The 2025 Cadillac Celestiq is the summit of the Cadillac brand in its electric era. This bespoke luxury sedan is hand-built in Michigan, made to order, and starts in the neighborhood of $340,000. Now, Jay Leno has spent some time behind the wheel with Tony Roma, the car’s chief engineer, in the passenger seat, giving him the full tour of the car.
Roma rattled off some of the highlights of the car early on, like 650 horsepower, active roll control, air suspension, Magnetic Ride Control, and four-wheel steering. “It’s really good at that bi-model performance, where if you just want to go to dinner and relax, it’ll do that. When you want to hit a canyon road… it’s incredible,” Roma said. He went on to talk about the genesis of the Celestiq, which effectively replaced the Escala concept as the luxury brand’s halo car.
Roma explained to Leno the high level of customizability in the Celestiq. “The options on a Celestiq are what we call the color and trim. There are seven different zones to choose from on the interior, all the things on the exterior: the metal finish, the wheels, and obviously the exterior color. We have a team of concierges that work with each client to help them curate these cars to a harmonious state.”
Leno is a big fan of the Cacti Green (color code GVR) paint on this Celestiq as opposed to the brighter and showy colors Cadillac has shown off on the car. “I like this muted look because you can really take in the styling,” Leno said.
Roma also spoke of the unusual proportions of the 2025 Cadillac Celestiq, giving it a road presence that’s not quite like anything else. “The proportions are crazy,” Roma said. “The wheels and tires are the same size as an Escalade, but the roof is shorter than a CT6.”
Once they got it out on the road, Leno was impressed with the comfort and performance of the 2025 Cadillac Celestiq. “It handles amazingly well,” Leno said before comparing the Celestiq’s performance to the Lucid Air Sapphire. “At 650 (horsepower), you drive the Lucid with 1,200 horsepower; it doesn’t feel that much different than this. It’s very sure-footed… you never get the feeling you’re driving an enormous vehicle.”
Toward the end of the drive, Roma drove home the ethos of what the Celestiq is. “From the very beginning… we weren’t trying to make a trick EV. We were trying to make a great car that happens to be propelled by electricity. I think that comes through when you drive it. This isn’t a trick. There’s nothing gimmicky about it; it’s just a great car.”
Comments
He’s impressed with everything lately and it’s irrelevant.
According to another site, there are still some production slots available in the first year run… of 25 vehicles.
There is some really neat tech there, but it’s soooo freaking ugly.
And why do we care what Jay Leno thinks?
WOW so many Toyota people here or possibly an oil company. Please if you work for Toyota please go away to your bash center over in Japan. We know you cannot build this car and its very high quality.
Jay Leno? Barf!
You must be jealous of Jay’s wealth, grace and intelligence, never mind his car collection.
The vehicle screams Nouveau Riche and not elegant at all. The beached whale can’t compare to Rolls or Bentley or even the Maybach trim package on Mercedes. Needs a better design that says elegance, status and grace.
It’s nothing to do with jays wealth. I happen to like him. I see the real problem being GM is catering to this market while abandoning the car and affordable vehicle market. I challenge anyone here to drive thru a shopping center parking lot and count the competitive vehicles vs any GM with the exception of pickups. If you are old enough, you will realize that it’s not going to be many GM other than beaters from 20 years ago. Sad to me.
I retired from GM and was hired in 70 so I think it’s now a disaster for the average customer.
One very expensive vehicle to be just another crossover/suv.
GregS,
I think that’s exactly who it was built for. Everything about it says Nouveau Riche and perhaps that’s because those folks are all you understand if you’re living and working in Detroit. I always thought it was actually a good idea to get Cadillac’s leadership away from that place and dwelling amongst those with more sophisticated and finely curated tastes. I think part of the problem is that so much of GM’s leadership including Barra and Ruess are natives of Detroit and wouldn’t even understand what we’re talking about.
Remember when the word Cadillac was used to describe a good that was top of the line. I. E. it’s the Cadillac of boats, it the Cadillac of TV’s and so on. Now, it’s a Chevy called a Cadillac except for the Celestiq. Now, it’s a car that almost no one can afford or much less desires to own.
First, someone looking for a Rolls Royce/ Bentley class vehicle isn’t going to consider Cadillac. The only ones buying this ugly bloated thing are the Escalade types.