Cadillac made waves late in 2022 when the luxury brand unveiled the 2024 Celestiq. The Celestiq catapults Cadillac back into the hyper-luxury market and also serves as the brand’s attempt to shake up the way that most customers would think about Cadillac as a whole. But does it succeed in this mission, and what does it all mean for Cadillac’s broader EV efforts? We decided to take a brief dive into how the $300,000 plus Celestiq fits into the broader sales puzzle.
Celestiq Is Showcase Halo For Brand, Helps Break The Ice With Buyers
Not long ago, Cadillac would be the last brand you would ever consider to be a hyper-luxury contender if asked to name players in that segment. While the 1920s and 1930s saw the brand compete with Packard and even Rolls Royce in the luxury car market, the brand’s fortunes would slide after the 1960s with the bulk of customers transitioning from luxury-minded jet-setters to noticeably older buyers looking for a comfortable place to spend time in after a long day of watching the Price Is Right and Matlock. A brand identity revamp in the 2000s and 2010s helped bring Cadillac back on the right track, and the appearance of the Celestiq is a high watermark for these efforts.
It all starts with the exterior styling. While it takes some of its core inspiration from the Cadillac Lyriq, it’s meant to be its own unique interpretation of established European design norms. That’s especially apparent when you look at its sport-back style profile and some swooping design elements splashed throughout. This bold presentation helps attract attention and is more than enough to lure customers into showrooms. Even if they ultimately don’t buy a Celestiq, they could instead go for one of the brand’s other models like an Escalade, XT6, or even a CT4 sedan. That helps bring money to the showroom and, in turn, the brand as a whole, especially if they win over a new customer versus a repeat visitor.
Cadillac Shows That It Still Has Interior Design Magic
A key item that the Celestiq will need to check off of its proverbial list is interior quality. Slip inside a modern Rolls Royce or Bentley model, and the high quality of the materials and some of the design-focused features drive home the point that this is a noticeable step up over your typical Toyota Camry.
The Celestiq has an opportunity to usurp these two benchmarks in that category and show that Cadillac has genuinely gone full circle compared to what we used to see in the 1990s and early 2000s. Our first glimpses of the interior indicate that they have succeeded with warm interior colors, high-quality materials, and a massive infusion of tech. The latter item has given the cabin more of a futuristic look when compared to the Brits, but Cadillac hopes that the slicker styling will help attract younger buyers, especially those that want to embrace something that veers off from established norms.
The main question we’ll have to wait a bit to get an answer to is whether this style, technology, and luxury can successfully blend into one cohesive package. Bentley and Rolls Royce have had plenty of practice in perfecting this finely honed balance, and it will be interesting to see if Cadillac can achieve the same with the Celestiq.
Ultium Power Makes This Rolling Jewel Shine
The biggest change that hyper-luxury buyers will find is what and, more importantly, what’s not lurking under the stylish sheet metal. A gleaming V12 engine has always long defined the hyper-luxury sedan ranks, but the times are changing, and the roar of cylinders is giving way to the pure silence of an all-electric drivetrain. In the case of the Celstiq, it’s all about the Ultium platform, with the Celestiq’s platform featuring a massive 111 kWh battery pack that helps power two all-electric motors. This combination allows the Celestiq to have all-wheel drive while also producing an estimated 600 horsepower (that figure is subject to change). We get to wait until we formally get a chance to get behind the wheel to find out what the Celestiq is like to drive. But the safe bet is to expect it to mirror the Rolls Royce Phantom and the Bentley Flying Spur with a strong emphasis on comfort versus being a firm track-focused weapon of lap-time slaying destruction.
That’ll be important since many Celestiqs will most likely be used as pocket limousines for these wealthy clients while also serving as rolling status symbols when they roll their way up at high-caliber events. Look for the rear suspension to have special tuning that helps improve ride quality for rear passengers and perhaps even offer a smoother ride than the established British benchmarks. As said before, we’ll have to wait until we get behind the wheel ourselves to see if it can indeed deliver the goods in this and other key luxury categories. But based on what we see here we think the 2024 Celestiq has a good shot of being a potent underdog player that could achieve its Cinderella story.
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.