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Looking Higher

Yes, you read correctly. Cadillac does not see the Celestiq as a competitor to cars like the Mercedes-Benz EQS and BMW i7. The Celestiq should instead compete directly with Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Mercedes-Maybach, among others. That seems rather lofty, but Cadillac reports that every Celestiq is made entirely by hand and that “no two cars are the same. In fact, every customer, as with Rolls and Bentley, gets the chance to put together his car completely according to his wishes. This, of course, comes at a price, but more on that later.

Hatchback without door handles

You recognize a modern Cadillac primarily by its clean, straight lines. The Celestiq is no exception. The silhouette of the Celestiq starts out fairly traditional with a long hood and sloping windshield, but is totally unique at the rear. Indeed, the Celestiq is a hatchback: the rear window extends all the way to the back and hinges up with it if you want access to the luggage compartment. The Hockeystick-shaped taillights flanking the rear window are another striking design element of the Celestiq.

Also unusual is the complete lack of door handles on the Celestiq. So how do you open the doors? Simple, with the push of a button, the doors of the Celestiq open completely electrically. Not only is that fun to impress your neighbor with, but the lack of door handles also makes for some aerodynamic gains.

Widescreen Dashboard

From the outside, the Celestiq already looks quite impressive, but the interior is where Cadillac really needs to prove that it can compete in the territory of the aristocratic British brands. On the face of it, that certainly seems likely to succeed. Cadillac uses exotic materials for the interior of the Celestiq. In the case of the press photos, that is a combination of black and bright blue leather, aluminum and carbon fiber.

Other than that, just about everything is digital on board the Celestiq. As in the EQS, the dashboard consists of multiple screens – 55 inches in total – that cover the full width of the interior. A smaller touchscreen on the center console allows you to control various vehicle functions. By the way, Cadillac does not completely consign the physical buttons to the eternal hunting grounds: in fact, on the center console there is still an iDrive-like rotary knob. Again, saves fingerprints on the screens. For music lovers, it’s nice to know that the Celestiq’s audio system has a whopping 38(!) speakers.

Specifications Cadillac Celestiq

The Celestiq sits on parent company General Motors’ (GM) Ultium electric platform. This is the same engineering base as the electric GMC Hummer, among others. The Celestiq’s powertrain consists of two electric motors powered by electricity from a 111 kWh battery.

The whole results in 600 horsepower, 867 Nm of torque and a range estimated by GM to be 483 kilometers. That will undoubtedly diminish a bit if you often call on the power of the powertrain. In fact, if you wish, you can whiz from standstill to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. The Celestiq’s top speed is not known. Actually, that doesn’t really matter either, because the Celestiq is primarily focused on comfort. Among others, adaptive air suspension, “Active Roll Control” and “Magnetic Ride 4.0” should contribute to the most comfortable driving experience possible.

In terms of autonomous driving, the Celestiq features Cadillac’s “Ultra Cruise” system. With that, the car can currently drive semi-autonomously, but Cadillac does say that the Celestiq has all the hardware to handle more in the future – via over-the-air updates.

Price Cadillac Celestiq

Then we come to the main fact that makes Cadillac take it up a notch with the Celestiq: the price. Indeed, Cadillac mentions that it comes out to “more than $300,000. Since each Celestiq is assembled entirely to customer specifications, you can expect to add some dollars to that. In addition, the Celestiq is only available if you are on a waiting list. Cadillac will begin production of the Celestiq in late 2023. Not that it matters to us, because the Celestiq will not make the crossing to Europe.