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Cadillac Celestiq, revisited.

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Cadillac Celestiq illustration
Cadillac Celestiq Interior illustration

The Cadillac Celestiq will be the most expensive Cadillac produced when it comes out. It was revealed in July 2022 as a concept, and the production model shown a few months later looks almost exactly the same. The Celestiq was supposed to enter limited production by the end of 2023, but that obviously didn’t happen. It is still scheduled for 2024.

The major problem with the Celestiq is the price which should start at around $340 000. This is not only crazy for a Cadillac, but it is as expensive as a Rolls Royce and more so than most Bentleys. Production is expected to be around 500 units a year, and I’m sure they will sell that many for a year, maybe two. Beyond that, I really don’t think many millionaires will pick the most expensive GM products against a Rolls. These cars have only one purpose: to show off. The Celestiq might require an endless stream of explanations to your curious neighbors or family members. This is what VW Phaeton owners probably experienced years ago, with most discussions ending with “why”. A Cadillac for the price of a Rolls Royce is the modern equivalent of the VW for the price of a Mercedes S Class back in 2003.

Beyond numbers, I just think the Celestiq doesn’t look like a $ 340,000 car. You would think that since you’re not Rolls Royce, you would try to make the most spectacular car ever, and that’s not what the Celestiq is.

I am sure it’s an impressive car in person, but so far, the photos released make it look a bit too weird and not that expensive, inside and out.

The illustrations above try to guess what a Celestiq could have looked like. The interior in the illustrations is a bit strange and retro, and I think it’s actually nice. While the exterior looks a bit too futuristic, it is 2024 after all. And I am pretty sure something like this, or close, could be produced.

Especially for $340 000…

I would be curious to see early designs of the Celestiq. If it was just supposed to be a large top-of-the-line $ 100,000 Cadillac EV sedan at first. And maybe someone at GM went nuts during the process and decided to go after Rolls Royce… Who knows…

Conversation 7 comments

  1. The Celestiq’s price is justified because customization is incredibly expensive. It isn’t just picking an exterior paint color and an interior colorways. You can customize every part of this Cadillac. For comparison’s sake, Porsche’s customized paint-to-sample program is over $10k and that’s just the paint color. Cadillac’s method goes way beyond that.

  3. And now Cadillac pays for the years when the wood wasn’t real, and the leather was limited to the seating faces, among other sins concerning the building of luxury cars. A generation or two of people who don’t remember when a Cadillac was the equal of a Rolls Royce has passed, leaving shock and dismay at the very idea that a Cadillac should be so expensive.

    For those willing to hand over that sort of money, the customization had better be matched by peerless quality. They may be dealing with people who remember that the cheapest 1963 full size Chevrolet had more available interior colors than many of today’s Cadillacs.

    I’m not a fan of either the Celestiq as it is, or the alternative rendering in this article. Somewhere recently I saw a AI rendering of a Fleetwood 75 that should be what Cadillac is doing for a flagship.

    Why do so many designers seem like musicians who have decided that all the attractive notes have been played?

  5. I do NOT like the Celesque at ALL .
    The retro interior is excellent!
    GM just had to go with the hatchback hedge , in their obsession with Crossovers
    Nobody at that level of price are interested in grocery getting.
    The sedan like rendering is excellent & much preferred….
    With the flexibility of LED lighting, it would of been brilliant to go with an interesting fin effect , which is the beloved Cadillac signature.

  6. The ai generated reimagining looks 100 times better than the actual car. The rear is the biggest aesthetic issue on the production model. That goes for ALL of Cadillacs -IQ models. They ruined an opportunity to make something attractive. Lost me as a potential customer. I will continue with Mercedes. And by that, I will buy ICE, non-EV models of Mercedes.

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