The Cadillac Celestiq battery-electric luxury sedan will be hand-built at the GM Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, making it the first production vehicle to be built at the historic facility.
The American automaker said Wednesday that it will invest $81 million to prepare the advanced Global Technical Center to produce the ultra-luxurious Cadillac Celestiq four-door. Renovation work at the facility has already begun, with the investment money being used to purchase and install related equipment to hand-build the large, zero-emission luxury sedan. GM Authority was first to report the Celestiq would be a hand-built model produced in small numbers, with customers set to be offered a large array of customization options.
“As Cadillac’s future flagship sedan, Celestiq signifies a new, resurgent era for the brand,” Mark Reuss, General Motors president, said in a prepared statement. “Each one will be hand-built by an amazing team of craftspeople on our historic Technical Center campus, and today’s investment announcement emphasizes our commitment to delivering a world-class Cadillac with nothing but the best in craftsmanship, design, engineering and technology.”
The Celestiq will make use of GM’s extensive additive manufacturing capabilities at its Global Technical Center campus, with the vehicle set to feature more than 100 different 3D printed components. This will include both structural and cosmetic parts, along with both polymer plastic and metal pieces. These 3D printed parts will produced both by GM itself, as well as outside suppliers.
GM opened a dedicated Additive Industrialization Center at the Warren campus back in 2020, which is focused on developing new additive manufacturing methods and techniques for GM production vehicles. The Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing performance sedans were GM’s first vehicles to benefit from 3D printed parts, including the shifter emblem, transmission components and HVAC ducts.
GM released a teaser image of the Celestiq show car last week, which revealed the electric sedan’s front driver’s side quarter panel, as well as its large alloy wheels. Previous teasers revealed portions of the Celestiq show car’s exterior, as well as its pillar-to-pillar widescreen infotainment display and its innovative SPD-SmartGlass roof.
As we noted previously, the production version of the all-electric Cadillac Celestiq will utilize GM’s new Ultium lithium-ion battery technology and Ultium Drive electric motors. The sedan will also come standard with all-wheel-drive and four-wheel-steering and will be the first GM vehicle to feature the automaker’s next-generation Ultra Cruise hands-free driver-assist system. Pricing is expected to start at around $200,000, which will likely make it the most-expensive Cadillac model ever offered.
The Celestiq will first debut in concept-level “show car,” form in late July, the automaker said this week. Additional teaser images of the vehicle will also be released in the lead-up to the official debut over the coming weeks.
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Comments
They are not going to show it this month I guess…
Sounds like late July is the official, final date though. That’s from an official press release from them, so this time I think we can all start counting down to an actual reveal. Can’t wait.
I’ve been told July 25th.
Cadillac CELESTIQ will be revealed in late July. Stay tuned.
I’d imagine this location is important for both quality control and creating the perception for customers that this vehicle isn’t built alongside “lesser vehicles” that could contaminate its opulence.
Kidding aside, if Cadillac is going straight for Bentley and Rolls, they, like those brands, will probably allow customers to come to the Tech center to see their car being assembled.
It’s far more appropriate than going to some assembly plant to see their $200,000 vehicle being built alongside a Lyriq or a Silverado EV and undercutting the ultra-exclusive image Cadillac is trying to create with the Celestiq.
Great points.
I’ve been following this car since October 2020, before it was announced, and this car is going to be the real deal.
I see a lot of naysayers, and I don’t really blame them…I don’t work for Cadillac or GM, so I have no problem criticizing. I’ve seen the flagship concepts that they’ve made, and never brought to market. It’s depressing.
However, every step of the way, Cadillac is doing everything right with this car. Incredible, halo car-worthy styling (and you’ll see this in mid July), yes. Exclusivity, yes. Limited numbers, check. Hand-built, sure. Premium materials, yes. High price, yes.
One neat thing about the design is that there are a TON of callbacks to Caddy’s heyday in the 1930’s-1960’s. And it works. They aren’t cheesy, they aren’t corny…they take the past design cues of when Cadillac was the best, and turn them forward into the future. Both inside and out.
There will simply be nothing like this car anywhere in the world, and I am convinced from everything I have seen and heard that Cadillac fans will be proud when they see it. I can’t wait for everyone’s reaction in July 😉
Wow how nice is the pleather they are using?
No pleather. Sorry to disappoint, don’t cancel your order.
They are not using genuine leather so now your just lying.
It will have leather or whatever you want in there as it will practically be a bespoke car. The buyer will have a plethora of choices.
Bespoke is rolls royce, Bugatti, pagani, ect… if you think for one second this will be bespoke then I feel sorry for you.
Man, some of you people are so dead-set on hating this car and the brand as a whole…YES, IT IS GOING TO BE BESPOKE. Every single car will be “custom-commissioned,” per Cadillac’s own website. Capische?
Lmao wow so now bespoke is picking interior color and the exterior color gm is so innovating.
Every single aspect of the car is being built to exact customer specs, and that doesn’t mean checking off boxes. Anything within reason that the customer wants will be put in. Hence, bespoke.
Laugh now, while you still have a shroud of dignity. I won’t when you’re proven wrong.
Yes, they are using genuine leather.
Ah yes let’s invest all this money to create a $200,000+ vehicle with the economy going into a recession.
Stupid GM.
The super-wealthy are relatively immune to high inflation and recessions.
And yet a lot of luxury brands died off during the great depression.
People didn’t want to be seen in such an expensive car.
this is 2022. greed is good and showing off is better.
Until you are shot dead.
With soaring food prices, gas prices and record suffering among the non-wealthy it’s just a matter of time before we start seeing more wealthy & greedy people in this country killed in retaliation. That’s the price you pay with blatant greed in gun filled America.
Geez, killed in retaliation? Okay, Stalin.
No, not Stalin. Probably someone who equates firearms with crime, rather than the people that commit crimes using guns, or knives, or machetes, or a sash-weight inside a sock, or any other handy weapon.
I don’t disagree with you Griz, but his comment reeks of violent class warfare-ism. I can’t imagine rage-posting like that, poor guy.
You don’t have to imagine anything this is America that man can say what he wants if you don’t like it start your own website where you have complete control over what others say, if your not willing to do that then piss off.
Why are you so obsessed with owning me online? Why do I bother you so much? I don’t know you and you don’t know me, so I couldn’t care less about you…only enough to be curious why you are so angry and annoyed constantly. Ease up bud, life is too short to be so negative.
@ G8Burnout
Unrest is in every state people are tired of getting squeezed while politicians do nothing but talk and billionaires get richer. If you don’t see it then you are very out of touch with reality and probably live in a gated community. So I agree with Evan it’s a matter of time.
Definitely don’t live in a gated community, that’s for sure. And I’m not out of touch, either.
Politicians do nothing but talk…no kidding. So we should murder them all? How about voting them out if they break their promises? It’s almost like the Founding Fathers thought of this already.
Billionaires get richer…so I guess we need to hang them then, is that it? I’ve been working class my entire life, yet I’ve never had the urge to blow the brains out of Elon Musk.
Everyone wants to play violent revolutionary online, but the revolution never comes. Politicians have lied since the dawn of time, and billionaires will always accumulate wealth…assassinating them does nothing.
Shootings are up all over so is violent crime open your eyes then come talk to me. You think it’s all talk to look at the stats unless you are claiming they are all made up.
Sir, may I kindly suggest an anger management class?
We’re at the stage of The PURGE? Wow.
Ummm Elon just had 40% of his wealth wiped out.
Have you seen the crypto market as well?
The wealthy are not as Immune as you think.
At $200,000 each as a starting price, Cadillac only need to fabricate 405 cars to break even. I know that there are more than 405 eager customers who will order one or more. There are more than 1,000 other foolish customers who order imports any way.
Nobody wants to listen to your opinion. Nobody asked.
It’s not GM’s fault. It is bidens fault.
it’ll be interesting to see what an ultra luxury ev looks like. i hope it isn’t filled with tech gimmicks.
… just see BMW i7… have u not seen ?
i still don’t understand what a consumer of a $200K luxury sedan wants besides the fact that they want everyone to know they can afford a $200K vehicle.
Build quality, design, material quality, craftsmanship, sophistication, quiet, comfortable, isolated, total ownership experience.
There’s a lot. It’s diminishing returns like everything else. The leap from Camry to S-Class is way bigger than the leap from S-Class to Bentley, for example.
But, for everyone who thinks, oh this is just a bigger CT6, no it is not. Actually check out the S-Class/7-Series level of car, and if you can, Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Pay attention to the details that GM ignores, leather in places you would never touch, etc. That’s the difference.
The Celestiq is best compared with Maybach. Not really a true Rolls/Bentley fighter per se, but well above the 7 Series/S Class/A8. Much closer to the former than the latter.
However, where this car will excel is that it will likely sit atop the luxury EV world, as the market is so new…and Cadillac knows this. Whoever can establish a premier image there first will be the company to topple for the foreseeable future, much how Rolls dominates the ICE high-luxury market.
Variation: I never saw the appeal of a wind-up watch for $12,000 that tells you what time it is, and can get you mugged or killed by someone who wants it but won’t work for it.
Meantime, my $175 quartz watch that looks nice, runs well, tells me what time it is, and it unlikely to make me the target of a thief.
175? you over paid!!!! i bought a 80’s retro style casio for less than $20 and it is a great watch. i don’t care if it gets stolen/scratched/lit on fire or anything else. it just works.
Then you’re not interested in craftsmanship or engineering. You’re not paying for more precise time keeping with those types of watches.
If that’s not your priority, okay fine, but to suggest they’re the same is missing the point and shows why someone doesn’t have the right mindset to be commenting on luxury goods.
And not depriving yourself of nice things because someone might steal them? What a crappy way to life life.
…ahhh in a far far one day… probably.
I think this is great news that they will produce it in the states, especially in Michigan. I’m excited to see the production ready car and am hopeful that this sedan will help propel Cadillac back to where they should be.
Part of me wants to get it, the other part of me says why not just buy a ct6 blackwing for more than half as much. I don’t know how you can be that much better than that car aside from ultra cruise and justify another 125k or so.
Go look at some of the cars in the price point. Sure, it’s diminishing returns, but the clientele at this level are exacting. Details GM ignores are felt and noticed.
The CT6 honestly wasn’t great, in the world of S-Class 7-Series. Plastics everywhere, harsh ride, not quiet enough, not sophisticated enough, etc.
Sounds like they are basically milling out multiple copies of a concept car. Interesting idea. Probably a BEV-3 underneath and a 3D printed body. Who knows, could be the future if 3d printing gets cheap enough.
Quite a bit different than today. A lot of those early luxury brands were small coach builders turned small car companies and not subsidiaries under a larger global automaker. Even the smallest of high-end automakers today (Aston Martin, Rimac, Koenigsegg) partner up with other automakers to reduce cost and financial risk.
How is Aston Martin small? Do you not know who owns them?
So a $200k + electric car that has to be constantly be charged built on the same exact chassis as a Lyriq? No thanks, throw the 5.5L from the CT6-V in it supercharged or twin turbo charged, then yes this would be an awesome vehicle to middle finger the Bentleys, Rolls, etc., of the World!
What do you mean constantly charged? GM has been hinting this will likely be in the upper 300 / low 400 mile range. Bentleys and Rolls are absolute pigs when it comes to gas so the Celestiq will easily outperform them both on energy consumption and having to be “refueled”.
I took that as a reference to having to stop about every couple hours or so of highway driving to charge for the better part of an hour, like any other EV.
Maybe he meant something else though.
Exactly!
In real World driving and weather conditions, it will not get that kind of mileage. Plus you get to hear the glorious sounds of an electric motor, like driving a golf cart! No thanks!
Dan: Where are you getting your EV info from? We have had EV’s on the road for long enough now that we all know (except you??) that EV range is greater than the average person needs for driving daily now.
Also, maybe all of us don’t want the sounds or noise an engine makes. Some of us appreciate an ultra quiet car with luxury being the focal point instead of overall performance, power and sounds. There’s an old saying that silence is golden.
You don’t even have the money to buy a CT6-V, so why complain about a car you can never buy?
It doesn’t have to be “constantly charged” any more than a gas car has to be constantly filled up.
The engine you mention, while powerful, is woefully too unsophisticated for application in a vehicle like this.
Electric vehicles have their drawbacks still, to be sure, but this sounds like a regressive opinion.
But I can refuel my ICE car in 5 minutes. Can you “refuel” an EV in 5 minutes?
It’s a fair criticism, and one of the reasons I’m not rushing to buy an EV, but that doesn’t mean it has to be “constantly charged”.
No Cadillac is worth $200,00 ! Cadillac taking on Rolls Royce & Bentley? Please -that surely is a joke. Will these Cadillacs feature the headlight problem that certain Cadillacs were prone to? The defective headlights were to be replaced-with the same type ! Way to go GM! I Again I repeat -no Cadillac is worth $200,000 . I do not mind that electric cars are the rage for GM and other auto companies. A lot of money is being invested in these vehicles. The problem is that the country is not set up with enough charging stations. How are they going to install them in the cities?
The only Cadillac that can command a price north of $200,000 is the Sixteen that never went into production.
And here folks, is what we call an undereducated person who thinks he knows everything. Don’t listen to this fake-@ss robot.
Anyways, the Cadillac has a very high popularity, way more popular and way better than rolls royce,and bentley combined. That’s the facts.
I see many nay sayers about this $200,000 Cadillac You remind me of the fox and the grapes which the fox could not reach, so he call them “sour grapes”. That is just bad mouthing something you can never afford or reach, and a form of jealousy .
The only jealously is you clowns claiming this car will compete with rolls Royce and Bentley 2 manufactures that you’ve never ever sat inside their vehicles.
That makes no sense. How does comparing two things make you jealous of one of them? I could compare Mercedes and BMW, doesn’t mean I want either.
Haha! AS a kid I remember opening the door of a 1960 Cadillac, where it seemed like 20 lights went on (the car was HUGE by today’s standards) and of course, later on I found out that the Cadillac Fleetwood (even huge by Cadillac Standards) had a 5 ton air conditioner. Besides all that sumptuous Leather Seating.
My whole house central air conditioner for my 2200 sq ft house is exactly HALF that size.
So it will be interesting to see if the designers at Cadillac can come up with something that will impress the Well-To-Do. I would imagine they would at least ‘benchmark’ Rolls, Bentley, Aston-Martin, top end BMW and Diamler products – to at least be competitive with their offerings in the price range.
You also don’t expect your household AC to take the house from 140 deg F down to, say, 80,in a matter of minutes. Car A/Cs have always been very high capacity because of the job they are expected to perform.
Decades ago, there were projects in magazines like Mechanix Illustrated and Popular Mechanics on how to take a single car A/C compressor and other components, and build a home-brew central air conditioner system. The Frigidaire compressor that looked the slze of a car generator with gout was the first choice, although AirTemp, and Kelvinator-Weather Eye were in the running as well.
Grizzly:
I’d wonder about the reliability of the wobble plate in GM air conditioners as well as leakage from bad crimps on the hoses and, with an ICE, the obviously required shaft seals since shaft seals are required – the compressor being belt driven powered…..
Not until the advent of hybrids and electrics have car air conditioning systems been RELIABLE..
The Semi-Hermetic compressors used obviously have no shaft seal as the compressor and motor runs in the refrigerant, and is cooled by it – so not so great for absolutely highest efficiency, but the units are trouble-free…
My oldest EV of the 7 I’ve had has been an 8 year old 2014 caddy ELR. The air conditioner still runs as it did the first day.
Commercial Refrigeration compressors that use separate electric motors or ICE engines use stainless steel spring loaded double mechanical seals, which are replaceable after every 100,000 hours of use…. One seal to isolate the crankcase of the compressor (under up to 125 psi of pressure on the ‘suction side’), from the shaft, and the other to isolate the outside atmosphere from the shaft….
Such EXCELLENT design ideas were never used by the old GM, FORD, or CHRYSLER models…
Speaking of which, for a while Chrysler’s Air Temp division made both ‘open’ (shaft-driven) and semi-hermetic compressors in the 20 – 100 ton range (They got that Great Brain Idea in the 1960’s – their mistake there was thinking they could build a better unit for REAL CUSTOMERS)…..
But a few 60 ton units I’ve casually worked on had problems with their cylinder unloaders…. Something which other manufacturers of long-lived equipment (think FRICK or VILTER) had perfected many decades before.
The other problem was the ‘part-winding start’ used on the semi-hermetics (to minimize light flicker when starting) – had a cheap 1 second air dash-pot time delay…. Dirt in the air would at times jam the tiny solenoid and prevent the second set of stator windings from energizing and the motor would burn out in seconds (Most manufacturers of PW Start motors say the motor MUST be fully energized in no longer than 3 seconds)…
I just shorted out (wired around) the time delay units on the rest of the units since there was no need to ‘Prolong the Agony of the Starting Duration’. Hahah. Due to the voltage drop in the feeder to the compressors, the units were defacto ‘reduced voltage start’ anyway.
Bill Howland:
I think that GM should be thinking completely outside the box on this Celestiq car project. Not benchmarking traditional luxury brands as you suggest but using their big platform Escalade to build upon and customize. Why are full sized four door pickups so loaded with options and elevated? Simply, the owner wants head turning recognition and big vehicle safety and comfort.
The Celestiq sedan is not a head turner. The name is tantamount to a Revlon lipstick. BTW: Revlon filed for bankruptcy this week.
This whole Celestiq thing is off center to me. Similar to the wet dream of headquartering Cadillac in New York City to reimage it. New York City has gone downhill like Paris and London with all the undesirables that have moved in. Even Carl Icahn and Donald Trump have moved out of the Big Apple.
GM has been hell bent on the electric path, but they need to retrack on the design path like what saved Chrysler 40 years ago. GM has terrific winners in their big platform SUV’s.
Even the lady CEO of Hertz Rent A Car has stated that she drives a Tahoe as her favorite car.
You mention Fleetwood in your comment. Fifty years ago this was the ride of bosses of corporate America and the Mob. They were plentiful along 5th and Park Avenues.
The Escalade is now the ride of the Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd., Worth Avenue, Sheridan Drive, 5th and Park Avenues, Shaker Blvd., Camino del Rio crowds. Build upon the Escalade. Forget the Celestiq.
Get back into SEMA versus CES to feel the pulse and temperature of what car shoppers want.
You do know that this is a very small volume of less than 500 units made annually right? What’s so wrong having it in production as a halo product for the brand?
Someone in another posts under a different story stated that the car is huge: long, wide and low where you stated in another post that the car is going to be tight and stuffy.
David Alan Murray:
Haha !
Well, What is considered ‘In-Vogue’ changes with time.
I know one thing: When my LYRIQ with its Cartoonish Head-Light-Show every time I approach the car arrives, (dealer called yesterday and said it will be at least 2 months before they have it), I’m turning all that attention-getting crap off.
I want to drive a nice larger EV… I DO NOT want to advertise to other would be car jackers that I am doing so.
It’s not sour grapes or jealousy . I see what Cadillac now offers on the lot and quite frankly I think that most of them are over rated. I hope though that the quality has improved . Probably anyone who thinks of “buying” one of these will probably lease it anyway. It is just my opinion to drive that expensive an automobile is ridiculous because it is not a vehicle for everyday use. Imagine one of these in a supermarket parking lot-probably not. Each to thier own .
I’ve seen a Rolls Ghost (previous generation model) parked at Publix where I use to work previously. Also, I’ve seen a Bentley Flying Spur (second generation) model parked at Walmart alongside the other cars few years ago. Apparently, some people don’t care and it is just a car to them.
The type of person who buys this is not going to use it everyday, because the type of person who buys this is going to have on average 3-4 more cars (realistically probably even more than that.)
I bet almost every single one of these that is sold, it’s not the owner’s sole mode of transportation.
This deal is kind of what Benz did with Maybach. My hope is Cadillac will learn from their mistakes.
They built a great car but it was too close to their regular production car. This car needs to offer styling and features the other car fails to include. It needs to represent where Cadillac is going not where they have been or are.
I see the comment about the CT6. Yes that is my fear this car could be compared to that car. They need to make sure there is no comparison to it.
Also at $200 k can they really out do Bentley or Rolls enough to. Are the comparison? It sounds like a lot of money but it can go fast when doing expensive things.
This is not a profit car it is an image car for Cadillac and the customer. Can they get it up to that level of image where it matters?
As for the economy. It is what it is. The wealthy are spending so that should not be a factor.
Bring back the CT6!
The CT6 is still being produced, but only for the Chinese market. The latest spy shots show it having a front facia similar to this vehicle.
This is going to be NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thats great , a 200,00 car , when are they going to build the CT5V BLACKWING , WITH CARBONFIBER , 2022 OR 2023 ??
ALL OF YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT! The customers of the Celestiq will be the Kardashians, Rappers, Movie Stars, NFL Players and highly paid Techies. Photo shoots of them on front of their cars being built at the Tech Center will be fodder for the media, who will tout the resurgence of the American automobile and show how “American” they are by trading their Rolls, Bentley and other “foreign” makes. There are cities and towns now like Beverly Hills/Laguna Beach CA.,Kirkland/Bellevue WA. and St. Johns County/Palm Beach FLA. to name a few where $200K+ vehicles are not uncommon and are roaming the streets. So, IMHO, the Celestiq will be a big hit and have a five year backlog of sales.
What makes you think that this group of people will trade in their Rolls, Bentley and etc for the CELESTIQ? Give or take, it will be parked alongside the Rolls, Bentley and etc since this group have unlimited net worth having several vehicles costing a quarter to million plus dollars parked on their estates.
The popularity of the Escalade has shown that celebrities will buy these tanks. Except this one will be state of the art unlike the Escalade!
BLozano:
You want to design and build a luxury vehicle that has an association with the wanabees to be instantly like the hard core primary buyers. That’s why muscle cars took off in the late sixties.
Going back to my previous comments, you want a vehicle with swagger, is a head turner and makes an in your face bold statement. This platform is the big SUV’s, ie. Escalades, Suburbans, Denali. Currently these platforms are popular with the Hollywood and celebrity set, Martha Stewart, et.al., very popular with the Gangbanger street leader crowd, and also the federal law enforcement crowd.
The Cadillac Beast as the presidential limo is a terrific marketing tool for GM. However it is dated..
Trump preferred hardened Suburbans. They are more popular for extension and hardening with Lehman Peterson in Illinois. Smaller Cadillac sedans do not make a slamming statement. In fact they blend in with the traffic. The Suburban stands out.
The Marlboro Man helped popularize the pickup as everybody wanted to be a cowboy. Likewise Harley-Davidson had help from Easy Riders and the Hells Angels as everybody wanted to be bad ass rebel bikers. Full sized pickups and Harleys are popular products. Irving milk toast accountant wants a sedan.
The current in mode style is Bad Ass with the popularity of tattoo shops on every corner, Cannibis outlets and the popularity of tobacco products. The sedan platform is fuddy duddy for the senior crowd who take their teeth out at night to soak.
So my suggestion and call is to think out of the box like Chrysler did with the minivan and Ioccoca did with the Falcon platform to build the Stang and forget the sedan body and build upon the Escalade. GM’s big body on frame platforms are winners, cash cows and safer too. A long wheelbase also gives a better ride.
Big mistake. GM should consider an electric customized Escalade / Suburban / Denali. The Celestiq sedan body and platform is ergonomically tight and uncomfortable. You need a luxury vehicle with oceans of inside cabin room, like Fleetwoods, 98’s and 225’s. The big SUV platforms have it.
You want comfort, safety and swagger. The Celestiq at $200K will unfortunately be a flop.
A big platform vehicle will be the rage of Arab Shieks, Country Presidents, Big Shots, Wall Street Executives, Doctors, Lawyers, NFL, NBA players, Golf Pros, Gangbangers, Las Vegas and Hollywood personages, etc.
Mark my words.
GM is missing the boat on this one.
How can you post a statement like that without even seeing the final product. If you have seen the car in person you must be an insider that for some reason would want the car to fail. Are you an unhappy GM employee?
Hubster:
No. I’m a big fan of the American auto industry, and world auto industry in general. I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, in the shadows of the Ford engine complex, Chevrolet stamping complex, Fisher Body complex, Clevite, TRW and Ohio Crankshaft plants.
Turning 16 years old in 1968, not having any money, and hell bent on buying my first car, plus wanting an economical ride, I held off on the car purchase. Went to college in Cincinnati. Working summers and saving some bucks. In 1973 I evaluated compact economy cars. Thoroughly inspecting the Pinto, Vega, and Corona. Since this was all the money I had in the world and wanting the best value, since each vehicle was priced similar, my inspection determined that the Pinto and Vega were junk. I was very impressed with the quality and build of the Corona.
I purchased the Corona. The dealer, Metro Toyota, on Lorain Avenue on the far west side of Cleveland had an outlet the size of a convenience store and a car lot that held about a dozen cars. The Datsun dealer in Cuyahoga County back then was a service station that sold new Datsun’s as a sideline.
My thoughts and determination in the early seventies was that these Toyota and Datsun automakers were going to have a future. I sadly saw that Pinto and Vega were substandard products.
I have owned and driven hundreds of cars since that Corona Mark II. I got 100+K trouble free miles on that Corona and it’s little 8RC overhead cam engine with terrific fuel economy. I took a road trip one summer throughout the continental US and Canada with it. It was a blast. I was like the kid in Call of the Wild, although I made sure I had plenty of food. That Corona impressed my Dad, neighbors and relatives. That Corona gave birth to Camrys, Avalons, Z cars, Corollas,
etc. over the next fifty years. So now you know part of my story. I now drive a Diesel Suburban and love it.
David,
I’ve been in Cleveland many, many times, so good to see some representation there. Totally underrated city.
As far as your EV Escalade/Yukon/Suburban point, those cars are already being developed. The Escalade IQ, as the electric Slade will be called, is the furthest along in development, and it’ll be exactly what you proscribed. The other two will come shortly after.
There’s a market for both the Celestiq AND a high-price EV Escalade.
Hey G8Burnout, thank you for posting and provide insight thru close associates on the CELESTIQ currently.
By any chance of further information about the IQ Escalade, is the model going to be further up the ladder and will it be between the new Range Rover SV and Rolls Cullinan for as pricing and customization is concerned? I understood from your previous posts, the IQ model is more rounded than the current gas model. Will it have that Art Deco design to it also?
I do believe the Escalade has more than enough equity to go further upmarket because there are people going to third parties adding $200k-$300K for customizations. It would be a great opportunity for Cadillac to try to keep some of the customizations in-house but not as extreme like Lexani.
Hey Johnls_39,
Sure thing! I’m not here to flex on people like some know it all (as I’ve been accused of too many times to count), though I admit that I would probably be annoyed if someone else came with the same claims of having information as I have lol. I don’t care what people think about me or if they believe what I say, I’m only here to give fans of this car and the Cadillac brand some details to chew on before the big reveal. It’s an exciting time!
Admittedly, I have very limited info in the Escalade IQ at this point other than the general shape and exterior design (it was shown off in clay form behind closed doors about a year and a half ago). The shape is definitely smoother, with a huge front end and similar size. There was no Cadillac Goddess on the exterior, so I don’t think it will be a real Cullinan competitor. Range Rover yes…the truck will more or less occupy the same space as the current Escalade from what I can tell. But I could be wrong.
I also think the Escalade could move further upmarket, and I don’t think that’s limited to the EV version…same is true of the ICE car. But neither will top the Celestiq, as GM execs have made it very clear that no car will sit above it in the company portfolio, regardless of brand.
G8Burnout:
Thanks for your Cleveland, Ohio comment. Cleveland was the No.2 auto making city next to Detroit when America was America in the fifties and sixties. It was a serious metalworking city. Now it’s a blend with medicine being the primary industry. If you need heart surgery or replacement, Cleveland Clinic is the go to place. The Saudi Shieks fly to Cleveland for heart work.
Back to cars. I heard the Cleveland Auto Show has sadly trimmed down. Sad to learn that GM and Ford are pulling out of Sin City this year at SEMA. Big mistake. Electrics are not going to be the Panacea. Too many in the industry are delusional about this. Musk is having his crazy West coast heyday. The Tesla stock price is wildly insane.
BTW: For security and reliability they will never have the presidential limos, aka The Beasts, equipped with electric propell motors. IC engines cannot be interfered with with rogue electronic signals to disable the electronic control and propell system. The hacker geeks would have fun with this.
There should not be no customized Suburban and Denali if we are going for super ultra luxury. Cadillac should lead the charge for the elite. Also, there is a possibility that Cadillac could do a super ultra luxury SUV possibly under the Escalade as a variant.
Disagree. I don’t like the SUV form factor (for luxury cars in particular) for many reasons:
1: It’s inherently compromised. The tall shape makes it drive worse, and and the lack of a trunk makes it louder
2: It’s designed to do things that are the opposite of what it’s buyers are doing. It’s designed to go off road and haul things, but buyers want to cruise around cities alone in comfort, so why would they buy this kind of vehicle?
3: Automakers phone in their SUVs, because they know they’ll sell anyway. The equivalent sedan in the range is almost always nicer than the SUV (S-Class vs GLS, X5 vs 5-Series, etc.)
4: It’s a utilitarian design, so why would I want that to signify luxury or status? I wouldn’t put on a pair of overalls to go to a board meeting.
5: This one is personal, but people are lying to themselves about why they “need” one. Lying to themselves about how they’ll use it (as if modern crossovers were off road capable anyway), lying to themselves about needing cargo space, about needing it for kids, about the benefits of ride height (it’s 2-3 inches taller, come on). They buy it because they don’t think, and feel like they *should* get one because I don’t know. That’s disappointing.
Celestiq updates are very encouraging.
Cant wait to see the finished product.
With the new electric GM I hope they release their new offerings with some drama. Like when Chrysler – Dodge initially revealed their new full size pickup design in Las Vegas at a trade show about 30 years ago. They released the pickup from the ceiling in a controlled drop and bounce. Very dramatic. Dodge – Ram full sized pickups have been huge winners since. Big cash cows for Chrysler, FCA and Stellantis.
It is going to be so sad when it flops…. they finally try to do something great and screw it up so badly!
I can’t see this car doing anything it don’t even look good Cadillac needs to get away from the waterfall headlights Cadillac need a good coupe like that 1981 Seville and this photo of this car just ain’t getting it for me I don’t see how anyone can be excited about this photo this car
Ronald James: Agree.
The Buick Wildcat electric prototype concept is 10X’s more appealing and if put into production will be a winner.