Cadillac aims for the stars

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Whoever says Cadillac thinks of shiny chrome and huge tail fins sticking out from pistachio green or pink five-metre bodies. Or the sadness of Motorcity Detroit in the US state of Michigan. Swinging limousines sculpted as if with an ax and the gray reality of the 1970s – the American dream is on the horizon. Almost no car brand has been shaped by its past in the public consciousness as much as the luxury brand of American auto giant General Motors (GM). Despite everything Cadillac tried, it never really got a foothold in Europe: although a diesel engine was developed only for local markets a few years ago, restart failed after reboot. Wrong timing as is often the case.

A European perspective ignores the fact that Cadillac is a big number in North America. And today’s brand has nothing to do with the so-called good old days of the last century, when it was the only manufacturer to mass-produce 16-cylinder engines. Cadillac is the forerunner of GM, a high-tech brand moving towards full electrification in the spirit of a start-up. Finally, the credit goes to GM CEO Mary Barra (61), who during her eight-year tenure transformed the bulky giant GM into an agile innovator.

Cadillac should rise

And now Cadillac is reaching for the stars. Derived from the Latin word celeste, celestial body, the Celestiq is the name of the luxury sedan that could easily surpass Bentley, Maybach and Rolls-Royce in the path of electromobility. With prices in excess of approximately 270,000 francs, the electric flagship is expected to move the US brand up the open price scale. It unites yesterday and today, Europe and America, vision and reality. The proportions are large, the dimensions are huge, and like the electric SUV Lyriq, Cadillac set itself apart from the classic style. When the electric doors open, the first thing you see is a plaque: “Cadillac – Handmade – Detroit”. Goodbye sadness.

There will never be a ready-made Celestiq, each vehicle is delivered to the customer on a one-time basis in the equipment chosen by the customer. Customization goes far beyond paint, leather colors or applications. With air-conditioned massage seats, a huge 55-inch screen and four screens for passengers, the interior sets new standards in terms of accommodation quality. The strongest glass roof in the automotive industry forms an arch over their heads, whose transparency can be arranged in four zones. Air suspension, electronic shock absorbers, four-wheel steering and roll stabilization, which must keep the weight of more than 2.5 tons under control, provide maximum comfort for the 5.50-meter-long five-door car. The latter would be even higher if many parts were not made of aluminum, carbon or 3D printing.

crawl from kitten

When it comes to driving, Cadillac relies on ready-to-use products with its in-house Ultium platform. It is customizable and combines a 111 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack with a 600 hp (441 kW) 4×4. Weight sets limits, but ranges of up to 100km and 480km in under four seconds should be possible. Compared to the forthcoming Stromer from Rolls-Royce, named Specter, with 585 hp (430 kW), the Celestiq is ahead – and when charging with 200 kilowatts of power.

But customers in the backseat must be pretty cold when the driver has to wait ten minutes for electricity for 100 kilometers. For example, he can spend time counting the LED stars on the Celestiq, which is more than 1600 depending on the configuration.

Source: Blick