- GM revealed a new all-electric Cadillac - Celestiq.
- Celestiq will be hand-built in limited numbers.
- The flagship luxury EV will also utilize a new battery design from GM. The carmaker had previously announced Cadillac would be its lead luxury-vehicle brand.
- The company plans to launch 22 new electrified vehicles by 2023.
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DETROIT - General Motors might have saved the best for last. At an event for media, investors, analysts, and dealers at its historic Warren Technical Center to showcase the company's ambitious electrification strategy, president Mark Reuss pulled the cover off a new Cadillac.
The Celestiq is a big, luxurious, sedan that will be hand-built in Michigan and run on electrons. It will also be the flagship of Cadillac, which GM has made its lead electric brand.
"It's a dream car for this company and our customers," Reuss said. "It's the ultimate expression of Cadillac design and technology, and the ultimate luxury experience."
In a brief interview, Cadillac president Steve Carlisle indicated that production would be quite limited. "We need to do something we haven't done before," he said.
Celestiq will follow the new all-electric Lyriq, which arrives this April. As with a spate of new EVs from GM - the carmaker said it plans to launch 22 vehicles by 2023 - Celestiq will utilize an innovative new battery design, called Ultium.
Ultium is a highly modular and scalable battery architecture that could enable GM to lower costs below the $100-per-kilowatt-hour threshold. It will undergird everything from the next-generation Chevy Bolt, a mass-market hatchback, to the forthcoming GMC Hummer pickup truck. GM said that it would enable 400-mile range on a single charge and could support 0-60 mph times of three seconds.
GM didn't provide extensive details on Celestiq, but the sedan that it showed was impressive, with a luminous pearl-white paint job, sleek lines and a bold stance, and dramatic, multilayered fascia framed by vertical headlights. (The company also didn't supply photos, but we should see something relatively soon as Cadillac unveils new EVs.)
Reuss said that Cadillac had been a leader in design, luxury, and innovation, and that with Celestiq, it "would be again."