General Motors plans to announce the development of the Cadillac Celestiq flagship luxury sedan during its EV Day press event in Michigan today.
The Cadillac Celestiq will represent “the ultimate expression of Cadillac design and technology, with a bold, dramatic presence, and unparalleled refinement and innovation,” the luxury automaker said. It’s staying tight-lipped on the details, but the sedan will likely ride on GM’s new BEV3 modular electric platform, which will also underpin the Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover, and should be available in rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants.
Cadillac Lyriq
A concept version of the Cadillac Celestiq is expected to be shown later today during the EV Day event. GM Authority will be present at the event.
We’ve heard the Cadillac Celestiq will have a design that closely resembles that of the Cadillac Escala concept. While the Escala also influenced the Cadillac CT5, there’s still plenty of inspiration for Cadillac designers to pull from the well-received design study.
Cadillac Escala Concept
GM says all vehicles announced during its EV Day event will be available by 2025. The Lyriq crossover will go on sale in 2022 as a 2023 model year vehicle, so the Celestiq will likely arrive sometime in 2023 or 2024.
Going forward, Cadillac will distance itself from the alphanumeric naming scheme that it introduced back in 2015 with the CT6 sedan and XT5 crossover. New names such as Lyriq and Celestiq more properly evoke the “key characteristics of Cadillac’s BEV vehicles,” the automaker says.
Cadillac is aiming for “most, if not all” of its vehicles to be battery-powered by the end of the decade.
The Lyriq crossover will be the first production electric Cadillac to arrive when it goes on sale in 2022. More details on Cadillac’s future EV strategy are expected to be announced during the Cadillac Lyriq debut event on April 2nd, 2020, at which point we may learn more about the Cadillac Celestiq.
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This report was written in collaboration with our sister publication, Cadillac Society.
Comments
4 years is a big gap without a full size luxury sedan.Why not continue building the CT6 until it’s ready to go into production.
Kinda thinking the same way you are Steve.
Detroit-Hamtramck assembly line to no longer make internal combustion engine vehicles. It will be retooled ($2.2 billion) over the next 12 to 18 months for the production of all battery electric vehicles.
Exactly this. The plan needs to be re-tooled. A $2B investment.
Because the plant where the CT6 is built is closing so that it can overhauled to build future GM Electrics, the Celestiq included.
Besides rhe CT6 doesn’t sell well enough to justify further production or moving daid production to some other place.
I believe that the CT6 is being built in China, mostly for that market. So if you want a new CT6, it has to be imported.
I love my CT6 and I think it shame it’s being discontinued. CT5 is just too little.
I couldn’t agree more !!!!
@Steve
Yeah I agree, but my guess is they aren’t too concerned. Yeah, they have no full-size sedan (sadly), but there’s no question that the 2021 Escalade is their new flagship for the next few years, full stop. They put a HUGE amount of money into that thing, and it looks like a winner. Because of that, the need for a flagship full-size sedan isn’t as pressing, especially in an SUV-focused world.
That being said, I really hope it comes sooner than 2025.
Great article on GM:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/general-motors-shrinks-holden-big-pic-may-20
This is a nice surprise. Really pumped to see this one!
If they can build a full-size luxury sedan that looks nearly identical to the Escala, even if electric, and spare no expense making it incredible at every level…they would have done what we’ve all been screaming for them to do for years. A true full-size, world-class, no-corners-cut, state-of-the-art luxury sedan. Wow.
Ruess on the Celestiq: “It’s a dream car for this company and our customers,” Reuss said. “It’s the ultimate expression of Cadillac design and technology, and the ultimate luxury experience.”
It is officially green-lighted for production. This could be an absolutely momentous move for Cadillac.
Available by 2025? That’s five years away! That tells me GM is announcing something that is in the early stages of development and this project is going to be like the Chevrolet Volt which was announced/shown in January of 2007 but the actual sellable car didn’t arrive for four more years, in 2011.
What’s worse, given Cadillac’s track record, it’s highly likely that management will change a few times between now and then and this proposed Cadilliq Celestiq gets canceled long before it reaches production like GM did with previous proposed flagships, including the Zeta Cadillac and the CT8.
I was hoping GM would do something like Lincoln has done with the Continental and Aviator which is to show a production-ready concept that then becomes a on-sale product only a year or less later. Five years is a very long time between concept and production. Even if it does look wildly gorgeous and futuristic, it won’t be nearly so daring after five years have passed.
I hate to be negative but I’ve just seen this movie way too many times before.
unfortunately GM has done this for years. By the time the vehicles show up all the excitement has worn off. In some case they don’t show up at all. I am with you why can’t the show a production ready vehicle and six months or so you can buy it at the dealer?
GM’s president made a statement a while back that they would under promise and over deliver. It seems somehow someone got that backwards In most cases.
You’re really using the Continental as an example of something Lincoln successfully brought to fruition? Please.
The Continental ended up being a FWD bias, frump, odd looking, dressed up Fusion. A far cry from the concept vehicle.
The Aviator is a better example obviously but with the Continental you have to remember where Lincoln was at the time. They built the truly frumpy and forgettable MKS and there was little advance knowledge that they were planning to resurrect the Continental moniker. At the 2015 New York Auto Show, they surprised everyone, and stole Cadillac’s CT6 thunder when they showed the gorgeous Continental Concept that not only revived the name but charted a new styling direction for the brand. It was truly a showstopper and some 15 months later, the new Continental was in production albeit somewhat modified from the original concept and having lost some of that car’s beauty.
The point is that what they showed was not five years away from production but just over a year away. For Cadillac to show another dream car and promise it will be built by 2025 is nice but I’d much prefer that they show us something marvelous slated to hit dealer showrooms next year. As I said above with the Volt, it seemed like such a revolution when it was first shown in 2007 but by 2011 when a person could actually buy one, it was old news.
Holy —- this is the first good take on the Continental I’ve ever seen online.
I think Gma is wrong about the dates. Both about this and liryq. They will come earlier.
Gma says lyriq will come in 2022 as a 2023 my. I really doubt it. Im pretty sure it will come in first quarter of 2021 as 2022 model year car. It is almost ready. There is no need to hold it for another 2 years.
As for the sedan it will come in 2022 as 23 m.y.
There also will be many ice engine cars based on the vss-r platform.
Great times ahead
The Continental concept was not the same as the production car.
Celestic | Celestiq
Lyric | Lyriq
Do you guys like the q or not? I kind of like it for Lyriq, but not Celestiq.
How about the 2027 Escaladeq??? 🤪
Esquaalude
How do you pronounce that in Chinese?
“Copyright Infringement”
Let’s hope they copy the Escala design and not just make a larger CT5 with batteries.
Design language is going to be stale in five years. Competition will have their product out before then.
I hope they make an ICE, or hybrid version of whatever this car will be. I envision a top-tier Cadillac sedan with a soul. One can dream but a hybrid 16 cylinder engine would be nice. I’m sure the concept will look good though as Cadillac always makes stunning concepts in my opinion.
The only hybrid Cadillac has ever made and sold was the Volt based ELR. I saw one up close and it was beautiful but small. I doubt Cadillac will ever build another.
And the CT6 Plugin hybrid, which was also killed off.
Nobody can sell hybrids other than Toyotas and even that’s down.
For a while Ford was selling more Fusion Hybrids than Toyota sold Prius as recently as last year.
But that’s also dead now.
Ford still sells hybrids. The 2020 Explorer and Escape will have hybrid models next year. And so will the 2021 F-150. Plus a few of the Lincoln versions will also be hybrids.
…..because no one bought them.
You must be living on a tiny island with a few goats and pigs as transportation. I live in Puerto Rico and I have a 2014 Fusion Hybrid that gets up to 54 MPG (I have proof), and I get over 40 MPG every week. There are thousands of Ford Hybrids and Energis sold and still selling here, and we are not even a State! Last month I saw a Focus Electric in great conditions.
Don’t forget Raymond, the previous generation Cadillac Escalade was available as a Hybrid 2009–2014, and also don’t forget the poorly received CT6 PHEV. The Cadillac ELR is technically a PHEV (EREV) – Extended Range Electric Vehicle.
Agreed. Cadillac’s concepts are always stunning and no doubt this Celistiq will be too. The problem is their production stuff is lame (exclusion to the CT6) and despite the lip service not very “inspired by” the concepts.
I understand GM is saying Celistiq will for sure be built but by hand in very small quantities and very likely at a very high price. That’s better than nothing and I 100 percent support the concept of a truly bespoke ‘Standard of the World’ Cadillac but if that’s all there is, I question that wisdom.
I don’t think Cadillac needs something akin to the Ford GT that nobody will ever actually see going down a road. A car like that to supplement a production full-size sedan would be fine but that car alone still effectively keeps Cadillac out of the segment that built the brand.
The CT5 is very heavily influenced by the Escala design language. But they have to make things cheap enough that the public actually buys it. Let’s face it, there is not a huge market for $100,000 sedans. In fact once the price goes over $50,000, there is a very sharp dropoff in sales for any brand, any manufacturer, any model. That’s just reality. A $100,000 cadillac sedan will always be an extremely niche vehicle and, while they may produce some of these, it will always share parts with other platforms and vehicles because you just can’t make a business case to produce a completely bespoke vehicle that only sells a handful of units every year. Yes if you globalize it, you can get a few more sales. But its never going to be a volume seller and thus the profits are limited.
So my attention has gone more to the names than the rest of the story. Does anyone know the correct pronunciation for the two names show? I see “V” above may have done this (Celestic and Lyric). Is that how they will be pronounced? I’m kind of in the same boat as V in asking if others like or dislike the names?
I don’t like the names, especially not Lyriq but I totally think Cadillac needs names again; just not feeling either of those.
Lyriq is too close to Lyrica, the drug and they all have a very low-rent vibe like something Hyundai would do. The Korean carmaker uses a very similar sounding nomenclature for their electric Ioniq (Ionic) sedan.
Celistiq is only slightly better than Lyriq but Cadillac has done this before with Provoq (Provoke), Evoq (Evoke) and Elmiraj (El Mirage). I much prefer a name like Escala for an actual flagship rather than a common word that is just purposefully misspelled to make it a name.
Ideally an automotive name should evoke some romantic notion or conjure up an image that reflects positively on the product. That’s why I like what Lincoln has done with Aviator, Nautilus, and Navigator. There is logic to them, they are all connected, and they all create a romanticized vision association with travel. Personally I think the Corsair should’ve been the Lincoln Mariner but that’s another topic. Nonetheless, I think Lincoln should be Cadillac’s inspiration rather than Hyundai.
Its pronounced “suh-less-stick,” per some other website, forgot which one. Think “Celestial”
Lincoln names are “flight” related, Navigator, Aviator, Corsair, so Mariner doesn’t work but didn’t Mercury also have a mini-van named Mariner… I know they had a small SUV off the first gen Escape..
xjung,
They had the Mercury Mariner which was Mercury’s rebadge of the Escape but I think that product is forgotten and FoMoCo should therefore already own rights to the name.
A Navigator is the person who directs the route of a ship but the word can apply to someone who directs the course of any other form of transportation too, including an airplane so point taken there. Nautilus is derived from a Greek word meaning “sailor”. Aviator is obviously flight-related and Corsair seems to refer to a pirate ship. A mariner is a person who assists with the navigation of a ship. Thus, I still think Lincoln’s names are broadly travel related, and actually more sea-going as opposed to specifically flight-related. As such, Mariner works better than Corsair in my opinion. No matter though, I like them all and they conjure up an image of exploring the world as opposed to Lyriq which reminds me of Hyundai or pain medication or music, none of which is glamorous or exciting.
Doh… forgot about Nautilus.. point taken
“Continental” is flight related?
That one is free breakfast buffet related.
I agree with you. I’m happy on one end because they are going back to names (anything is better than what they’ve been using). On the other end, these two names are not easy to look at, say nor do they bring out any real feeling from me personally. Escala, Eldorado, Seville and a few other new names floated around seem much better.
About the Lincolns: I love the names they are using. Personally, I really like the Corsair name. It may not fit totally with the rest, but it’s a great name that seems to bring out a nice feeling. Crazy? Maybe! haha.
Glad to hear a true Flagship is coming but neither the sedan or the CUV will be on the market prior to 2022?
What the Hell has GM been working on all these years?
Crappy interiors
Cadillac used to use exotic places as names:
Seville, Spain
Calais, France
Biarritz, France
Deville, France (de Ville also translates into ‘of the Town’ in French)
Fleetwood was the name of Cadillac’s coachbuilder and the name was adopted as a model designation. The Fleetwood Metal Body Company’s facilities still stand in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania and early in Cadillac’s history, they built the custom bodies for Cadillac cars.
I agree with most here, that while finally returning to names is a great thing for such a storied marque (at least they used to be) instead of the “alphabet and numeric soup”, these names are a bit vague and childish.
What’s more concerning is that it’s 2020, and there is currently an onslaught of nicely modern designed EV’s popping up everywhere. 4-5 years to finally show up and get in the game is pathetic.
BTW- how do you design a car now to be introduced in 5 years? Things change fast in the auto producing business, including both design trends and tech, and will continue to move even more rapidly. ???? @GM
Ergonomics will play a role as General Motors is getting embarrassed by Ford CUV having more rear passenger legroom than a Chevy Suburban; this is true for Cadillac’s CT6 which despite being a full size sedan has horrific rear passenger legroom for anyone over 6-feet tall as this is something that Cadillac and General Motors CEO Mary Barra needs to fix.
Legroom/ interior space is NOT ergonomics.
Really stupid name. May as well take the L now, Cadillac.
Seriously, why not call it the Fleetwood?
Because somebody’s grandfather once owned a Fleetwood.
Nobody old ever drove a Celestiq.
Worst name ever.
“pristiq” is an antidepressant.
They are literally using a brand name pharmaceutical naming strategy.
celestiq and lyriq are literally the coldest, driest, soul-less names I could possibly think of, compared to the warm, inviting, interesting names of old.
“Hey guys, lets combine the words celestial and majestic. Celestic. Hmm, not quite right. Oh I know. Make it a Q!!!”
IT sounds like a computer algorithm generated it overnight and spat it out on someones desk in the morning.
Just gross sounding.
Like many before have already stated; I’ll believe it when i see it. GM, nevermind Cadillac, has played this song too many times before…
Sidenote: beisdes the ease of manuafacture, I cant figure out the ass headed lunge for ‘electrification’. This will be one of those greatest fads of the 2000s. We will shake our heads about this 40 years from now. Is no one aware of the fact that there is currently NO infrastructure for the electrification of the US auto fleet? The current grid hasnt been upgraded, there’s no standard plug system, hell even the battery tech is still scattershot! Never mind the inferior range and the fact that ICE powerplants propel and supply power for accesories in a far more efficient way.
GM say…. Build it and they will come…… There, fixed!
“..there is currently NO infrastructure for the electrification of the US auto fleet?” Does your home appliances and illumination run on gas and oil? No, you have electrical appliances, so every modern home has electrical outlets. Plan your life with a large mobile electrical appliance, and you will have your infrastructure. Just plug in and let the EV charge while you sleep.
they are absolutely clueless what the hell they can’t even talk right . do they really think those names will attract buyers to the showroom ???
I am not a huge fan of the names, but these guys do extensive research on consumer reception when picking a name. Yeah, they don’t always get it right, but when coming up with an actual non-alphanumeric name, they use focus groups. The response must have been pretty positive, if you can believe it lol.
Five years without a flagship! GM can produce a larger Alpha sedan for example. In five years GM can also kill this project.
Escalade is the Flagship.
Besides, how many years did Cadillac survive and thrive without a CT6?
Survive not thrive…. they’re currently doing the former, not the later….
So you’re saying the CT6 alone is the difference? A car that very few buy? A car that loses half it’s value in 24 months?
Or did you post that just to pile on?
The CT6 was not competitive in its space… the interior just didn’t cut it and having a 4 cyl verses an 8 was a big mistake. They also never marketed it. The vehicle should have had a better interior and the 6 std w/an 8 as an option even if it was from the Vette. A 4 cyl should have been a no cost option for those that actually wanted it.
The investment and then abandonment has been pathetic to watch even as the 2019 got better looking. I may try to find one because I love it but yes, the depreciation due to GM’s colossal failures (once again) is the reason…
OK I like the names. GM / Cadillac hung names like Fleetwood, ElDorodo, Deville, ect ect on some of the saddest excuses of cost cutting cars and killed those names. Those names represent badge engineering, ancient platforms, downsized ridiculous eye sores, cars only old people wanted because thast who they built the cars for. Wire wheel covers, vinyl tops, bench seats, valuer interiors 30 years behind the times…. I hope they get Cadillac right THIS time, but I am not optimistic that the the “GM WAY” wont just Finnish Cadillac off forever………..
While I don’t think GM should of went back to names like Fleetwood, Deville etc, I do think they should of used some of the names from thier recent concepts like Elmaraj or Escala. Someone pointed out that they do extensive research and use many focus groups when deciding on names. This is true but were the focus groups in this case fresh out of high school? I know Cadillac is trying to appeal to a younger demographic but these names are downright comical.
Terrible terrible name it evokes cystic! and many other unpleasant things. What happened beautiful classic elegant names; Fleetwood, Calais, Deville…
As was pointed out elsewhere, a “q” is the symbol used to represent “charge.” So, evidently, in Cadillac’s mind, putting a “q” at the end of the model names for electric vehicles makes perfect sense. And I bet they want to distance themselves from anything bad or dated from the past, though I like the idea of the name “ElDorado,” as in the golden one (“dorado”) which is now electric (“el”).
Why did they have to overthink the names. Oooh, so excited that the names end with a q. It sort of makes sense though because evey time they design a car from A-Z, they tend to just stop at the Q anyway
Wait here’s an idea…Why not call it ” Escala” ? Great name simple, easy to pronounce and easy to remember. And it starts with an “E” get it “E” for electric. Why makes things harder than they need to be?????
Teresa: what mode did you get?
The names are meaningless or are they? Why Lyriq? Why Celestiq? I mean why not “paste” or “milk”… ? Why not create a name that evokes something? Durango, El Dorado, Navigator, Envision… anything but nonsense etc…. this company is run by idiots.
I agree !!!
It’s the product that gives the name meaning. What does “de Ville” mean? (Aside from the French translation).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_de_Ville_series
The name “DeVille” is derived from the French de la ville or de ville meaning “of the town”.[1] In French coach building parlance, a coupé de ville, from the French couper (to cut) i.e. shorten or reduce, was a short four-wheeled closed carriage with an inside seat for two and an outside seat for the driver and this smaller vehicle was intended for use in the town or city (de ville). An (unshortened) limousine or (in the United States) town car has a division between the passenger and driver compartments and if the driver’s seat is outside it may be called a sedanca de ville or town car.[1]
They want names that they can trademark.
guarantee GM will screw this up too .
It wouldn’t surprise me !!!