The upcoming 2024 Cadillac Celestiq will serve as the luxury marque’s flagship model, offering extreme levels of customization, cutting-edge technology, and a solid amount of affluence. While an overall attractive vehicle in its own right, the Celestiq’s rear end has left many questioning Cadillac‘s design choices, particularly the hatch-like, fastback body style. Wondering what the Celestiq would look like as a traditional sedan, we rendered our own Celestiq sedan.
Achieving the three-box aesthetic of traditional sedans wasn’t easy on the Celestiq, requiring quite a few changes to the original.
For starters, we shrunk the rear glass and then pushed forward, which provided the necessary room for a rear decklid expected of a sedan, complete with a new type of an integrated spoiler. All that required us to then revamp the C-pillar to be thinner and more upright, as well as to reposition the taillights lower into the rear quarter panel.
GM Authority rendering of Cadillac Celestiq sedan
All in, the Celestiq’s overall design language lends itself well to the traditional three-box form factor, and some members of Team GM Authority find this rendered sedan version to be more attractive than the actual production model.
Regardless, Cadillac’s decision to bring the Celestiq to market as a fastback sedan seems to be a nod toward ever-evolving vehicle design trends, which currently appear to favor utilities and fastbacks. That runs somewhat contrary to the luxury marque’s storied past, which was established through sedans along with sedan-like coupes and convertibles, including the Cadillac Eldorado, Eldorado Brougham and de Ville.
Comments
No thank you. Obviously they have forgot about “Standard of the World.” Cadillac/GM continues to go after the inner city jive crowd, forgot their base.
There is nothing “Standard of the World” worthy about the factory car, much less the Photoshop. Proportions are horrible on both and when did luxury begin to mean tacky?
If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. It would take quite a fool to lay down 300k for this glorified golf cart.
This is true. The back end is ugly, there is no hiding it.
If the Renault Fuego had continued to evolve it would be a Celestiq.
Talk about coded racism! You must be old talking about “jive” like it’s a 1977 of Good Times. Also, there is nothing urban about this car. The hood isn’t all about hatch backs lol
Stop with the coded racism crap. GO AWAY! The world needs less of the hyper-triggered reactions like yours!
I think GM is going for wealthy American and Chinese buyers as opposed to Jive Turkey’s from The Jefferson’s 1978 writer’s room
it has potential, but the D-pillar could have been better shaped with the lens light, maybe another try ?
For some reason that rear Spoiler reminds me of the 90’s…and it needs to stay in the 90’s. Maybe I’m looking at it wrong though, hard to tell on a phone screen, even blown up.
The dumbest photochop ever. The production car is stunning as is.
Yeah, stunningly ugly.
I second that! It’s an ugly-@ss contraption. They need make something in the same neighborhood as the Ghost. Or get off the field and let the chumps who designed and think the Celestiq is a good looking car, modified @ss or not, sit their @sses on the sideline.
It’s just not attractive. Whoever has control of design needs to retire.
The rendering isn’t great but its a lot better looking the the Marlin-esque GM design
Beautiful rendering job, some people don’t like to accept reality, have own GM all my life from 68 Firebird, Grand Prix to now a gorgeous 2020 CT6 (loaded), electric yes eventually will dominate the market but NOT YET, still many in the market for beautiful sedans, my local Cadillac dealer in S. Florida going anxious because so many calls and no inventory for sedans, I will bet any body that if Chevy comes out with a nice Impala design and specially an SS, O boy!, orders will fly.
Thanks
“some people don’t like to accept reality, have own GM all my life”
The reality is that GM has lost tons of market share to better quality cars offered by other brands.
But you’re right, some people have a hard time with this.
The 1999 Cadillac Ciel concept was a stunning car, an ultra luxury sedan. It was a beauty, a follow up to the Olds Aurora and Buick Riviera. Style has been abandoned because trucks and SUVs have rendered cars an afterthought. All the more reason to design stylish cars, all sedans don’t have to be cookie cutter designs like the Asian cars. With fewer cars in GM’s portfolio, it should be easy to come up with excellent designs.
BB:
The Ciel was not a sedan. It was an open 4 door car. It had no roof, folding or otherwise. Built just for show. That, and it was first unvield in 2011. (Where did you get 1999?)
” A follow up to the Olds Aurora and Buick Riviera”
????? How so? Both of those had been euthenized several years before and neither had anything in common with Ciel outside of having 4 wheels, seats, and an engine.
Not too far from a “shooting Brake” silhouette. This design reminds me of some of the awful clothing designs you see going down the runway……………and you think “who would ever wear that stuff”?
The rendering loses the original’s sportiness vibe in favor of something more conservative and less distinctive.
Since when is a humpback whale “sporty”? At least the sedan rendering has decent proportions, which is more than I can say for the production model.
Very misleading title, but perhaps that’s on purpose.
It implies that the image was an official design proposal penned by the Cadillac Studio.
Neither would make my short list, but in this case I have to stick with the factory real one. The rendering just looks way off like it was done by 5th graders and not by car people. IMO, if they did the rendering correctly, it would have looked much like a 2019 Cadillac CT6. Now there’s a nice looking sedan!
Were is the option for both need improvement? IMO the sooner the upside down boomerang tail lights go away the better. While I do wish the production model had a more traditional rear the boomerang lights just don’t work on the render. Am I the only one that wishes future Cadillacs would continue using fin style tail lights?.
Cadillac keeps whacking their designs with a The Big Ugly Stick hoping something looks different. Not to single Cadillac out as all the major manufacturers are designing Buck Rogers horrors except Hyundai and Kia.
Have you all forgotten that Lincoln gave it a real go just a couple of years ago with a pretty stunning 4 door traditional sedan that hardly sold. I am sure GM took notice and here we are.
So did Cadillac.
Sorry, don’t care for the looks. It looks like a squashed Buick.
Overall, I like the shape of it. I start getting less comfortable when discussing the upper rear taillights and the “brightwork” that begins at the top of the A-pillar and outlines the car back to the trailing point of the front fender. I think keep the drip rail and the rocker panel segments, but drop the fender segment. The upper taillights look like an afterthought that was not thought through very well. The hockey stick design looks out of place, not that I have anything against hockey sticks and taillights (I am a Canucks fan, after all). It just seems like the designer was hellbent on using the design and this was the only place to put it. Personally, I think that the whole blade motif has become tired. In the era of the 60’s Cadillac, the blade was couched in some nice brightwork. The Celestique lower light blade somehow almost seems like it does not belong where it is; like it is stuffed up unto someone’s armpit and holding on for dear life so that it does not fall off the car. The whole rear of the car looks a tad weird. Other than those bits, yeah, I like it. It looks pretty sharp.
No thanks! I’ll settle for the actual model, but the rendering would have worked if the rear 1/4 window (“opera window”?) had not been stretched out. The artist could have kept the original shape of said window with the sedan profile of the vehicle. Of course, they’d have to clean that profile up a bit.
The roof/ third window needs a little tweaking here and there. This could have potential as a modern Fleetwood 75 Limousine and Formal Sedan.
Most auto industry design in the last few years seems to have gone off in a freakish direction. Smooth beauty and simple execution with a few well placed details has been replaced by jagged angles, weird shapes and clumsy over decoration on packages that don’t have the surface area to support the geegaws, vents, strange folds and creases. Celestiq, either the whale tail original or your rendering looks like it has been in an accident. The proportions are good but the details are 7th grade study hall quality. Park one next to a Phantom. Which one commands 300K worth of respect? Sorry, don’t mean to be so negative. It’s just that Cadillac design has always been something special to denote special cars. Celestiq will undoubtedly be an impressive technical package. Fit and finish will also be above reproach for that kind of dough. But the design just isn’t there in my opinion. Love begins with a look. The market will decide.