Yahoo News Car and Driver's 'Into Cars' Podcast Ep. 4 Features the Cadillac Celestiq
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The fourth installment of Car and Driver's new podcast Into Cars sees editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga and chief brand and content officer Eddie Alterman take a field trip to Cadillac House at GM's Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, to have the customer experience of the one-of-a-kind Celestiq—Cadillac's new hand-built, $340K-plus electric flagship.
The production version of the Cadillac Celestiq was revealed last fall. The four-seater is longer than an Escalade and lower than a Chevy Malibu. Beneath its beautiful bodywork is a version of GM's Ultium battery platform and a dual-motor powertrain making 600 horsepower. Along with being built by hand, every Celestiq is built to order. And choosing the options is what Alterman and Quiroga experience in this week's episode.
The pair arrive at Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, the glass-sided midcentury building named after famed GM designer Sue Vanderbilt, where Celestiq customers are invited to partake in the bespoke design process. Alterman and Quiroga do a walkaround with Celestiq's design director Erin Crossley as well as chief engineer Tony Roma who discuss the car's origin story and its many features.
"Look how long and low it is. I can't think of any car in modern times with a 130-inch wheelbase," says Quiroga. "It has a huge impact when you see it on the road in a sea of crossover SUVs."
After exploring the Celestiq's extravagant cabin, which is filled with finely crafted materials, countless 3-D-printed parts, and a dash-spanning screen, the duo option out a Celestiq with the help of Cadillac's design concierge. The process is uniquely catered to each customer, who then get to choose from nearly limitless options for paint, carpet colors, interior materials—you name it.
Their design then comes to life on a giant 16-foot screen that shows their Celestiq being built in real time—a Carolina Blue exterior paired with an interior with Cinnamon as the primary color. Quiroga then asks the concierge to how he might talk someone out of a bad decision, in this case red carpeting. In the end, the concierge guides Quiroga and Alterman to a Santorini Blue carpet, which is but one of the roughly 300,000 areas within the Celestiq that are customizable.
"While it might be the most expensive Cadillac ever built, it also might be the most advanced and certainly the most special," concludes Quiroga.
Next week's episode of Into Cars focuses on an EV that's designed for fun on and off the racetrack, with Quiroga and Alterman driving and reviewing the 641-hp Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.
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