The Cadillac Celestiq is the brand’s new flagship product which will be in production about a year from now. It’s a true masterpiece to be assembled as a custom commission starting at $300,000 – and that’s before the added options and customization. It may seem overpriced and extravagant for a mainstream manufacturer, but the demand for Celestiq is surprisingly strong. In fact, it exceeded the company’s expectations.
It Autoline NetworkThe weekly podcast had Tony Roma, Celestiq’s chief engineer, as a guest last week and he revealed some pretty interesting facts about the development and production of electric vehicles. Roma also confirmed that demand for the luxury battery-powered cruiser was way beyond what everyone at the company expected and this essentially meant the model was sold out for the first 12 to 18 months after production started.
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“We already have some hand raises, like, a lot more than we were able to build in the first year or 18 months,” Roma said during the podcast. However, there are no exact figures regarding Cadillac’s production capacity for the Celestiq, although Roma hinted that no more than two units would be assembled each day. “The rate we’re going to make for these things is about two per day; they are basically assembled by hand,” added Roma. Maybe 400 will be assembled in the first year? Possible.
Just like Celestiq’s production process, its purchasing process will also be unique. Brand dealers will put customers in touch with a concierge who will coordinate communication with a designer, who will make every car built look exactly as the owner intended. Or, simply put, no two instances are the same as there are nearly countless customization options available. Production will take place at GM’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, with teams working on no more than six vehicles at a time.
As a reminder, Cadillac’s halo car rides on GM’s Ultium Platform and is powered by two electric motors with an estimated total output of 600 horsepower (447 kilowatts) and 640 pound-feet (868 Newton-meters) of torque. That’s enough power to propel the Celestiq from rest to 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in just 3.8 seconds.
