GM points out a surprise that Tesla, Mercedes and Lucid will not like
On May 16, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially opened the GM (GM) – Get the General Motors Company Report Technical Center in Warren, Michigan in a National Television Ceremony.
At the time, the facility was the largest corporate construction project in the world, costing more than $ 125 million, and Life Magazine called the center “Industry Versailles”.
And now GM is investing more than $ 81 million in the center so that it can build the company’s premium brand Cadillac Celestiq, another vehicle in the carmaker̵[ads1]7;s attempt to take down Elon Musk’s EV titanium Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc. Report.
“The flagship of the future sedan”
“Like Cadillac’s future flagship sedan, Celestiq marks a new, revitalizing era for the brand,” said GM President Mark Reuss in a statement. Each of them will be hand-built by a fantastic team of craftsmen on our historic Technical Center campus, and today’s investment announcement underscores our commitment to delivering a world-class Cadillac with nothing but the best in craftsmanship, design, construction and technology. ยป
Celestiq will be built on the Ultium platform, a modular setup that will support all types of vehicles in the GM family.
The vehicle is expected to sell for $ 200,000 and is scheduled to be officially unveiled next month. It will be assembled in extremely low volumes – around 400 units a year, reported Reuters, citing AutoForecast Solutions.
Celestiq will use more than 100 3D-printed components, including both structural and cosmetic parts printed in polymer and metal pieces.
Other luxury electric cars include the Tesla Model X, which costs around $ 114,900, and the Mercedes-Benz EQS, which has a price tag of $ 102,310. and the clear (LCID) – Get Lucid Group Inc. report Air Grand Touring, which costs about $ 154,000
‘Watch’
“Availability for @Cadillac CELESTIQ will be announced at a later date. Stay tuned! “GM twitret.
Celestiq got the usual range of opinions on social media.
“@GM invests $ 81 million to build exclusive $ 200k #Cadillac #Celestiq electric car, “a person twitret. “Absurd. #Cadillac was always about reasonable mass wealth, not hand-built that loses money #Bentley copy. Shareholders should revolt. “
“I’m excited to see this car,” another person said so.
“I say this with some joy, but all you Tesla people who made Musk a little tin god are going to get what you ‘deserve’, a tweet read.
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“This is more than stupid,” said another person, who tweeted a clip from the movie “Dumb and Dumber”. “GM will be in the grave in less than 5 years.”
‘Biggest investment in history’
Last month, GM announced new details about its 2023 Lyriq RWD with Global Cadillac Vice President Rory Harvey promising that “Cadillac will define the future of luxury transportation through its range of upcoming electric cars, and it all begins with Lyriq.”
Lyriq is Cadillac’s first electric offering, and the company, which aims for an all-electric portfolio by 2030, said that their luxury SUV / crossover has an EPA estimated range of 312 miles on a full charge.
GM said in January that it would equip the Celestiq sedan with the company’s Ultra Cruise autonomous driving assistant, making the vehicle one of the first to feature.
Celestiq will share battery cells, motors and other components with the Cadillac Lyriq
On March 1, the current US president, Joe Biden, said during the State of the Union speech that “GM is making the largest investment in its history – $ 7 billion to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan.”
“Outstanding volatility and uncertainty”
Building a car that goes for six digits can seem a little daunting in times of financial uncertainty.
On June 14, the Luxury Institute released the results of a survey that found that 59% of participants believe that the current decline will lead to a decline in luxury, while 41% predicted that it will lead to a full luxury recession.
“Most participants believe we live in a modern era of unprecedented volatility and uncertainty,” the group said. “Those who only see a decline cite the strong cash holdings of consumers and businesses in the more developed markets that can help them resist negative economic forces and the effects of war.”
Recession preachers, the institute said, believe that the aggressive rate hikes to central banks, carried out to combat current inflation, will create white-collar and blue-collar unemployment, especially in technology, with strong consumer austerity spending across all income levels.
For North America, experts predicting a downturn see largely a medium-term effect, given the US’s relatively stronger economy, including higher self-sufficiency in energy and the distance from the war in Ukraine.
However, the survey found that those predicting a global recession said that many companies were already warning that US consumers were rapidly losing purchasing power, pointing to the Federal Reserve’s stated commitment to aggressive interest rate hikes such as shock effects on homes and loans, while inflation remained undiminished.
“The confluence of factors they believe will lead to an inevitable recession,” the institute said.
