Cadillac’s Celestiq Will Rival Overseas Luxury With $340K Tag

Cadillac has been a standard of automotive luxury in the U.S. for almost as long as we’ve had cars. That’s why calling something “the Cadillac of…” used to be a shorthand to express how that thing was top of the line.

Across the pond, the same thing had been happening with other brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce, all of which have since been vying to top the ultra-premium charts as the world became smaller with each passing decade.

While the current state of the American automaker is fairly competitive thanks to vehicles like the popular Escalade SUV and the aggressive CT5 sedan, the brand’s reputation for lavishness isn’t as strong as other legacy rivals. It’s something Cadillac hopes to change with the 2024 Celestiq, a hand-built EV flagship meant to reclaim its title as the brand name of luxury.

Since its reveal a couple of years ago, we’ve known a fair bit about what to expect from the Celestiq, but its asking price was vague until quite recently, when a spokesperson for Cadillac parent company GM revealed that the Celestiq starts at $340,000.

What’s notable is that this is the “blank canvas” price as each Celestiq is built to order. Meant to represent the future state of the brand, the Cadillac Celestiq will be an all-electric luxury sedan with about 600 horsepower on tap and 300 or so miles of range. It will sit on an adaptive air suspension and will utilize rear-wheel steering and will be optimized for comfort over performance.

Cadillac Announces the Celestiq, a New Electric Show Car

Details on a production version are reportedly forthcoming

Passengers inside the Celestiq will be treated to spacious bucket seats while those in the front will have a door-to-door instrument panel of screens for driving and entertainment functions. The interior is, naturally, swathed in premium materials which, we suspect, will be where the majority of the customization options will be found.

We don’t know precisely what the customization process involves, but if $340,000 is the base line, customers are ultimately putting down much more at the end of it.

For an idea of what to expect, we can look at Bentley as an example of the process. Its Mulliner coachbuilding program takes customers through a thorough design process where exterior colors and accents are individually selected, as are all interior elements right down to the stitching. Beyond the standard set of options, Bentley has specialized materials available for customers with money to spare, and if that still isn’t enough, just about any level of personalization is available for the right price.

You’ll see the same attention to customization from contemporaries like Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin, brands that exclusively dwell in the realm of the ultra-wealthy. GM-based Cadillac, however, caters to a wider demographic and thus will be interesting to see how it will satisfy both ends of the customer spectrum if the Celestiq truly marks a new beginning for the Cadillac brand.