Cadillac is gearing up for what’s expected to be the most significant transformation in the automaker’s 120-year history. For its flagship EV, Cadillac will bring back one of its most iconic symbols, first reserved for its most prestigious models, leading the brand into an all-electric future.
The Cadillac Goddess reemerges in the EV era
The Cadillac Goddess first appeared in 1930 alongside the automaker’s Heron mascot. The original Goddess design was touted as “the very spirit of unsurpassed swiftness and power,” with long sweeping lines representing the brand’s “modern beauty and fleetness.”
At first, the Goddess was only available on the most powerful and prestigious Cadillac vehicles, but in 1933 became a staple across its lineup.
As the auto industry evolved, the Goddess received several variations, and then marking the end of an era, the symbol was “retired” in 1956 despite making a few appearances since.
Cadillac is now gearing up for a new, all-electric era. The company is reintroducing the Goddess to pay homage to the performance and craftsmanship behind Cadillac’s flagship EV, the CELESTIQ.
Executive director of Cadillac Design, Bryan Nesbitt, explains:
CELESTIQ is the beginning of the future for Cadillac, conveying the artistic innovation the brand is bringing to luxury electric vehicles. We wanted this flagship EV to embody the significant heritage of the brand in a truly meaningful way, with the Goddess representing the absolute pinnacle of bespoke craftsmanship from Cadillac.
Since hood ornaments have largely been phased out for a more modern, aerodynamic look, the new Cadillac Goddess will appear on the CELESTIQ’s front quarter panel on a “hand built in Detroit” plaque. The plaque is elegantly milled from billet aluminum as its polished, brushed, tinted, and then encased in glass.
Cadillac CELESTIQ multi-function controller and screen.The new Cadillac Goddess Source: CadillacCadillac CELESTIQ hand-built plaque located on the driver’s side door sill.
The new Cadillac Goddess can also be found within the CELESTIQ EV’s multi-function controller on the center console, which is backlit and encased in glass.
General Motors design sculptor Richard Wiquist was tasked with resurrecting Cadillac’s new Goddess for the company’s next generation of vehicles, “leading the brand into its all-electric future.”
Today’s Goddess is entirely sculpted by hand. She appears only on the CELESTIQ, representing the hand-built quality of each vehicle and pointing to a better future, showcasing her head held high and torso projected forward with confidence.
The Cadillac CELESTIQ is already seeing significant interest despite a price tag of upwards of $300,000. Production of the CELESTIQ is expected to begin in December 2023 and is only available by waitlist.
Electrek’s Take
Cadillac’s flagship electric vehicle will be the first production car built by hand at the GM Global Tech Center in Michigan, sparking a new era for Cadillac.
As Cadillac prepares for an all-electric future, bringing back an iconic symbol like the Goddess is exciting to see, fusing together its old legacy and the company’s new direction. We are seeing several Legacy automakers infusing past symbols as they gear up to compete in the new era of electric vehicles.
Ford converted its best-selling F-150 to electric with the Lightning pickup while carrying the Mustang legacy in the Mach-E. Hyundai incorporated elements of its first unique model, the Pony, to design the IONIQ 5.
As new electric vehicles hit the market over the next several years, you can expect to see more of this, with automakers tapping into their past to try to get a leg up on the competition. However, seeing Cadillac reintroduce one of its most iconic symbols for its flagship EV highlights the auto industry’s direction and how automakers are reimaging themselves in the EV era.
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Renewables increased their output by almost 10% and provided nearly a quarter of US electrical generation in 2024, according to newly released US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
Solar was still No 1
Solar remained the US’s fastest-growing source of electricity in 2024. Utility-scale and “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar combined increased by 26.9% in 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, according to the SUN DAY Campaign, which reviewed EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report data.
Utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 32%, while small-scale solar increased by 15.3%. Together, solar was nearly 7% (6.91%) of total US electrical generation for the year.
In December alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar expanded by 42% compared to December 2023.
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Small-scale solar (systems <1 MW) accounted for 27.9% of all solar generation and provided 1.9% of the US electricity supply in 2024. In fact, small-scale solar PV generates over five times more electricity than utility-scale geothermal.
2024 renewables milestones
The electrical output of US wind farms in 2024 grew by 7.7% year-over-year. Wind remains the largest source of electrical generation among renewable energy sources, accounting for 10.3% of the US total.
Wind and solar combined provided more than 17.2% of US electrical generation during 2024. The mix of all renewables – wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, geothermal – provided 24.2% of total US electricity production in 2024 compared to 23.2% of electrical output a year earlier.
Between January and December, electrical generation by renewables grew by 9.6% compared to the same period the year before – nearly three times the growth rate of natural gas (3.3%) and over 10 times that of nuclear power (0.9%).
In December alone, electrical generation by renewables grew by 10.1% compared to December 2023.
Wind and solar together produced 15.9% more electricity than coal and came close to matching nuclear power’s share of total generation (17.2% vs. 17.8%).
The mix of renewables reinforced their position as the second largest source of electrical generation, behind only natural gas.
“Renewable energy sources now provide a quarter of the nation’s electricity,” said the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, Ken Bossong. “Consequently, the rash efforts of the Trump Administration to undermine wind, solar, and other renewables will have serious negative consequences for the nation’s electricity supply and the economy.”
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However, we suspected that this would not be “unsupervised self-driving’ in customer vehicles like Tesla has been promising since 2016, but an internal fleet with teleoperation support in a geo-fenced area for ride-hailing services, much like Waymo has been doing for years.
With the focus on Austin in June, Tesla stopped talking about California, which was announced to happen at the same time as Texas last year.
Now, Bloomberg reports that Tesla has applied for a ride-hailing permit in California:
The electric vehicle manufacturer applied late last year for what’s known as a transportation charter-party carrier permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, according to documents viewed by Bloomberg. That classification means Tesla would own and control the fleet of vehicles.
But this application is for a regular ride-hailing service, like Uber, albeit for an internal fleet rather than vehicles operated by customers.
Tesla has yet to apply for a permit to operate driverless vehicles:
In its communications with California officials, Tesla discussed driver’s license information and drug-testing coordination, suggesting the company intends to use human drivers, at least initially. Tesla is applying for the same type of permit used by Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s robotaxi business. While Tesla has approval to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver in California, it doesn’t have, nor has applied for, a driverless testing or deployment permit from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, according to a spokesperson.
Musk claimed that he believes Tesla will be able to achieve “unsupervised self-driving” in California by “the end of the year”, but he has claimed that every year for the past decade.
This is just a step for Tesla to test ride-hailing services ahead of autonomy. A nothing burger, really, since ride-hailing has obviously been solved already by several companies, Lyft, Uber, Didi, etc.
What needs to be solved is autonomous driving.
As I have been saying for the last year, I am sure Tesla will be able to launch an internal fleet with teleoperation support in a geo-fenced area for a ride-hailing service in California later this year like it plans to do in Austin in June, but that’s nowhere near what Tesla promised since 2016.
It’s a moving of the goal post, and it’s basically just proving that Tesla is able to do something similar to Waymo – 5 years later.
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The feature is called “Autopilot automatic assisted driving on urban roads” as Tesla seems more cautious about using the term “Full Self-Driving” in China, but it is a feature known for being in the FSD package everywhere else.
Tesla has been facing a lot of issues in releasing FSD features in China. The automaker has been limited in its neural net training due to restrictions about data coming in and out of the country, and it found it difficult to adapt to regulations regarding bus lanes and other China-specific road rules.
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CEO Elon Musk warned that FSD in China would be a problem during Tesla’s earnings call last month due to the different rules. He mentioned bus lanes as an example:
By the way, were about the biggest challenges in making FSD work in China is the bus lanes are very complicated. And there’s like literally like hours of the day that you’re allowed to be there and not be there. And then if you accidentally go in that bus lane at the wrong time, you get an automatic ticket instantly. So, it’s kind of a big deal, bus lanes in China.
The automated ticketing system is not just for bus lanes and Tesla owners are learning about it the hard way.
Tesla owners have been testing out the features in live streams on social media and some of them are reporting getting numerous tickets for using FSD.
For example, this Tesla driver received 7 tickets in the space of a single drive because the FSD drove in bike lanes and made illegal maneuvers:
Car News China tracked several live streams and customer feedback on Chinese social media, and the consensus appears to be that it’s “pretty good, but with lots of bugs”.
The drivers are particularly impressed with how “natural” FSD drives, but they also noted that it still
Where the system lacks is the understanding of local traffic rules (such as no use of shoulder/bike lanes on turns, similar to the bus lane rules that Elon talked about in the most recent earnings call) and the sporadic use of wrong lanes (e.g. going straight in a left or right turn only lane) or navigation showing the vehicle in one lane when in fact it’s in another or wrong perception of objects (red balloons as traffic lights). Many of the live streams counted the number of traffic violations from the vehicle and the number of points that would have been taken off or licenses suspended (12 points = suspension) as a result.
Chinese media websites are now getting flooded with Tesla vehicles running red traffic lights, failing to recognize green lights, and driving on restricted lanes, like the video above.
The report also highlights how Tesla is facing strong competition in ADAS in China, with competitors like Nio, Xpeng, BYD, and others launching competitive products, which is not necessarily the case in other markets for Tesla.
Electrek’s Take
I feel like this is likely going to result in bad PR for Tesla in China. You can’t have drivers losing their licenses because FSD doesn’t recognize bike lanes.
Now, of course, Tesla will say that the driver remains responsible, but I don’t know how good Tesla’s messaging is on that front in China.
It’s going to be an interesting story to track in the coming months.
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