America now has a top-of-the-line electric sedan, too: the Cadillac Celestiq

The market for top-of-the-range electric sedans is becoming increasingly urgent. At least in North America. There, the new Cadillac Celestiq competes with the established order from Europe, the BMW i7 and Mercedes EQS.

In terms of design, the Cadillac can best be compared to the Mercedes. Both come with a coupé-like roof line and stretched silhouette. With its so-called three-box design, the BMW is more of a classic sedan. In the Cadillac Celestiq we actually see a hint of the Audi A7.

Cadillac is synonymous with gray sleep

Cadillac is making great strides. The once aged American luxury brand is looking to the future with confidence. Before the 1970s, Cadillac could compete with the best brands in the world, but things took a turn for the worse in the decades that followed. How it went about the entire American auto industry.

When you thought of Cadillac, you thought of old-fashioned ladder chassis, ramshackle eight-cylinder engines and gray hangers. The average buyer was well over sixty, no matter how fanatical the brand was in trying to rejuvenate itself.

Cadillac Celestiq competitor of i7 and EQS

Cadillac is no longer conservative. The ELR – a luxury plug-in hybrid coupe – was a huge flop, but it showed the manufacturer was taking risks. The Celestiq is Cadillac’s second electric car, following the Lyriq, a nearly 16-foot plug-in SUV.

It’s not known how big it is on the Celestiq, but since it’s targeting the i7 and EQS, we’re assuming it’s over 5 meters long. We could already see its design at the end of July, when the impressive hatchback made its debut in concept form.

Lots of screens and lots of blue pads

The production version seems to have changed little compared to the study model. The interior of the Celestiq is of course very modern, with two huge screens under a continuous glass panel and a center console with a touchscreen. The rear passengers have their own screens.

But the use of color takes us back to the 1950s, when manufacturers still dared to paint their stands in bright pink, baby blue or dark green. In the Celestiq you look at a beautiful light blue upholstery.

Unimpressive range

Then the technique. Cadillac gives the Celestiq a large battery pack (111 kWh), which strangely doesn’t guarantee an impressive range. In fact, the Celestiq, with a range of 483 kilometers, performs slightly worse than the Lyric, which has a range of 502 kilometers.

The range of the American pales in comparison to the BMW i7 and Mercedes EQS. With a full battery, the two Germans can travel more than 600 kilometers (depending on the version). Those are WLTP numbers. Cadillac is only giving an estimate for now.

100 km/h in less than 4 seconds

The Celestiq has all-wheel drive, an output of 608 hp and 867 Nm of torque. This means that the undoubtedly very heavy electric car sprints to 100 km/h in less than 4 seconds. It can charge quickly with 200 kW and comes standard with an adaptive chassis (Magnetic Ride Control), active roll stabilization and rear wheels that steer and counter-steer. Incidentally, the Celestiq is hand-built in Detroit, as proudly displayed by a plaque on the outside.