Cadillac reveals striking Celestiq show car

The Celestiq is shown here as a production-intent show car. It previews an electric limo for 2025 whose handcrafted nature and limited numbers will put it at the top of the luxury saloon market.

And it is a saloon – well, actually a hatchback – and definitely not an SUV. Cadillac’s current top model, the Escalade, is an SUV, and a mighty big one, but the company is adamant that its new halo model must be a sedan “because the configuration offers the very best luxury experience”.

It’s an imposing looking thing, long and low with a huge glass roof and tailgate that curves back in one uninterrupted arch. It is most distinctive at the back, avant garde in a Citroen C6 sort of way. An exaggerated version of Cadillac’s “hockey stick” lights design language, with the upper row of LEDs going halfway up the C-pillar, will ensure you are unlikely to mistake it for anything else. Head on, there are the vertical LED projector lights and a version of the illuminated “crystal shield” grille from the Lyriq, the 120-year-old brand’s first all-electric car due out in the US next year.

It’s a version of the Lyriq’s Ultimum electric-car platform that underpins the Celestiq. There are no tech details yet but it would be safe to assume twin motors, all-wheel-drive and a power output and range to top the 500PS (373kW) and 300 miles that the Lyriq is expected to have.

Cadillac envisions the Celestiq as a bespoke car – its version of Bentley’s Mulliner if you like – and production numbers will be small to ensure exclusivity. Each car will be hand-finished to individual customer spec at GM’s Global Technical Center, making it the first production model to be built there since the centre opened in 1956.

The sharp modern lines and electric powertrain will be matched to what Cadillac calls the artisanship that defined early Cadillac sedans. A return to the glitz and glamour of cars like the 1957 Eldorado Brougham? That’s the plan. “The Celestiq is the purest expression of Cadillac,” says Magalie Debellis, manager, Cadillac Advanced Design.

For Brougham-style lavishness look no further than the opulent deep red interior. The car might take a leaf out of Bentley and R-R’s for using only genuine materials – leather, wood and real metal accents – but it firmly eschews the clubby British style for something far more classically American. The seats, for example, are modeled on Eames chairs of the 1950s, their decorative bent-wood backings incorporating entertainment screens.  

Celestiq buyers can expect plenty of other tech too, including individually dimmable sections in the smart glass roof and a display screen made from a single piece of curved glass that stretches from A-pillar to A-pillar. “Electronic digital blinds” will allow passengers to watch video on high-definition LED interactive displays while blocking it from the view of the driver. Combining classic and modern in this way adds up to a car that will surely get a big high-five from fans of Americana in this country. Will we get a chance to buy it here in the UK? Is yet another British relaunch of Cadillac on the way?

The Celestiq, along with recent performance favourites like the the V-series Blackwing models and the brand’s planned return to international motor racing – at Le Mans next year, for the first time in 21 years – make that more likely, and credible, than ever. You can’t be “standard of the world” if your only market is America.