The recent GM EV Day event was overflowing with new info on the automaker’s upcoming line of all-electric offerings, including the announcement of a new flagship luxury sedan from Cadillac called the Celestiq. Now, according to media in attendance at the event, the upcoming Cadillac Celestiq will cost at least $200,000.
If true, that price tag will make the Cadillac Celestiq the most-expensive production vehicle ever sold with a Caddy badge, catapulting the sedan into the realm of European heavy-hitters from the likes of Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Mercedes-Maybach.
Granted, that’s probably where a flagship model should be – at the top of the pile, waving the brand banner and raining down premium, aspirational associations across the make’s entire stable. The question, though, is this – what will the Cadillac Celestiq offer to justify the eye-watering price tag?
For now, Caddy is keeping its cards close to its chest on that front, merely stating that the upcoming sedan will be the “ultimate expression of Cadillac design and technology, with a bold, dramatic presence, and unparalleled refinement and innovation.” Sounds promising, but how about something a little more concrete?
Well, we know that the Celestiq will most likely adopt GM’s next-gen BEV3 electric platform for underpinnings, and could offer both RWD and AWD drivetrain configurations. We also know that the sedan will likely take styling cues from the gorgeous Cadillac Escala concept that debuted in 2016 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Finally, we expect the four-door to arrive sometime between 2023 and 2024, following the launch of the Cadillac Lyriq crossover slated for 2022.
Furthermore, it’s entirely possible the Cadillac Celestiq will offer some hugely impressive output figures. We already know that GM isn’t shy when it comes to making high-powered all-electrics, as evidenced by the 1,000-horsepower claims of the upcoming GMC Hummer EV, and given the Celestiq’s price tag, we think something near four-figures for motivation would be entirely justified. In addition, the Celestiq will be hand-built in the United States.
Then, of course, we have the tech offerings. Perhaps the Cadillac Celestiq will offer the highly advanced next-gen version of the Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving system called Ultra Cruise, something which will get closer to full autonomy than the systems currently in use with the Cadillac CT6, CT5, CT4, and next-gen 2021 Cadillac Escalade.
We’ll follow this story as it develops, so make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac Celestiq news, Cadillac news, and 24/7 GM news coverage.
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Yet Benz with Maybach have Police cars, taxis and trucks but Cadillac magically can't make a $200k car, lol.
I bet they'll sell of lot of those for $200,000 !!!
What are these guys thinking ???
Wayyyyyy back in 1987, Cadillac introduced the Allante. I was green behind the ears at the child-like age of 19. I just started at the Cadillac (Buick, GMC and Honda) store and was in love with American luxury. I vividly recall the intro of the Allante and all the hype with it: Being hand built (or at least in part), hand crafted words described the car. Engines assembled in the USA. Body of the car being flown in special planes from Italy and the USA, etc, etc. Although a much different car than this new Celestiq, there are also many similarities. If you look at the starting price of the Allante back in 1987 (if my memory serves me, it was around $48-57,000), and then factor that $50g would now be closer to the $200g in today's money. The Allante was being built for very wealthy customers with a very different demographic than the clients buying a DeVille or Fleetwood. Cadillac was going after the MB wealth.
Everything about the Celestiq makes me go back to the Allante. I really would love to see Cadillac totally succeed on this car. If they do it properly and give it a stunning design, that price tag won't hinder the few who would buy it. However, just one mis-step will tank this car. Do this Cadillac and do it with all you have!
I would also like to see the Celestiq succeed, but I Cadillac is pushing the envelop a bit too far it they actually think they can sell this car for $200,000. I understand your Allante argument and in fact I was one of 3,000 or so people who bought one. I bought a 1988, and if I'm not mistaken, the list price was $58.600. It was expensive, but it was quite a bit cheaper than a Mercedes SL, at the time. I think Cadillac has a long way to go before it can justify asking Bentley money for one of its cars,
I definitely see your point, but I think there's two critical factors missing from the Allante analogy:
1.) The Allante was billed as being a zero compromises, no-corners-cut car, but it definitely wasn't that. It was another parts bin, FWD, weak attempt at trying to take the fight to the Germans ruined by bean counters.
2.) The Celestiq presents a huge opportunity because, as an EV super-luxury sedan, it would be the only one available, and could set the standard in perhaps the (potentially) most critical segment, image-wise, for luxury automakers of the future. You simply cannot understate how beneficial a huge, technologically masterful, uber-luxury sedan could be for Cadillac, especially if its the king of the segment. The Allante never became anything near that important, nor could it ever anyway.
@G8Burnout: I do agree with you for the most part. However, one thing that you are missing here is the idea they had then compared to now. My comparison may not be perfect, but it's close to it. When they did the Allante, back then they had the same dreams and "goals" if you will, just like they seem to be doing here now. Of course there is a huge difference of gas vs electric. But back in the eighties, the Allante was (in their heads) the car that was going to change everything for Cadillac. Fast forward to today and I'm certain they have the same basic idea in their heads that this car will change everything. I hope this one does! I really want this to be a global smackdown! I dream that the super wealthy will be lining up for this car and it brings retail price or higher.
Question for you. In your #1, you say the Allante was "another prts bin, FWD week attempt". What other cars was it sharing anything with? Yes, it was front drive. However, in the day, the Allante did quite well against the competition from the car magazines, etc. Sales just never made it.
You know I am a Cadillac fan and love GM but this car may be nuts?
Let’s face it do you pay all this money for a unproven a Cadillac or do you just get the proven Bentley?
Will this Cadillac just be another $25k car in 5 years like the XLRV has become?
I know GM can build a car that is worth $200 k but will they let the engineers and designers get all they need to make it right?
I will state right now if anything inside or outside the car is identifiable part from a Chevy it is match over.
At least VW borrows for the Bentley from Bugatti not from the Jetta.
Bentley doesn't have an EV yet. This car is aiming for the people who want the performance and green cred of an EV with the status and luxury of a Bentley.
The price point could work if Cadillac has learned a lesson from the past. They can not offer a over priced under performing vehicle. It has to be top tier in every way or don’t even waste their money.
As a matter of fact with their past reputation they need to be better than all the rest. Being just as good and costing just as much is not going to cut it. That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong. I was once back in 1854 ,or was that 1954? Been so long I can’t remember. Lol
Agreed... We all remember the 75k two door chevy volt which rotted on the dealer lots (deservedly)...
My opinion that I keep sharing with everyone here that Cadillac will have a huge opportunity and most likely their last chance at becoming a Tier One Luxury Auto Brand is only with the transition to EV's. It is really looking like I might be proven correctly with everything media is buzzing about what they have seen. Now I will remain calm as I still understand that this is a GM Brand and the Beancounters can still destroy this Brand. But everyone that has seen the Lyriq is saying it is simply amazing. So maybe just maybe I will be proven correct with my assumption that Cadillac switching to EV's will be what finally Brings this Brand Back. Cannot wait to see what these next 10 years have in store for us.
Cadillac as a whole needs to distinguish itself from the rest of the GM lineup. if they continue using dashboards, steering wheels, switchgear, and other visible and tactile elements that other vehicles in the GM lineup use, They are doomed to get only a slight premium.
They need to up the game and make a truly unique not just another cloned GM vehicle.
It may be an amazing beautiful car, but why would someone buy a $200k Cadillac when they can buy $100k Tesla. The GM and Cadillac brand have been ruined after 30 years of building mediocrity. They will have work to rebuild brand value and it will not come overnight. Overpricing is not going to work.
Seems awesome, but it won't ever be a significant money making product at that price. Still, if it helps to re-ignite passion within GM for building great cars, I'm all for it. But I think there is an extremely high risk that people will look at it and say "Why should I pay 200k for a sedan with the same underlying architecture as every other GM vehicle on the market?"
Will there be enough to differentiate it when EVs are the norm? EVs are very quick by their nature. In the past, these hyper-expensive luxury saloons had extremely expensive, bespoke engines and powertrains which were necessary to provide the high performance that buyers expected, especially in a super heavy car. Performance has always been a draw for these cars. It isn't all just soft touch leather and wood interiors that draws people to them.
With EVs, even mid-range GM products are going to be very snappy on the road. I don't see there being as much of an impetus to spend that much when much cheaper vehicles have performance that is nearly as good. You can only go so fast on public roads. The Hummer will need 3 electric motors with 1000hp to feel quick. A sleek, aerodynamic cadillac uber-luxury sedan with that setup is going to be dangerously hyper-car fast. Do we even NEED that?
It'll sell a few thousand units and prop up the brand, but I'll never be able to afford one, so to a certain extent I don't really care about it, honestly. The large luxury sedans are already over-priced. Does anyone really think a base S-class is worth $100,000? Give me a break.
Show me an S-class competitor for $75k and I'll be impressed.
I think your comment points to something I’ve been thinking about; what will differentiate a luxury car vs. a mainstream car in an EV world.
Right now, the only real luxury EV we have is a Tesla Model S, a Porsche Tucan, Audi ETron, and a few other new-to-market products with the Tesla being the only one with history.
The Model S has been a novelty with its electric drivetrain and Silicon Valley pedigree. What happens though with the future GM envisions? When there’s a skateboard platform, batteries sitting in a tray and the number based on vehicle size and the same generic little electric motors? What determines luxury at that point?
Throughout automotive history, a cheap car had a rudimentary platform and a small, often four-cylinder engine with a manual transmission - think Model T, VW Beetle, MINI, Chevrolet Cavalier, Toyota Corolla, etc. On the other hand, a luxury car was built on a larger, much more sophisticated platform, with a large sophisticated engine sometimes with 12 cylinders or a V-8. A luxury car’s power train was smooth, quiet, and powerful.
From what I’ve seen of GM’s EV plans, it’s the ultimate in platform sharing which is probably why they’re doing it. The skateboard works well with GM’s parts sharing culture. They build a platform and scale it up or down using the same batteries and motors and put a pickup body on it, a Cadilliq body on it or a Hummer body on it but underneath, it’s the same. If this is indeed the plan, it explains why Ruess is so confident they’ll make money from Day 1. They are building a 21st Century Chrysler K-Car. The K used the same platform and 2.2 Turbo 4 for family sedans, vans, sports cars, luxury sedans, and even a quasi-exotic. This looks to be the same plan. It’s the ultimate in cheap.
So what makes a Cadillac special in this era? Or any other luxury car if they all do this. It won’t be the unique Blackwing 4.2 TT V-8? It has me wondering.
Model S and luxury don't belong in the same sentence. They cheaper out on interior matrriors, build quality, and sound deadening. When you make an EV, with a nearly silent motor, that is noisier inside than a midrange ICE sedan because of wind noise, you do not deserve to be called luxury.
Yet the CT6 was a WM Caprice/ G8/Commodore with unique sheetmetal, no problem with it.
I get the economy of scale but hell if you do/hell if you don't and it's reaching if you compare what GM doing to what Chrysler did in the 80s. Most of Bentley models are on Audi VW bones, Rolls today even have mostly BMW based models, Lincoln's electrics will come from some unknown Sillycone Valley start-up. What "grand plan" you have for an ultra-Caddy?..
"Yet the CT6 was a WM Caprice/ G8/Commodore with unique sheetmetal, no problem with it."
I'm sorry...WHAT??
Totally agree
And that's the culture today... "Give me Rolls Royce products, at Corolla prices". Just because... you know, it is a Cadillac.
Everyone complains that Cadillac is a "luxury Chevy". But over at the German camps, we have cars equivalent to a VW, to then cross the pond with little vinyl seats, plasti-wood and silver-painted buttons and all of a sudden it is luxury. And add to that, now "Tier1" bull****. Yea, the same nameplate that will pick up your garbage in all sorts of markets, while sell you an overpriced commuter FWD, and construction vans are deemed "luxury"?
Worst of all, all those Germans will not see 5 years without issues, they're dead at 10 years.
Cadillac, that is exactly what you need... a halo car. It would have been better with CT6 in the portfolio so there isn't a big gap, but I will wait on the sidelines and see how does it all come about.
Cadillac has always been something akin to "the best car that you can reasonably expect to buy if you have a good job and work hard." A 1955 cadillac fleetwood was $5300, the most expensive car they'd every produced at that time. That's $51,000 today.
This idea that Cadillac should be, or has ever been, a Rolls-Royce/Bentley level product, is just plain wrong. You may "want" them to be that, but thats never been the business model and likely never will be.
Them teasing a $200,000 uber-luxury sedan is fun and everything, but it won't sell and they know it. Cadillac will, as it always has, try to build the best $50,000 car they can and hope people buy it. That's their game, and why would they change it considering that is where the money is?
The CT5 is there for you today!...
Plus the custom built (and really expensive) Gulden/Depression-era Cadillacs was only compared to Rolls, Benz/Pullman and Lincoln, they have a chance to pull it off.
The CT5 is a great car, and the CT5-V is an excellent car. I have absolutely no use for a $200,000 sedan that will ride on the same platform as the $50,000 ones. I hope its an amazing car, I really do, but lets be real, it's pure marketing.