Click to Enlarge.
Cadillac today unveiled the CELESTIQ show car, which is “a vision of innovation and purpose that previews the brand’s future handcrafted and all-electric flagship sedan.”
Whether this is electrifying or compelling enough to send customers back to the fallen brand, time will tell. It is being billed as Cadillac’s electric future that is “inspired by the brand’s 120-year heritage.*
It is still a long way from a guesstimated 2025 production debut in a field crowed with, British, German, Japanese and Korean competitors, of course. All this is expected from the Ultium-based EV platform that will underpin the production car. (Mercedes-Benz to Increase Focus as a Luxury Car Company)
“The CELESTIQ show car is the purest expression of Cadillac,” said Magalie Debellis, manager, 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.”
Cadillac design and engineering teams, who continue to develop CELESTIQ as it moves closer to production have 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 CELESTIQ is the culmination of that heritage, brought to life with innovative production methods and new technologies.” Cadillac said in a release. (AutoInformed: Milestones – Cadillac CELESTIQ to be Built in Warren MI; The Sweet Song of EVs – Cadillac Starts Lyric Production)
“Those vehicles represented the pinnacle of luxury in their respective eras, and helped make Cadillac the standard of the world,” said 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 spirit of arrival they expressed.”
Click to Enlarge.
The show car previews some of the materials, technologies and attention to detail to express Cadillac’s vision for the future. These include 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(1), General Motors’ next evolution of available hands-free driver assistance technology. (Take a look at the competition: Infotainment: Mercedes-Benz Group and ZYNC)
The “Smart Glass Roof “features Suspended Particle Device (SPD) technology that allows for four zones of variable lighting, allowing passengers to tune their cabin “experience for completely personalized comfort and visibility.” 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.
These technologies “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 Centre, the landmark campus 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 (2).
Additional details on the CELESTIQ production model will be announced later this year.
*”In 1903, the New York Auto Show played host to the birth of one of America’s most famous automotive brands: Cadillac. The Model A was the most significant new car at the 1903 New York show and the company’s first. It was a highly-refined $750 runabout powered by a single-cylinder motor making six-and-half horsepower. The 1.6-liter single-cylinder engine moved the 1350-pound car to a top speed of 35 mph. After accepting $10 deposits for 2,286 cars, Cadillac’s first sales manager William E. Metzger (who had opened America’s first auto dealership in 1898) declared that the year’s entire production has been sold out by the middle of show week.” – Observation from the New York International Auto Show.
Inevitable Footnotes
- Ultra Cruise is pre-production and subject to change.
- Of globally sourced parts.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
At Last? Cadillac Reveals CELESTIQ Concept EV
Click to Enlarge.
Cadillac today unveiled the CELESTIQ show car, which is “a vision of innovation and purpose that previews the brand’s future handcrafted and all-electric flagship sedan.”
Whether this is electrifying or compelling enough to send customers back to the fallen brand, time will tell. It is being billed as Cadillac’s electric future that is “inspired by the brand’s 120-year heritage.*
It is still a long way from a guesstimated 2025 production debut in a field crowed with, British, German, Japanese and Korean competitors, of course. All this is expected from the Ultium-based EV platform that will underpin the production car. (Mercedes-Benz to Increase Focus as a Luxury Car Company)
“The CELESTIQ show car is the purest expression of Cadillac,” said Magalie Debellis, manager, 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.”
Cadillac design and engineering teams, who continue to develop CELESTIQ as it moves closer to production have 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 CELESTIQ is the culmination of that heritage, brought to life with innovative production methods and new technologies.” Cadillac said in a release. (AutoInformed: Milestones – Cadillac CELESTIQ to be Built in Warren MI; The Sweet Song of EVs – Cadillac Starts Lyric Production)
“Those vehicles represented the pinnacle of luxury in their respective eras, and helped make Cadillac the standard of the world,” said 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 spirit of arrival they expressed.”
Click to Enlarge.
The show car previews some of the materials, technologies and attention to detail to express Cadillac’s vision for the future. These include 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(1), General Motors’ next evolution of available hands-free driver assistance technology. (Take a look at the competition: Infotainment: Mercedes-Benz Group and ZYNC)
The “Smart Glass Roof “features Suspended Particle Device (SPD) technology that allows for four zones of variable lighting, allowing passengers to tune their cabin “experience for completely personalized comfort and visibility.” 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.
These technologies “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 Centre, the landmark campus 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 (2).
Additional details on the CELESTIQ production model will be announced later this year.
*”In 1903, the New York Auto Show played host to the birth of one of America’s most famous automotive brands: Cadillac. The Model A was the most significant new car at the 1903 New York show and the company’s first. It was a highly-refined $750 runabout powered by a single-cylinder motor making six-and-half horsepower. The 1.6-liter single-cylinder engine moved the 1350-pound car to a top speed of 35 mph. After accepting $10 deposits for 2,286 cars, Cadillac’s first sales manager William E. Metzger (who had opened America’s first auto dealership in 1898) declared that the year’s entire production has been sold out by the middle of show week.” – Observation from the New York International Auto Show.
Inevitable Footnotes
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.