2025 Cadillac Celestiq Rewrites The Rules of EV Luxury, Will Be Most Important Cadillac Yet

Cadillac has made it clear that they intend to take the EV market very seriously as the luxury brand continues its transformation into an all-electric brand. We got a small slice of this impending future when we had the chance to get behind the wheel of the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq all-electric SUV. However, Cadillac is now about to embark in a rather ambitious direction with its second EV offering, the 2025 Cadillac Celestiq.

 

Sleek Celestiq Bodywork Hides State Of The Art Structure

 

The exterior styling of the Celestiq has changed little from when we last saw it as a show car, and while it shares some of the Lyriq’s core design essentials, Cadillac has made it clear that it will be a completely different beast. That’s apparent when you look under the skin with the 2025 Celestiq being the first Cadillac model to benefit from GM’s Mega Casting construction technique. This process allowed GM engineers to craft the underbody and the shock towers from six massive pieces of aluminum, with GM also making 115 other components out of 3D-printed material. The sleek bodywork is long and flowing, but it still plays a role, with GM making several minor changes to help improve its ability to cut through the air.

That includes incorporating the radio antenna directly into the rear window glass as well as a large rear diffuser that juts out from the rear bumper. The taillights are reminiscent of the Lyriq’s, and like before; they are designed to work with the body and promote maximum aerodynamics and illumination at night. The fastback layout is also no accident and is a nod to the recent trend in Europe, where lift and fastback models are rapidly becoming popular vehicles for customers. Massive 23-inch wheels are standard, with Cadillac confirming that they can be shod in summer only Michelin Pilot Sport EV tires. That said, look for Cadillac to have all-season tires on hand for buyers looking to use their Celestiq for four-season commuting. Cadillac claims that it used Cadillacs of the past to craft the Celestiq, but there’s no denying that they have also taken a few pages out of the Bentley and Rolls Royce playbooks when they were looking for design inspiration.

 

Interior Seeks To Reestablish World-Class Luxury

 

Slip inside the Celestiq, and you’ll be forgiven if you thought you made a wrong turn and ended up at the Rolls Royce dealership. The design, craftsmanship, and quality here are the best yet from Cadillac, and it’s clear that they took the task of making a potential world-beating cabin very seriously. The red and black infused leather seats help set the mood while owners benefit from five HD screens, including a massive 55-inch diagonally mounted screen that runs from pillar to pillar. This screen is the largest in the segment and will remain exclusive to Cadillac, which helps build differentiation from other models in the broader GM empire. The screen features digitally operated privacy blinds to reduce distractions. The Celestiq has front and rear command centers, with rear-seat passengers getting access to two 12.6-inch seat-mounted screens.

The rest of the interior is defined by its long uninterrupted lines and the immersive lighting that makes its mark at night, with Cadillac reps claiming that over 450 lighting accents are used throughout the car and are capable of providing 18 different lightning animations to help enhance the mood. But when you’re not distracted by the lights, the rest of the cabin impresses with its high-quality materials, including authentic metal pieces, like a central control knob with an integrated Cadillac goddess emblem in the center. In addition to these appointments, Cadillac also confirmed that each Celstiq will be unique to every client (aka customer), with these individuals having the ability to work alongside the engineers and designers in multiple stages of the creation process. A 48-speaker sound system is also standard, and we look forward to the day we can have our guest stereo tester Emily in the Celestiq to hear her thoughts on how well it does the whole sound thing. 

But the highlight item here in the interior is when you look up through the Smart Roof Panel. This glass panel uses specially developed suspended particle technology to help create four distinct quadrants, allowing passengers to control how much light enters the cabin. We have seen McLaren and a few others use electrochromic technology to do a similar feat, but this is a big step forward tech-wise. It doesn’t hurt either that the graphic-adorned panel is the largest slab of glass to be ever used in a production automobile.

 

Green Performance Takes Center Stage In Celestiq 

 

We originally assumed that the Celestiq would join the growing members of the 1,000 hp club with notable members, including the Lucid Air and the Tesla Model S. Instead, the Cadillac prefers to focus more on refinement versus outright muscle, with the large EV producing 600 hp from its twin-motor EV setup. The 640 lb-ft of torque on hand allows the Celestiq to blitz its way to a solid 3.8 second 0 to 60 time. That’s very impressive, especially when you consider how large the Celestiq is.

While the Celestiq is far from being a pure sports car, Cadillac still managed to give it some potent tools to keep it in the hunt with rivals. They include rear-wheel steering, a performance-focused all-wheel drive system, an active rear spoiler, and a bespoke suspension system with Cadillac’s Magnetic Ride 4.0 system smoothing out harsh bumps and divots on top of providing a boost in handling prowess. All of this fun is powered by a large 111-kWh battery pack that’s neatly nestled into the Ultium platform.

Cadillac revealed that owners looking to charge up the Celestiq after a day of use will be delighted to hear that the battery can be hooked up to DC Fast Charging systems (200 kw max) with a proper setup capable of helping the battery get 78 miles of range back in less than 10 minutes with the battery allowing the big Cadillac to get up to 300 miles of range between charges. The Celestiq will also be the first GM model to debut Ultra Cruise, allowing GM’s hands-free driving system to function both on the freeway and in city driving. Like its predecessor Super Cruise, this system will have an evolving network of mapped roads to work with, and GM has promised to add more roads as the system matures. 

 

When Can I Buy One?

The Celestiq will go on sale in December of 2023 and it will be a limited production run though Cadillac chose not to disclose the final production total. That said, all of them will be hand-assembled at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, in a special “clean room” environment with access limited to only the artisans and production capped at six cars at a time to help ensure that quality does not slip during the handcrafting process.  

The Celstiq’s unique production measures also play a role in the base MSRP with a base Celsstiq starting at over $300,000 before any fees and other options are factored into the mix. That’s the highest MSRP we have ever seen on a Cadillac, and it will be interesting if being in the same sphere as Rolls Royce and Bentley in this regard will be enough to help lure in a few of those buyers to the Celestiq experience. As for these buyers, they will have a high level of involvement, and while they won’t be formally on the production floor, they will have a view of the action thanks to a concierge as well as a Celestiq approve dealership. The concierge will help walk buyers through the design process and will also serve as a bridge of communication between the customer and the tech center for any updates or changes to a customer’s specific order.