2024 Cadillac Celestiq First Look: A $300,000 Handmade Tale
With a limited-edition piece of contemporary automobile art, Caddy aims to regain its status as the Standard of the World. But will the public purchase it?
The long-awaited 2024 Cadillac Celestiq battery-electric flagship sedan's timeline box on Wikipedia incorrectly names the Cadillac CT6 as its predecessor under "Predecessor" in the chronology box. "Series 70 Eldorado Brougham," it should say. That 1957–1958 pillarless coach door miracle was a technological and opulent amenities moonshot. It was handcrafted and cost over $13,000, almost three times as much as the base Cadillac. 400 units were produced in 1957, and 304 in 1958. The Celestiq seeks to closely resemble such approaches.
Cadillac's New Face
The concept Escala from the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show served as inspiration for the fourth iteration of the show car shown here. Early design completion of the flagship Celestiq was given priority by Cadillac in order for it to serve as an inspiration for popular vehicles that would go on sale before it, such as the Lyriq electric crossover. The biggest Escalade wheels were specified, coupled with the wheelbase and breadth required to pack enough Ultium battery modules down a broad center console to offer a range of about 300 miles, on a vehicle with a roofline lower than the CT6's. Tony Roma, chief engineer, observes: "We'd need to add clearance lights if it were around 8mm [0.3 inch] bigger."
When viewed from a distance, the design is intended to appear straightforward, yet closer inspection reveals beautiful intricacies. Examples: The port is hidden by a panel that extends from the front wheel arch to the driver's door and from the belt line down to the rocker trim in order to avoid the clutter of a separate charging door. Simple front and back style are brought to life by dynamic LED welcome lighting, which fills the vertical trademark lamps with "digital rain" at the end.
Hand Assembly
In addition to the Audi, BMW, and Mercedes audiences, General Motors is reaching far beyond the CT6 buyers. The 2024 Cadillac Celestiq is swinging for the fences against the Aston/Bentley/Rolls-Royce. Only by providing a comparable degree of unique workmanship and exclusivity can the label achieve this. In addition to investing $81 million to create a specialized manufacturing plant on the Warren, Michigan, Tech Center site built by Eero Saarinen, GM also infused the Celestiq with a significant amount of the Tech Center's mid-century modern design magic. The manufacturing goal for this vehicle, which will be the first to be made here, is just 400 copies annually (as in 1957) Virtual exclusivity is nearly guaranteed, and additive manufacturing is sensible. Therefore, the Cadillac Celestiq will have over 100 pieces made on 3-D printers utilizing both structural and aesthetic materials.
Aluminum Spaceframe With Applied Panels
The body panels will be built of composite material and manually attached to the Celestiq's aluminum spaceframe in order to obtain the ultra-crisp body character lines that metal stampings may find difficult to produce. Additionally, the metal spaceframe will be kept unpainted and have horizontal brushing that was also placed by hand evident around each door opening to honor this building technique. Additionally, the inside panels are manually placed, aligned, and fastened, enabling the interior to have a number of continuous horizontal features running the length of it. For instance, the aluminum lower-door speaker housings that cover the whole width of each door, as well as the wood-over-metal strips that run along the uppers of the doors and are precisely perforated to enable accent lighting and music to flow through. Few commonly used mass-produced cars are willing to take on such alignment difficulties.
Four First-Class Eames Chairs
Due to the low roof of the Cadillac Celestiq, a skateboard battery like the one seen in the Lyriq, Hummer, or Silverado EV would not be able to accommodate passengers in comfort. As a result, the footwells are all "hollowed out," and the majority of the battery modules are located in a tall, broad central console that spans the whole middle of the vehicle for nearly 8 feet. Under the tall cargo floor, we assume there are further modules. However, many additional chassis and powertrain parts will probably be utilized in future Ultium vehicles as well.
Roma noted that each seat is equipped with precisely the same level of warmth, ventilation, neck-warming, recline, and massage. "We wanted to treat the person of each seat like they were the owner," Roma remarked. All four seats have the same form and "standard trim arrangement," and they are created to resemble vintage mid-century Eames chairs. The backs sag 35 degrees (the final 25 of which require the bottom cushion to move forward).
Red For The Stage With Ombre Shading
Lead color and trim designer Laetitia Lopez cited the red opera or music theater curtains as inspiration for the Celestiq's vibrant red interior, which harkens back to Cadillac's earlier use of striking hues. The lengthy center console also has silver lines that resemble guitar strings on a fretboard and black trim to further pay respect to the many songs that reference Cadillac. The seat upholstery includes what initially seems to be a straightforward chevron design, but upon closer inspection, reveals alternating lines of perforation and quilting via both stitching and embroidery, echoing the little external adornment. Additionally, the upper sections of the backrests on the rear seats have an ombre-shading effect that was hand-sprayed. This highlights how long the cabin is.
Coffee-Tanned Leather, Screen from Pillar to Pillar
Actual meat-eating cowhide panels will be seen on the Cadillac Celestiq in 2024, but they'll be tanned responsibly using 40% less water and a method that makes use of coffee bean shells to remove hair. Leather covers the display car's seats, door panels, and even the flooring. Eucalyptus-fiber carpet floormats are placed on top of the leather. They have an even plusher feel than the ones made of bamboo fiber in the Mercedes EQXX concept.
Advanced LCD technology and a "digital blind" are used in a continuous, curved 55-inch diagonal LED-illuminated panel. With the latter, movies or internet surfing may be hidden from view on the passenger's screen so as not to disturb the driver. The smaller screen just in front of the glass controller knob, which is also used to open and close doors, adjust seats, and control the four individual transparent roof panels' variable tinting level (the Suspended Particle Device technology used in these panels is said to be an industry first), directs the electrically aimed vents. The rear passengers have access to these features via a comparable screen and knob in back. There are a total of five high-definition touchscreens.
Return Of The Goddess
Different production Between 1930 through 1956, Cadillacs had a goddess hood mascot; the 1959 Eldorado Brougham, designed by Pininfarina, featured the final one. A two-dimensional goddess will be present in each glass rotary control knob and on each front fender of the Celestiq. Goddess imagery will only be found on extremely exceptional Cadillacs, such as the Celestiq, we have been promised.
How Much Of This Will Make Production?
Safety regulations forbid the Mondrian Cadillac crest-inspired tinting gradations on the rear side glass, but they are permitted on the roof panels and are likely to be produced there. If the camera mirrors and capacitive-touch door releases go into production, we'll be shocked. Apart from that, we can be confident that the Cadillac Celestiq in production will appear extremely similar to this idea and will have more amazing features than this version had. There is no way of knowing what surprise-and-delight features Cadillac has planned for the current period given that the Series 70 Eldorado Brougham included a cigarette case, lady's compact, perfume atomizer, and magnetic cocktail tumblers.
When, How, And How Much?
The 2024 Cadillac Celestiq is scheduled to go into production in late 2023 for worldwide distribution. There will be no demonstrations or dealer stock models produced; the ordering procedure has not yet been established. Every Celestiq that is produced is a result of a sold order. Cadillac will likely chase fashion icons, tastemakers, and extremely wealthy influencers to help the squillionaire class learn about the new Celestiq through viral marketing. Price-wise, the final Eldorado Brougham's asking price translates to about $136,500 in 2022 currency, while concours-worthy vehicles currently fetch prices of $160,000 and above. We anticipate the 2024 Celestiq will be priced at—or well above—$300,000 to avoid upsetting the stockholders once more. Cadillac allegedly lost $10,000 on each Eldorado Brougham back in the day.