“This never happens,” says chief engineer Tony Roma, pointing to the nearly 18-foot-long Cadillac Celestiq occupying a considerable patch of real estate within a sleek Hollywood studio just hours ahead of its official debut. “I’ve been with GM 29 years, and you never get handed a clean sheet of paper and a mission like this. ” Also rare: a production version that looks nearly identical, and in fact, slightly longer and more spacious than the star-crossed concept car that preceded it.
In the case of Celestiq, Cadillac’s endeavor was like nothing the brand has attempted in nearly a century of building cars: create a bespoke, cost-no-object sedan that harkens back to a long-lost era when the brand rightfully asserted itself as “the Standard of the World,” a title inspired by the marque being awarded the Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club in 1908. More than 100 years later, the carmaker is sinking unprecedented resources into attempting to recapture a reputation that has been long lost to the realities of mass production. Based on our private preview of the Celestiq, the results are remarkable.
First and foremost, when Cadillac’s future flagship goes into production in the fourth quarter of 2023, it will look like nothing on the road thanks to its impossibly long, low and wide stance. And it will take full participation from buyers in order to commission each one to its unique spec. With a wheelbase longer than that of an Escalade, a windshield steeper than a Corvette ’s and a roofline that’s more akin to a classic Lancia Gamma Berlina than anything produced this century, the Celestiq identifies itself as more of an outlier than follower.
“The ultra-luxury pack is full of upright sedans,” says Cadillac designer Michael Simcoe. “Why would we want to do that if we want to stand out? Cadillacs have always been just a little bit different. ” Simcoe says that it offers “less of a hard edge, more of a sculptural, leaner look” than contemporary Cadillacs, signaling a shift in the brand’s design language.
Roma chimes in, adding that “Clearly this car was not designed to be an aerodynamic shape, that wasn’t its mission; the aero is good, but the drag coefficient is not the story. ” Spending the better part of two hours discussing the Celestiq with various designers, engineers and color & trim experts unfolds entirely different stories that seem to orbit around one theme: Cadillac wants to put the high-end luxury world on blast, and is willing to go to ludicrous lengths to do so. Starting with materials, there is a startling amount of real metal trim throughout the vehicle, inside and out, much of which can be customized to achieve subtle differentiation according to customer wishes.
“We’ve over-indexed on ‘if it looks like metal, it’s metal,’” says Roma, “and we don’t mean metal plating on plastic or metal wrapped over an injection mold and substrate. ” As such, there aren’t just the standard exterior bits finished in trim, like the lengthy expanse of aluminum along the running boards, but novel pieces like the front-grille header, which is coated with indium because the metallic element’s atoms vibrate at a frequency that allows the car’s radar sensors to pass through it. Another example: The highly polished aluminum steering wheel, which features fine cutouts for backlighting.
The tiny spaces were nearly impossible to create using standard techniques, so a GM engineer found a medical laser used for capillary surgery that nibbles small slivers of metal away with pulses measured in nanoseconds. You’ll be forgiven for accusing Cadillac’s so-called Goddess figure for looking a tad too similar to a certain British brand’s Spirit of Ecstasy—the resemblance is real. But Caddy’s gal draws legitimately from the American automaker’s early days, particularly the 1933 V-16-powered sedan from which the Celestiq draws some inspiration.
Though it can’t be labeled “crystal” since actual crystal involves lead, which is banned from use in automotive applications, the Goddesses in the optical glass elements embedded throughout the car are encased in a material as legitimately luxurious as something you’d find in a Champagne flute. Though there’s an air of old world details sprinkled throughout—knurled surfaces, fine leather everywhere, from the flooring to the headliner, and plenty of aforementioned polished metals—the Celestiq also incorporates twin electric motors capable of launching the car from zero to 60 mph in 3. 8 seconds, and carries a 111 kwh Ultium battery pack expected to yield 300 miles of range.
That battery is claimed to be capable of fast-charging up to 78 miles in 10 minutes. The Celestiq’s specially developed Michelin tires incorporate Cadillac’s so-called Mondrian pattern (derived from its logo) into the sidewall. Management of the vehicle’s considerable mass is done through air suspension, magnetorheological dampers, rear-wheel steering and active anti-roll bars.
Must-have luxury items include reclining rear seats with jet-style foldout tray tables, a 55-inch pillar-to-pillar HD display and a total of five high-definition screens. Digital blinds are capable of providing privacy for rear passengers, and twin 12. 6-inch screens offer viewing options for the rear seats.
The smart-glass roof extending over the cabin uses suspended particle device technology to alter its transparency. Produced by a supplier in Peru, it’s the world’s largest piece of automotive glass. Thermal comfort is managed by a complex series of sensors—via 33 so-called microclimate devices—and motorized vents which direct heated or cooled air accordingly.
Not surprisingly, the sound system is also over-the-top, incorporating a total of 41 speakers. “We went to AKG and said, ‘Look, we want to drop the mic with the best sound system in the world. ’ They said, ‘There’s no metric for that, and that’s a bold claim.
’” The resulting system squeezes active noise-cancellation technology and 38 speakers inside the cabin. “The only reason there’s only 38 speakers is because we couldn’t find any other credible places to put more,” Roma says with a laugh. As for the other three, they’re positioned outside in order to offer the option of ambient music for car shows or tailgate parties.
As for the question of who will buy an astronomically ambitious Celestiq when similarly priced options are available from the likes of Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls-Royce , it seems the answer resides in the depths of Cadillac’s research. “We’ve been talking to ultra-high-net-worth individuals for nearly four years,” says Roma, including one person who spent a year working with Aston Martin to customize a bespoke Zagato-bodied model. Whether Cadillac will attain its lofty goals when it starts producing up to two Celestiq examples per day at its studio in Warren, Mich.
, remains to be seen. Regardless of the outcome, though, the moonshot ought to do General Motors well; after all, a dollop of quality has a way of trickling down into quantity, naysayers be damned. Click here to see more photos of the production version of the Cadillac Celestiq.
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From: robbreport
URL: https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/cadillac-debuts-production-version-celestiq-ev-1234761615/
