General Motors is investing more than $81 million to build the Cadillac Celestiq, the luxury electric hatchback, at the company’s Global Technical Center, the heart of the automaker’s engineering and design efforts. The funds will be used to purchase and install related equipment to hand-build the Celestiq at the Warren, Michigan location, the automaker said on Wednesday.
“As Cadillac’s future flagship sedan, Celestiq signifies a new, resurgent era for the brand,” said Mark Reuss, GM’s president, in a statement. “Each one will be hand-built by an amazing team of craftspeople on our historic Technical Center campus, and today’s investment announcement emphasizes our commitment to delivering a world-class Cadillac with nothing but the best in craftsmanship, design, engineering and technology.”
GM hasn’t unveiled the Celestiq yet, aside from a few teaser images earlier this week. But from what the company has shared, the EV appears to be all sleek luxury on the outside, and all high tech on the inside. The Celestiq’s roof is expected to feature “a four-quadrant, suspended-particle-device smart glass” that allows each occupant to set their own level of roof transparency. In addition, the driver and front passenger will have access to “pillar-to-pillar freeform display with active privacy to help mitigate driver distraction.”
The site where the Celestiq will be built is not only appropriate for integrating such technological features, but it is also home to GM’s Additive Industrialization Center, where the automaker has established 3D printing. The Celestiq will rely on more than 100 3D-printed components, encompassing both structural and cosmetic parts made of polymer and metal, according to GM.
Like all of GM’s EVs, the Celestiq will be built on the automaker’s Ultium platform, the underlying EV architecture and accompanying batteries that will also go into the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado, Buick crossovers and Cadillac Lyriq. GM says this will enable a strategic value chain that “commonizes and streamlines machinery, tooling and assembly processes” and will result in “lower capital investments and greater efficiencies.”
The Celestiq is slated to go on sale in 2025, with production starting at the end of 2023. Additional images of the concept vehicle will be released this summer ahead of the car show debut in late July, and renovations to the Global Technical Center campus have already begun, the automaker said.
