Cadillac unveiled the CELESTIQ show car, a vision of innovation and purpose that previews the brand’s future handcrafted and all-electric flagship sedan.
Conceived to lead Cadillac’s electric future and inspired by the brand’s 120-year heritage, it serves as a touchstone for the Cadillac design and engineering teams, who continue to develop CELESTIQ as it moves closer to production.
“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.”
In developing the show car, the design and engineering teams immersed themselves in 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.
“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 spirt of arrival they expressed.”
Designers drew further inspiration from classic architecture such as the mid-century masterpieces of architect Eero Saarinen, along with other iconic American designs, which made era-defining statements when introduced and endured with distinctive timelessness.
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 result is a vehicle that makes a magnetic first impression and cultivates a permanent personal connection.
