Cadillac Evolves its Design with Reveal of Celestiq Show Car

Today, the Cadillac brand of General Motors Co. in Detroit unveiled the Celestiq show car, a concept that previews that brand’s future handcrafted and all-electric flagship sedan.
630
The Cadillac Celestiq show car was made to provide the brands design and engineering teams a concept to take it into the future. // Courtesy of Cadillac
The Cadillac Celestiq show car was made to provide the brands design and engineering teams a concept to take into the future. // Courtesy of Cadillac

Today, the Cadillac brand of General Motors Co. in Detroit unveiled the Celestiq show car, a concept that previews that brand’s future handcrafted and all-electric flagship sedan.

“The Celestiq show car is the purest expression of Cadillac,” says Magalie Debellis, manager of Cadillac advanced design. “It brings to life the most integrated expressions of design and innovation in the brand’s history, coalescing in a defining statement of a true Cadillac flagship.”

Conceived to lead the brand’s electric future and inspired by its 120-year heritage, it will serve as a touchstone for the Cadillac design and engineering teams, which continue to develop Celestiq as it moves closer to production.

In developing the show car, the design and engineering teams studied the artisanship and customization that defined early Cadillac sedans such as the bespoke V-16 powered coaches of the prewar era, and the hand-built 1957 Eldorado Brougham. The team says the Celestiq is the culmination of that heritage, brought to life with new production methods and technologies.

“Those vehicles represented the pinnacle of luxury in their respective eras, and helped make Cadillac the standard of the world,” says Tony Roma, chief engineer. “The Celestiq show car — also a sedan, because the configuration offers the very best luxury experience — builds on that pedigree and captures the spirt of arrival they expressed.”

Realizing and infusing those influences within an Ultium-based EV architecture resulted in a clean-sheet expression for the Celestiq show car that considers the entirety of travel as a curated experience — one intended to evoke an emotional response, the team says.

“We’ve combined the beauty of function with the beauty of form,” says Laetitia Lopez, creative designer for Cadillac color and trim. “We had to reconsider all aspects to immerse the customer, all of their senses, and create a connection with the vehicle through the finest genuine materials, exceptional detailing, and advanced technology.”

Highlights include five high-definition, advanced LED interactive displays, including a 55-inch-diagonal advanced LED display, along with expected industry firsts such as a variable-transmission, Smart Glass Roof, and Ultra Cruise.

The Smart Glass Roof features Suspended Particle Device (SPD) technology that allows for four zones of variable lighting, enabling passengers to fine-tune their cabin experience for completely personalized comfort and visibility.

Additionally, the 55-inch-diagonal advanced LED display introduces a passenger display with electronic digital blinds, an active privacy technology, which is designed to allow passengers to enjoy video content while blocking it from the view of the driver.

While they are previewed on the show car, these technologies and more will make Celestiq the most advanced vehicle ever from Cadillac. Availability for the production version of Celestiq will be announced at a later date.

GM is investing $81 million to support its assembly at GM’s Global Technical Center, the landmark campus in Warren originally designed by Eero Saarinen and the heart of the company’s engineering and design efforts. The Celestiq will be the first production vehicle built there since the center’s inauguration in May 1956.

Additional details on the Celestiq production model will be announced later this year.

Visit cadillac.com for more information.