Cadillac's new ultraluxury Celestiq must take lead from Escalade to be successful
Mark Phelan, USA TODAY
6 min read
Any day now, Cadillac will give the world its first complete look at the Celestiq show car, a preview of the new electric ultraluxury vehicle created to set the brand on a new course to a future in which style, luxury and technology are once again synonymous with Cadillac.
Hand-built, the Celestiq will be the most expensive Cadillac ever with prices starting well into six figures, but that’s just the start.
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I’ve had a few early looks, and received a few hints about Cadillac’s plan for the Celestiq.
It’ll almost certainly be gorgeous and sumptuous, but that matters little unless it’s gorgeous, sumptuous and consistent with the Escalade, the iconic and hugely profitable SUV that is Cadillac’s true flagship, today and tomorrow.
Cadillac is the Escalade, and the Escalade is Cadillac. Any brand strategy that fails to recognize that is destined to fail. Here's why.
Detail of the Cadillac Celestiq show car, which previews an ultra-luxury electric vehicle coming in 2023.
The past 20 years saw a tale of two Cadillacs:
The Escalade, beloved by its owners, driven by sports and entertainment stars, in short supply and sold at high profit. The closer other Cadillac SUVs hew to the Escalade’s path – regardless of their size – the better.
The “other” Cadillacs, a series of sports sedans that auto elites like me love. They’re sleek, fast and fun to drive. But – and it's a big but – they’ve also been, on the whole, commercial disappointments.
Despite 20 years of rave reviews, the "others" haven’t put Cadillac in the same sentence as Mercedes or Audi, much less Rolls-Royce and Bentley, where it once was.
Why else would Cadillac keep renaming and repositioning them: CTS, STS, SRX, ATS, XT5, CT6, CT4, CT5. V-series, V-Sport, Blackwing.
Those names and models have come – and mostly gone – since the first CTS debuted in 2000.
But the Escalade, launched as a 1999 model, abides.
Has GM renamed, repositioned or rebranded it? No. Companies don’t rename, reposition, rebrand and relaunch successful products. They try to figure out how to build enough of them to satisfy demand. Like the Escalade.
More: Cadillac Escalade-V throws down the gauntlet
'A car to arrive in'
“For years, Escalade has been the only true Cadillac,” said Eric Noble of the Carlab, a product development consultant. “Every other production model has been ill-conceived and ill-managed by GM top brass.
“Cadillac is large American luxury, the latter implying unapologetic power and presence.
“A car to arrive in, not a BMW wannabe. We can hope Celestiq's unveiling reveals a real Caddy that could flank Escalade in the showroom.”
The 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V SUV embodies everything a Cadillac should be.
It’s not official yet, but I expect the unveiling of the Celestiq “show car” will come in August, probably in conjunction with the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a classic car show in California where Cadillac has revealed concept cars true to Cadillac’s essence, the big brash and acclaimed Ciel and Elmiraj.
The Celestiq show car will be a near twin to a production car – hand-built to order, with custom materials like the one-off Caddies that built the brand’s former status as “the standard of the world.”
The production Celestiq should debut late this year and go on sale in 2023.
Dripping with luxury and the latest features, the Celestiq’s success will hinge not on its lap times at Germany’s Nürburgring, but on whether Lady Gaga steps out of one at the Oscars, Steph Curry takes a Celestiq to the NBA Finals and Lizzo arrives at the Grammys in the big electric Cadillac.
“The vehicle must be a reward,” said John F. Smith, the retired executive who overcame fierce objections within GM to create the Escalade. “The Celestiq requires an attention to detail and choice of materials that’s unique. It must express the owner’s personality."
Coachbuilding, the practice of building unique vehicles to customer order, “is a core part of Cadillac history,” Smith said. “There should be as many build combinations as vehicles built.”
A hand-made Cadillac should allow its owners to specify the color and material of every interior surface. Each button and switch must feel crafted and precise. And there must be physical buttons and switches, just like a Rolex watch has physical hands and mechanical gear.
Characteristics Cadillac’s twin flagships, the Escalade and Celestiq, should share:
Style, but even more, presence: The Celestiq must turn heads and elicit “oohs.” Not everybody has to love it; in fact, it’s probably better if the design is polarizing, as long as the people who like it absolutely love it. And can write a six-digit check.
Room: Size isn’t as big, as some critics of old Cadillacs would have you believe. It’s a feature. A Cadillac should always offer exceptional room and comfort. That doesn’t mean every Cadillac needs to be huge, but they must all feel lavish and spacious from the inside.
Power/performance: GM’s already demonstrated its Ultium batteries and electric motors can deliver crazy power and performance. The Celestiq has to go beyond that, and not just by going faster. Driving range and charging time are defining performance criteria for luxury electric vehicles. The Celestiq should lead in those, not just old-timey benchmarks like 0-60 mph time.
Technology that'll surprise me: If the Celestiq doesn’t roll out of the Tech Center with features I can’t predict, Cadillac’s imagination failed.
What’s in a name? A lot.
I’ve also got a request of Cadillac: If the Celestiq aspires to be truly special – a timeless creation fit to stand alongside the 1959 Eldorado Biarritz convertible, which adorned a French city’s name and had tail fins that could cut a steak – the vehicle’s name should sound special.
Cadillac created a classy, elegant looking name, but the pronunciation I’ve heard GM execs use – “SELL-eh-stick” – sounds like a GMO vegetable.
GM invented the name, so why not invent a fancy-schmancy pronunciation? Something exotic, mysterious, elegant and exceptional.
I like “Sell-ess-STEEK.” It sounds vaguely French, and Cadillac is, after all, named after a French explorer who made up a fancy title for himself: Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.
He was a poser, born Antoine Laumet, not with a noble title and not even in the French village of Cadillac. He faked it till he made it, becoming commander of Fort Pontchartrain on the Detroit River, and later the governor of French colonial Louisiana.
Now that’s successful rebranding and repositioning.
