Nearly three years after unveiling the concept version of the flagship Cadillac Celestiq EV, GM has finally released the real thing: a “mid-$300,000” electric vehicle that oozes luxury and a come-gawk-at-me exterior designed to lure in passersby.
But is this bespoke EV enough for Cadillac to regain its position as the “Standard of the World”? I spent a day navigating this behemoth around Los Angeles in a bid to find out.
Sliding behind the steering wheel of the new flagship fastback is a good start.
I am surrounded by buttery leather — my rear end comforted by the cushy seat, which is adjustable in every way and then some. The fit and finish is precise and elevated like a Richard Mille watch and everything I touch has that distinct honed-by-hand aesthetic. And yet in 115 cases, those parts have been 3D printed, including the center of the steering wheel, window switches, parts of the console decor, and even some structural pieces.
Cadillac clearly wanted to build an EV with zero compromises. The battery pack layout, however, presented certain design challenges.
The modules in the Cadillac Celestiq’s battery pack aren’t uniform. Unlike the Lyriq, which has a flat battery pack, the Celestiq has different configurations of modules in the battery pack that are different heights. The modules under the front seats are about nine inches tall, but the ones under the rear passenger footwell are only six inches in height. The rear seats are brought up with modules that are 12 inches tall.
Engineers needed to place some modules under the center console to get to a 111 kWh battery with 303 miles of range. The result is a shallow storage compartment that’s hardly big enough to fit my wallet and glasses.
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Cadillac Celestiq EV: The drive
The looks I received while piloting the Celestiq made up for that teeny center console storage. There is nothing on the road that looks this graceful, with its dancing LED light signature in the front, long nose, and sculpted rear end. In a town full of manufactured beauty, the real-deal Celestiq stands out.
I start off on the rough streets of Hollywood, where I intentionally aim for broken pavement and manhole covers. My tester is shod with 22-inch wheels — although 23-inch wheels are available — and Michelin Pilot Sport EV tires with very little sidewall.
Having this little rubber between the car and the pavement often results in a harsh ride, but the Celestiq sports a compliant air suspension that keeps it all in check. Bigger events like potholes certainly make their presence known, but city driving is quiet and smooth.
Make no mistake, this car is a biggun. The Cadillac Celestiq has a larger footprint than a two-door Chevrolet Silverado, made slightly more nimble with rear steering. Sure, it’s a bit hard to find street parking in this bad boy, but this car is more likely to find itself at the valet.
Leaving Hollywood, I head to the hills to see just what 655 horsepower and 646 pound-feet of torque can do on a curvy road. Here the Magnetic Ride Control shines, reacting quickly to the road as well as the car’s weight transfer to provide a confident feeling of control. Aided by active roll control, the car feels flat through the turns despite its zaftig proportions.
The steering here is a bit numb, but it’s weighted nicely and the brake regen provides a new skill to conquer. I find that at max regen, if I can time my throttle lifts right, I never have to hit the mechanical brakes before heading into a corner. The weight still transfers to the front so I have the grip to turn, but I’m also getting free electrons at the same time.
I love it.
I crank up the Dolby Atmos sound system pouring out of 38 internal AKG speakers — there are four outside the car that produce cool EV sounds for those unlucky enough to be walking — and head out to the highway. Of course, GM’s Super Cruise advanced driver-assistance system is here, so I take my hands off the wheel and let the car take over for a while in traffic.
The Cadillac Celestiq EV has a problem
And therein lies the biggest problem with the Celestiq. I’m not necessarily mad that all GM electric vehicles run Google Built-In over Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Google Maps is great in this vehicle, accurately predicting my range when I arrive at a location, offering up charging stations and preconditioning the batteries if needed. It’s just that I can’t reliably get the system to hook up with my phone for hands-free texts and phone calls.
And it’s not just in the Celestiq. In both the Optiq and the Escalade IQ, the process was persnickety. There are multiple settings on my iPhone that have to be correct, sometimes I have to reconnect if I turn off the car, and a few times it just refuses to tell me I have an incoming text.
High-end customers demand simplicity and ease of use. This smartphone integration system is neither.
The Cadillac Celestiq EV interior
But at least the screens look great.
Stretching across the width of the dash, there are 55 inches of high-resolution goodness. The passenger gets their own screen for streaming media and internet browsing and all climate controls are on a smaller screen below the dash.
I would give my kingdom for some physical HVAC buttons, but on a car like this I’ll settle for a separate screen where at least I don’t have to scroll through a bunch of menus just to turn on the air-conditioning.
Massaging seats are here, of course, and they seem to stay on a bit longer than in other luxury vehicles I’ve driven. There is no heated and cooled cup holder, an omission I think is tantamount to forgetting to serve crème fraîche with your caviar, but Cadillac told me it could add the feature if someone really wanted it.
I dig the glass roof that can dim up to 20% opacity in any of the four zones. Each person in the car can customize how much light they want to let into their part of the vehicle.
I’m not 100% sold on the power doors, as my mind just goes to the worst-case scenario of being stuck inside the car in the Whole Foods parking lot or something. Still, it’s kind of cool to just press the brake pedal and have my door close automatically. There is also an icon on the lower screen that will close the doors, so passengers can get in on the high-tech, low-effort bandwagon.
Bespoke Cadillac EV experience
Each Celestiq will be made by hand at General Motors’ Global Technical Center in Michigan.
I got a little taste of what customers will experience as I worked with a designer to select my favorite colors and materials. Choosing from what might have been 50 shades of everything was a bit overwhelming, but I walked out with my dream Celestiq in Kingfisher Tricoat, a brilliant blue that I think goes well with the long wheelbase and fastback profile, and an interior of Sheer Gray and Bahia Orange with Phantom Blue Accents. What can I say? I dig blue and orange.
As the day progressed, I was treated to the Cadillac concierge service that customers will experience as they go through the buying process. Someone made sure I always had a cold Diet Dr Pepper in my hand and lunch options were tailored to my immature culinary tastes. In other words, I had tater tots for lunch and I’m not even embarrassed about it.
While Celestiq customers will likely use their concierge to field logistics requests and not request copious amounts of carbs and caffeine, the point is that they will have someone to cater to their every car-buying whim.
There isn’t too much out there in the uber-luxury EV market. The Cadillac Celestiq’s primary competition might be the Rolls-Royce Spectre EV with its cool starry-night headliner. Still, the Celestiq mostly sits alone in the ultra-luxury, battery-electric sector.
Bentley doesn’t have a full battery-electric offering yet, just hybrids, and even Mercedes hasn’t fully electrified the Maybach S-Class sedan, although you can get a Maybach EQS SUV.
If you want one in your garage, well, good luck. Cadillac will produce a limited run of 25 vehicles for 2025 and nearly all are spoken for. The company won’t give specific numbers for 2026, only saying that production will be capped at less than two Celestiqs a day.
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