Cadillac Celestiq flagship EV teased at CES 2021
Cadillac’s long-promised and soon-to-arrive electric flagship luxury EV was teased at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show, which was held virtually for the first time.
The GM-owned Cadillac brand promised to produce the large luxury car that is set to be partly hand-assembled in the “near future”.
In line with Cadillac’s shift to name cars ending in “iq” – as with the upcoming Cadillac Lyriq – the ultra low volume (think 400 vehicles per year) uber-luxury machine to sit at the top of the imminently-EV-only Cadillac lineup will be called Celestiq.
The Celestiq made a shadowy appearance behind GM’s Australian design chief Mike Simcoe – the man who helped shape almost every Commodore and the born-again Monaro – during his segment of the show.
Though it was impossible to get a good look at the Celestiq, it is clearly intended to attract the same kind of wealthy customers as the Mercedes-Benz EQS and due to launch later this year. With previous suggestions it will be largely hand-assembled the Celestiq also appears to be punching into Rolls-Royce territory, vying for claims of the “world’s best car”.
But the Celestiq is also key to GM – one of the giants of American manufacturing – playing catch-up to Tesla, a former minnow of the car world but now valued at many multiples of all American car makers.
A video accompanying the presentation showed the Celestiq will have a vast digital display screen sprawling the entire width of the dash.
As well as all-wheel-drive and four-wheel-steering, the Celestiq will feature an all-glass roof. The twist? The glass will be electrochromatic – meaning its colour and opacity can be adjusted – and divided into four zones, one for each passenger.
Simcoe also said that only three basic platforms would provide the basis for the future EVs from Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac. The move to simplify the selection of architectures is part of a broader move by General Motors to transform into an EV company and improve profitability by reducing components and manufacturing costs and complexity.
Simcoe also revealed a couple of Cadillac concepts. One was a single-seat vertical-take-off-and-landing flying passenger pod powered a 90kWh battery.
The other was an almost cubic chill space on wheels, again electric. Both belong in the “don’t hold your breath” category but at least show that GM is thinking more along the lines of mobility rather than limiting itself to a car maker.
