GM has its ‘Hermès’ car to take on Rolls-Royce
General Motors (GM) – Get the General Motors Company Report finally seems to have a vehicle that will propel it back into the ranks of premium luxury car makers to rival the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
It is the club of craft vehicle manufacturers, one would be tempted to say. The principle of the brands belonging to this club is that every car that leaves the factory is different from the others. The cars don’t look the same at all. Each customer can customize their car to their liking. It is tailor-made.
To enter this elite club, GM has just unveiled the Cadillac Celestiq, the second all-electric model of the Detroit giant̵[ads1]7;s premium brand after the Lyriq. The vehicle is intended to change the perception of the Cadillac brand and reconnect with its famous motto: “the standard of the world.”
GM wants to change the narrative around Cadillac
The group has just revealed this concept car on Instagram.
It is an impressive luxury electric sedan that the company aims to bring to market by 2024. The design is based on the Cadillac mythos. It has futuristic lines that, especially in the rear area, give a very innovative look, using two pairs of boomerang LEDs that act as optical groups and at the same time as real styling cues on the side. The rear is very steep, but given the length of the vehicle you could almost see a cross between a 4-seater coupe and a station wagon.
Celestiq’s designers have traveled back in time to study the pre-war V-16 and the 1957 Eldorado Brougham for inspiration. Fewer than 400 Eldorado Broughams were built, for a starting price of $13,074 each. At the time, a Rolls-Royce Silver Wrath sold for $9,000. Adjusted for inflation, these figures would be about 10 times as much today.
Cadillac
“These vehicles represented the pinnacle of luxury in their respective eras, and helped make Cadillac the world standard,” said Tony Roma, chief engineer for Celestiq, in a press release. “The Celestiq show car – also a sedan, because the configuration offers the very best luxury experience – builds on this pedigree and captures the spirit of arrival they expressed.”
Scroll to Continue
There are similar details between the Celestiq and the Eldorado Brougham, such as the presence of the “Flying Goddess” previously used on the radiators in the ornament near the front wheel arches. There is also a contrast between the high-tech digital trim and the color of the upholstery and the shape of the steering wheel, which looks vintage.
Cadillac has provided a number of internal LED screens, including a giant 55″ panel that crosses the entire dashboard that stands out, like the Mercedes MBUX Hyperscreen. Passengers can rely on a kind of virtual curtain, which allows them to enjoy different video content, not visible to the passengers in the cabin. The front seat passenger will be able to watch videos or other content on the large screen without the driver being able to see anything due to the angle. The other screens are on the front and rear consoles and on the back of each front seat.
$300,000 per unit?
The roof also uses smart glass technology, which creates four distinct areas that can be masked by the respective occupants to control the amount of light coming through.
GM still hasn’t released technical information about the Cadillac Celestiq. We know this sedan will be electric, but we still don’t know how many miles it will be able to drive on a charge, for example.
Production, which will be based on GM’s Ultium modular platform for electric vehicles, is expected to start in late 2023.
The Celestiq will be a very niche and exclusive product, GM says, with each unit handcrafted and customized for each buyer at dedicated facilities in Warren, Mich. The base price can be around $300,000 or more. The automaker intends to build fewer than 500 Celestiqs annually as a way to showcase its technology, increase rarity value and generate buzz for Cadillac.
Earlier this month, GM said it invested more than $81 million in the GM Technical Center in Warren for Celestiq. The car will be equipped with the new generation Ultra Cruise, the company’s driver assistance system.
Cadillac aims for an all-electric portfolio by 2030.
