The cadillac celestiq It is the next electric car from Cadillac, the second of a new generation of vehicles under Ultium technology and the return to the great luxury sedans of the American brand. Cadillac has now published the first images of the car rolling on the open road and, although hidden under intense camouflage, they give a good sign of the huge dimensions of the car.
From the colossal Cadillac V-16 of the 1930s to the Cadillac Sixty Specials that sold for decades, from the Sedan de Ville of the 1960s to the legendary Eldorado, Cadillac’s history is littered with huge, luxurious cars. For years they were the living example of the successful American; owning a high-end Cadillac was synonymous with prestige. In addition to the image they provided, they incorporated equipment that would take years to reach other more common models.
Opulent, enormous, superb, perhaps excessive. This is the Cadillac Celestiq and this is reflected in the images that Cadillac itself has published. The American firm has begun to test this luxurious electric car on roads open to the public, although well camouflaged to keep the details of its design safe from outside eyes.
Usually images of cars in camouflage are less interesting than natural ones, but in this case they stand out because they give us an idea of the size and proportions of the Celestiq. A long car, very long, and not too tall, which further reinforces the feeling of length and is inevitably reminiscent of the huge Cadillacs of the 60s and 70s. 23 inch wheelswe can be talking about a wheelbase around 3.15 or 3.20 metersabout.
To put it in context, a Mercedes EQS has a wheelbase of 3,210mm. The Cadilla Lyriq, the brand’s electric SUV, has a wheelbase of 3,093 mm and its body is 5 meters long. Taking into account that the Celestiq will be a step above the Lyriq, it is not unreasonable to think of a body around 5.20 or 5.30 meters of length. A size that positions it alongside the Audi A8 L (5.30 m), the BMW 7 Series Long Wheelbase (5.26 m), the Mercedes S-Class Long (5.29 m) or the Bentley Flying Spur (5.32 m ).
It is the first time that a Celestiq has come off the pre-production line and been tested on public roads, specifically around the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, the place where the production version of the model will be built by hand. . You read that right: the Celestiq will be crafted by hand, which is a good account of the level it’s aiming for. This is a luxury car whose price, pending confirmation, could reach $300,000. Cadillac will introduce the production Celestiq later this year and begin shipping in late 2023.
Cadillac says that the debut of the Celestiq “is a historic moment for the brand”, a model that will bring together all the best that General Motors has, both at the level of driving assistants, connectivity technologies and batteries and electrical components. The firm has not yet announced the specifications of the model, whose battery will surely exceed 100 kWh capacity.
Judging by the images, the production car closely resembles the prototype that was shown months ago. Among the most notable changes are the conventional rear-view mirrors, which replace the cameras that the prototype carried; the rear lights, with a slightly different design; or the wheels, fully faired on the test car to improve aerodynamics. In the front there are several holes to let the radars and cameras of the autonomous driving system “see”, and in the side view there do not seem to be handles on the doors (they are hidden and flush with the bodywork).
