). Cadillac additionally went loopy with 3-D printing on the Celestiq, and the EV boasts 115 such elements on the likes of its steering wheel and inside trim.

Let the Cabin Be Your Canvas

Cadillac’s elegant method to design is mirrored contained in the Celestiq, which contains a refreshingly easy structure that is supposed to function a canvas for purchasers. The corporate wished the inside supplies entrance and heart, and the individualization provided is nearly limitless.

It is all about how far down the rabbit gap you wish to go, as one Cadillac spokesperson instructed Automotive and Driver. There’s even an choice for leather-wrapped flooring due to course there may be. The cast-aluminum piece on the sprint permits for customized engraving; the identical goes for the steel parts on the door sill, edges of the ground mats, and so forth.

In case you suppose the 38 inches of curved OLED screens within the Cadillac Escalade are spectacular, put together to choose your jaw up off the ground. The Celestiq options 55 inches of glass that spans from the left entrance pillar to the precise entrance pillar.

The only piece of glass hides two separate screens, with the driving force going through one and the entrance passenger going through the opposite. For security causes, the passenger’s aspect has a privateness function that shields it from the driving force’s view to allow them to’t side-eye a film whereas driving.

The Celestiq’s inside expertise additionally consists of an 11.0-inch touchscreen that sprouts up from the entrance heart console. Whereas there’s an ominous lack of bodily buttons, there is a rotary controller and a quantity knob on the middle console. Phew.

These within the Celestiq’s two particular person and extremely adjustable rear seats even have their very own digital command heart by means of an 8.0-inch touchscreen show. The setup consists of settings for the Gentherm four-zone local weather system that is stated to permit intimate tailoring of temps, together with these for the heated and cooled cushions.

Whereas among the Celestiq’s options would not be misplaced on a Mercedes-Benz S-class, others are extra in keeping with the Caddy’s hefty price ticket. Take the Celestiq’s sensible glass roof that makes use of permits individuals to manage the quantity of sunshine that comes by in 4 separate sections.

Each Celestiq can also be geared up with GM’s Extremely Cruise hands-free driving-assist expertise that makes use of a mixture of cameras, radars, and lidar in an effort to work on greater than two million miles of assorted roadways (together with however not restricted to highways) in the US and Canada.

The Flagship of Electrical Cadillacs

Cadillac did not simply construct the Celestiq to be an enormous cozy cruiser that appears like greater than 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 bucks, and each one in every of these large EVs comes geared up with an air suspension system and the fourth era of GM’s magnetorheological shocks. Moreover, the Celestiq additionally has rear-wheel steering and a variable-ratio electrical steering system. It additionally marks the debut of Cadillac’s energetic anti-roll bars.

The entrance and rear suspension each function unbiased five-link configurations. Giant 23-inch wheels, that are wrapped with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport EV summer time tires that had been specifically developed for the Celestiq (they actually have a distinctive sidewall graphic), function the mediators between the Caddy’s chassis and the highway under.

The Celestiq is motivated by a pair of electrical motors (one at every axle) that work collectively to generate an estimated 600 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac claims this permits the all-wheel-drive Celestiq to race to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds.

Preserve a lightweight sufficient proper foot, although, and Cadillac estimates the Celestiq will go 300 miles on a full cost of its 111-kWh battery pack. (That is gross capability, as Cadillac’s presently mum on the pack’s useable capability.) To maximise inside house, Cadillac positions the Celestiq’s battery cells horizontally.

As with most ultra-luxury automobiles, the 2024 Cadillac Celestiq, which enters manufacturing in December 2023, actually must be seen in individual to be appreciated. Sadly, its unique nature will probably make it a uncommon sight. In fact, that is what Cadillac wished when it got down to design the Celestiq.