The Cadillac Celestiq halo EV on display at the 2025 Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto on Feb. 13.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was a cutting-edge, ultra-luxury sedan that cost more than any Rolls-Royce for sale at the time. A limited-run, hand-built statement piece, it was meant to establish the brand at the top of the luxury vehicle pecking order. There hasn’t been another vehicle of the same calibre in the company’s lineup until the Celestiq was revealed in 2022, an EV flagship starting at US$340,000.
In the late 50s, Cadillac was at the height of its success. Its vehicles were opulently styled with dramatic space-age tail fins and rocket-inspired taillights that defined an era of American optimism. With the Celestiq, the company wants to be recognized as a leader in the luxury space again, and they’re banking on it to help them achieve that perception.
“We’re not trying to out Rolls-Royce, Rolls-Royce,” Erin Crossley, Cadillac design director, says at the 2025 Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto. “[The Celestiq] is about the ultimate expression of Cadillac. It’s about taking things that are very important to us as a brand and doing them at the highest level.”
What sets Celestiq apart, according to Crossley, is the balance they’ve achieved between innovation, technology and craftsmanship.
The ‘57 Brougham was a technologically complex vehicle, ahead of its time, with things unheard of in 1957 such as a self-levelling air suspension, power seats with memory and a power trunk. It was also one of the first vehicles to use quad headlamps with automatic dimmers, a precursor to modern automatic high beams. Like the Celestiq, the Brougham was fully customizable, available in 44 leather trim combinations, according to GM.
Vernon Smith, of Swift Current, Nfld. stands beside his 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, which won for Outstanding Post-War vehicle at the 2022 Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
The interior of a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, which won for Outstanding Post-War vehicle at the 2022 Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
The flagship Celestiq is longer than an Escalade and impeccably furnished. Built to each owner’s exact specifications, no two will be alike, and only around 400 will be produced in the first year. Crossley says the design was inspired by the Brougham and other large commanding sedans Cadillac was famous for. “It was about creating a statement and evolving and modernizing the Cadillac form, without being blatantly retro,” she says.
Chief engineer Alex MacDonald says that it’s the most advanced vehicle the company has ever produced. “The structure is made from six large sand castings done by a very innovative company. They’re lightweight and stiff, and GM can produce them at low volume for a price that makes financial sense,” he says.
The battery modules in the 110-kilowatt-hour pack aren’t shared with other GM products, allowing for the low roofline that tapers to the rear like a teardrop. Despite its size, the Celestiq only seats four, each in a sculpted bucket seat. The dashboard is a 55-inch screen that stretches from end to end. The carpets are thick, and the leather smells rich and covers nearly every surface that’s not already covered in wood, carbon fibre or metal. The doors are all power-operated and can be opened with the push of a button.
Particular attention was paid to the suspension, with GM giving the Celestiq everything it had in its technology bin, including air springs, magnetic dampers and active anti-roll bars that can be disconnected completely, allowing it to float over rough surfaces. There’s also rear-wheel steering, which helps tighten the turning radius and adds agility. MacDonald says the Celestiq’s ride excels above everything else in its class of Bentleys and Rolls-Royces, but it’s still more fun than you’d expect on a narrow winding road. “The steering is great; it’s nimble. You don’t give up anything,” he says.
When the Brougham was being produced, it used hand-picked engines from the production line, chosen because they were the smoothest and best performing. Celestiq brings this concept of “sorted engines” back, according to MacDonald, only using electric motors deemed to have the lowest noise and vibrations.
Revealed nearly three years ago and talked about for even longer, the Celestiq’s impressive price tag brings with it an impressive amount of technology and content, but a vehicle aimed at the 1 per cent of 1-percenters doesn’t exactly help the brand gain a stronger foothold in the competitive luxury market. What it does for the company is give them an anchor on which to launch a new line of electric vehicles inspired by the Celestiq.
The dashboard in the Celestriq is a 55-inch screen stretching from end-to-end. The carpets are thick, and the leather covers nearly every surface that’s not already covered in wood, carbon fibre or metal.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
The first that came out was the Lyriq, followed by the entry-level Optiq and the three-row Vistiq. The resemblance is hard to ignore. While styling is subjective, the Lyriq, especially, captures a lot of what’s special about the Celestiq’s design, including the long roof that tapers to the rear and the same futuristic front end.
“We take what we’re learning with Celestiq and find out ways to further impact and elevate the rest of the brand,” says Crossley. “The aim is to create a halo effect where even if you’re buying an Optiq, you feel like in some ways you have a piece of the Celestiq.”
If the Celestiq wasn’t lux enough for you, the Sollei concept is essentially an open-top version, but there are no plans to put it into production. The yacht-like coupe is even more dramatic with sunburst wood inlays on the seatbacks and an iridescent leather interior that shimmers in the sunlight. “Sollei was about levelling up on the Celestiq. Imagine driving on the coast on a warm summer day,” says Crossley.
The Cadillac Celestiq and Sollei concept are on display at Auto Exotica in north building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre until Feb. 23.