Cadillac Finally Shows Off The $300,000 Celestiq EV Show Car

Following a flurry of teasers and some big claims that it will embarrass Mercedes and Tesla on interior quality, the 2023 Cadillac Celestiq has finally made its big debut… sort of. Cadillac has just revealed the Celestiq Show Car, previewing the future electric flagship sedan. Though it may not be 100% production-ready, we can still sit and marvel at design both inside and out. As we suspected, many of the design elements are lifted from the Lyriq EV, including the grille design that lights up with dazzling sequences at night.

Cadillac took inspiration from early cars like the bespoke V16-powered pre-war era coaches and hand-built 1957 Eldorado Brougham. “Those vehicles represented the pinnacle of luxury in their respective eras, and helped make Cadillac the standard of the world,” said Tony Roma, chief engineer. “The Celestiq show car – also a sedan, because the configuration offers the very best luxury experience – builds on that pedigree and captures the spirit of arrival they expressed.”

The interior is perhaps even more jaw-dropping than the exterior. “We’ve combined the beauty of function with the beauty of form,” said Laetitia Lopez, creative designer, Cadillac Color and Trim. “We had to reconsider all aspects to immerse the customer, all of their senses, and create a connection with the vehicle through the finest genuine materials, exceptional detailing and advanced technology.”

Inside, the Celestiq impresses with a massive 55-inch-diagonal advanced LED display, which falls just one inch shy of the Mercedes Hyperscreen’s measurements but provides more screen estate. Cadillac says the 55-inch screen lets the passenger watch video content with a new electronic digital blind feature, which prevents the driver from seeing it from their viewpoint. That’s not the only screen though, as it looks like there’s also a screen in the console, door-mounted screens for the rearview cameras, a screen in the rear console, and two screens on the front seatbacks.

We’ll have to wait for the production car to get all the details, but Cadillac teased a few more revolutionary pieces of technology like the variable-transmission Smart Glass Roof. It features something called a Suspended Particle Device (SPD), which allows for four zones of variable lighting. Very little was mentioned about what powers the Celestiq, but we know it will ride on an Ultium-based EV architecture. Cadillac mentions the Celestiq will also debut Ultra Cruise, the next evolution of GM’s excellent Super Cruise.

More news about the production Celestiq will be revealed at a later date. Cadillac promises this will be its most advanced vehicle to date, and it will reportedly command a premium price of around $300,000. Some may argue the Celestiq looks a bit too similar to the Lyriq, which only costs around $60,000, but we’d argue that sleek sedan shape is plenty unique, and its high-tech interior matched with unparalleled opulence from within the Cadillac stable justify it costing more than its stablemate.