In the middle of the massive General Motors Global Technical Center in Warren, Mich., lies a relatively small building that used to be the campus’ central cafeteria. Today, it’s a powerful showcase of what Cadillac can do when given a blank canvas. Now known as Cadillac House, the old eatery is a wonderfully preserved space that practically writes the textbook on Mid-Century Modern design – much like Cadillac did with its expressive designs in the 1950s and 1960s. It's where ultra-high net worth customers of the flagship Celestiq electric vehicle can visualize and customize their car in a bespoke manner. We recently visited Cadillac House to look at the Celestiq sedan and Sollei concept convertible, where we appreciated all the emotion and passion that goes into a no-holds-barred project with a seemingly limitless budget.
Hand-Built Cadillac Celestiq is the First of its Kind
The Cadillac Celestiq is a swooping sedan that leaves no stone unturned in its design and manufacturing. Produced in low volume and hand-built at the Technical Center, it’s a first of its kind for GM. Influenced by the 1957 Eldorado, it's a modern, fully electric vehicle built on the “Ultium” platform. With a 111-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack, the Celestiq has an estimated 600 horsepower and 640 lb-ft of torque and is rated for 483 kilometres of driving on a full charge. Cadillac says the run from zero to 60 mph (96 km/h) happens in 3.8 seconds.
It’s the most torsionally rigid Cadillac ever made, thanks to six mega castings that make up the floor of the car. Typically, 30 to 40 separate stamped parts join together to achieve the same thing. Engineers – the same ones who worked on V-Series Blackwing projects – employed the idea of “Isolated Precision,” where their innovation and designs were done to a standard rather than a cost. The Celestiq features 23-inch wheels, active air suspension, active rear steering, active aerodynamics, and active roll control in conjunction with the latest in magnetic ride technology. As the line in the film Jurassic Park goes, says, Cadillac "spared no expense."
Great attention to detail was given to materials and finishes, and no plastics were used on the exterior: if it looks like metal, it’s real metal. The grille is made from one solid piece of aluminum billet that’s laser cut and milled for over 24 hours, then laser cut again. There are over 115 3D-printed parts on the Celestiq, including the centre of the steering wheel, window switches, and grab handles.
Pricing will vary depending on how each Celestiq is customized to suit, but expect a price of around $500,000 in Canada and an annual production volume of no more than a few hundred units.
Cadillac House Looks Ahead with Throwback to Mid-Century Modernism
The GM Technical Center, completed in 1956, was the brainchild of modernist architect Eero Saarinen. Even though it was an old cafeteria, the design of the facility now known as Cadillac House has withstood the test of time. The golden enamelled steel sculpture in the entrance, designed by renowned artist Harry Bertoia, is original to the building. Cadillac House also draws inspiration from Suzanne Vanderbilt, a trailblazing woman in Cadillac design, who was responsible for timeless classics such as the 1958 Eldorado Seville Coupe.
Each buyer of a Celestiq can come to Cadillac House to build out their vision for their car. Ultra-high net-worth customers are assigned a personal concierge who guides them through the design process from start to finish. They can see a limitless number of colour palettes and can touch a full assortment of garnishing materials. Cadillac is open to it if a high degree of hand-crafted detail and labour is required to execute a custom vision. Even though this happens in a sprawling corporate campus, there is a surprising warmth and depth to all the bits and pieces that make up a car.
Sollei Lets in the Sun
Unveiled earlier this summer, the Sollei is a concept car that’s essentially a Celestiq in convertible form. Its design is absolutely striking, with perfect proportions and a “Manila Cream” yellow paint job that’s a faithful reproduction of a colour used on 1957 and 1958 Cadillacs. Copious amounts of leather, metal, and wood adorn the interior, and the wood veneer trim on the seatbacks is truly a sight to see. I'm not too much of a concept car kind of person, but the Sollei has me buzzing. The interior gets a more pinkish-yellow treatment on the leather, and the overall design is inspired by bird watching during a coastal drive. There are even custom bird calls in the rear centre console. While this isn’t a production model, if the Sollei shows where Cadillac is headed, the luxury brand will be sure to generate hype and once again set the aspirational standard for global automotive design.
Final Thoughts
While you or I likely won’t be buying a Celestiq or Sollei any time soon, the sheer idea of this exercise conducted by General Motors and Cadillac should be lauded. The transition to electric vehicles significantly shifts how cars are designed, built, and driven. As such, it is essential to reset decades’ worth of conventional thinking with ambitious, fresh ideas that aren't limited by tradition or resistance to change. After increased mobility after the Second World War, Cadillac inspired the world in the 1950s and 1960s, and those designs are looked back upon today as game changers that defined what cars could be. With what's coming out of Cadillac House and the Technical Center, things are looking up for the future of the automobile.