In 2022, Cadillac embarked on a challenge that sounded almost impossible to achieve: Design, build, and sell an EV capable of rivaling models offered by brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Fast-forward to 2025 and the company has accomplished this goal. The first Cadillac Celestiq has been delivered to a customer.
We need to go way back to find a Cadillac that’s comparable to the Celestiq, both in terms of luxury and in terms of pricing. The prestigious V16 sold in tiny numbers from 1930 to 1940 notably comes to mind. The firm’s modern-day flagship stretches about 217 inches long, and it’s so exclusive that we don’t know how much it costs. The only figure floated by Cadillac is that pricing starts in the mid-$300,000 range.
For context, an Escalade starts at about $90,000 including destination. You could buy three and still have money left over to build a garage. The CT6, Cadillac’s last flagship sedan, cost about $60,000 in 2020. (We haven’t forgotten about the current CT5, particularly the Blackwing variant, but that has always leaned heavily on its sporting capability over any luxurious pretense.)
The final dollar figure varies depending on each car’s level of customization, and it sounds like the sky is the limit. Details about the first customer-bound Celestiq are few and far between, but we can tell it’s finished in brown with a brown interior, which is a color combination that works pretty well if you ask us. It’s not an off-the-shelf configuration, however, because there’s no such thing as an off-the-shelf configuration.
You won’t find the Celestiq on Cadillac’s online configurator. Instead, reservation holders are invited to configure their car at the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, which is located north of Detroit, with the help of a dedicated concierge and, if needed, one of the company’s designers. The model is built largely by hand in a new facility called Artisan Center that was set up on the General Motors campus in Warren, Michigan.
Building a Celestiq requires using 3D-printed parts, and this high attention to detail partially explains the Celestiq’s astronomical price. It also explains why production is limited. Fewer than two examples per day will be built, according to Automotive News, and only 25 units will be made for the 2025 model year.
What buyers can’t personalize is the drivetrain; Cadillac won’t put a 6.2-liter V-8 in the Celestiq, even if you ask nicely. Power comes from a pair of electric motors (one per axle) that draw electricity from a massive, 111-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack to develop 655 horsepower and 646 pound-feet of torque. The company quotes a 3.7-second sprint from zero to 60 mph, and up to 303 miles of driving range.
Is Cadillac once again building cars that will one day be worthy of the world’s most exclusive concours? Will we see the very first Celestiq, pictured above, displayed at Villa d’Este in 2090? Time will tell.
It’s overpriced but for some that “exclusivity” is all they want. I’d rather have a blackwing car.
This will be a rare car for all the wrong reasons. They should have done the 4 door convertible.
Hoping for typical Cadillac depreciation so I can afford it in 20 years
I guess it’s nice that somebody wanted this one. But other than selling a lot of Suburbans with nice door cards, what the heck is Cadillac’s strategy? I don’t think they have had any relevance, since they moved their corporate offices to midtown Manhattan. Their slogan should be, “Huh? So that’s a Cadillac?”
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