GM’s Cadillac Celestiq was announced to be the ultra-luxury vehicle that is to have flagship vehicles. According to Wall Street Journal, the vehicle will be more than just a show car. It will have equal amounts of vapor and vehicle. Also, less than 500 cars of these will be made, each priced at $300,000.
The ultra-luxury car production will begin in late 2023. The features include a massive pillar-to-pillar touchscreen with outdoing the 33-inch that is in the existing Cadillac Lyriq. Based on both size and pixel density, it will be much different. The already known features are that it will be an all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, and a full glass roof. Thus allowing each passenger to have a much clearer view. Teasers have shown the lights, wheels, and door hinges, but not the whole vehicle yet.
The halo car is also going to introduce the next generation of GM’s driver-assist technology, with Ultra Cruise “hands-free” tech that the company says will be able to work in 95 percent of driving scenarios and on over 2 million miles of paved roads in the US. In an interview earlier this year, GM chief engineer Jason Ditman told that “We’re attempting to have this feature be sort of a door-to-door driverless operation,” running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride platform.
Earlier this month, GM announced it’s investing $81 million in equipment for the Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, where it will build the Celestiq, and said it will present the show car prototype in July.
Luxury EV
Cadillac is among a number of premium car brands that intend to fully transition their vehicle portfolios to electric at a faster pace than the broader industry. Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac, and GM’s Buick all have said they plan to sell EVs exclusively by 2030.
Luxury car brands are better positioned to make the switch from internal-combustion models because they have more flexibility to set higher prices to offset the high cost of the large batteries needed to power EVs, analysts say.
GM has said Cadillac will lead the way in the auto maker’s transition to EVs, which includes plans to offer a few dozen electric models in North America across GM’s four brands by mid-decade, up from four today. GM has said it can quickly build scale in EVs by using a common system of battery cells, motors, and other in-house components to underpin each new entry.
Cadillac, founded in 1902, recently began rolling out its first-ever electric model, the Lyriq, a midsize SUV that GM is building at a plant in Tennessee. The Celestiq is expected to be among several new Cadillac EVs in the coming years.
