Cadillac shares new details of hand-built Celestiq, including a starting price tag ‘north of $300K’
GM’s luxury brand Cadillac has shared a multitude of new details surrounding the upcoming Celestiq sedan it has been teasing for over a year and a half now. Cadillac is describing the Celestiq as its most technologically advanced and most luxurious vehicle ever, and it just may be its most expensive as well. Here’s the latest.
When it eventually begins deliveries in 2024, the Cadillac Celestiq will be the second BEV to arrive under the Cadillac marque behind the Lyriq, which is just starting to reach early customers. Cadillac first shared news of this ultra-lux electric sedan back in early 2021, alongside an image showcasing a unique “smart glass” roof. From the get-go, Cadillac has been touting its second BEV model as a flagship vehicle clad with hand-crafted materials.
Cadillac didn’t really mention the Celestiq much after that. At least not until this past June when it unveiled new images of the EV, describing its design as “avant-garde,” built to challenge the ultra-luxury segment. Days later, we learned the Celestiq would not just feature handmade components, but will be an entirely hand-built EV – featuring over 100 3D-printed elements.
The American automaker said the EV itself is designed for low-volume production typical with hand-built, ultra-luxurious vehicles. We are still unsure what level of output “low volume” entails for Cadillac, but based on the technology in its design and its hand-built production, we had surmised that it was going to cost quite a bit more than the average EV.
When we saw the full images of the Celestiq in July, there were rumors it would cost around $300,000, but we could not verify that. Following today’s news, we can confirm that $300K is merely the starting price, and it can increase from there based on the customer’s “level of personalization,” according to Cadillac.
Cadillac Celestiq could be a work of art… for the ultra wealthy
As more and more automakers are utilizing advancements in EV platform and battery technology to help deliver lower-priced EVs, GM’s premium brand is going in the opposite direction and building an EV that could serve as an archetype for advanced technology and ultra-luxury.
Unfortunately, most people won’t be able to afford it, so we will provide as many details and images as we can, as we learn more about this upcoming EV. That way, we can all vicariously experience all it has to offer. Based upon the 5,000+ word press release from Cadillac today, there’s a lot to talk about surrounding the Celestiq, but here are some of the top-line features.
First off, each Celestiq will be personally commissioned, allowing customers the opportunity to work directly with a dealer of their choosing and Cadillac designers to create their own, one-of-a-kind version. This is a similar design approach to the Carmen from Hispano Suiza, in which no two EVs are alike. Per Cadillac’s global vice president Rory Harvey:
Celestiq is like no Cadillac before it and the client experience is equally exceptional. Each vehicle is a unique expression of its owner, leveraging leading-edge technologies that make the driving experience personal and rewarding. With an extremely low volume of hand-built vehicles to be offered globally each year and an exclusive declaration process, Celestiq will truly be a custom-commissioned one-of-one. Each client will experience a personalized journey to make their vehicle exactly the way they desire.
Alright, let’s dig into the actual design and performance. The Celestiq will arrive on GM’s Ultium platform powered by an 111 kWh battery pack and a dual-motor AWD propulsion system. GM estimates the EV will offer 600 horsepower and 640 lb.-ft. of torque, plus an estimated range of 300 miles (483 km) on a full charge.
Cadillac shared that although the Celestiq is not the first (or last) EV on the Ultium platform, it will still be a unique implementation due to its 11.59:1 front and 11.63:1 rear gear ratios, which have been specifically calibrated to optimize range and performance. The Celestiq is predicted to accelerate 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds.
In addition to the platform, Cadillac states the Celestiq comes equipped with the automaker’s most advanced suspension and performance systems ever, including features like magnetic ride control and an active rear spoiler to improve aerodynamics at varying speeds.
GM’s Ultium platform enables the luxury sedan to charge at rate up to 200 kW and garner an estimated 78 miles of range in 10 minutes on a DC fast charger. There is still so much to unfold here, especially in terms of the Celestiq’s “avant-garde” design.
Other unique design features
We can write another 1,000 words about all the design elements Cadillac shared this evening, but it’s probably just easier to read the full press release, or better yet, check out all the highlighted features we’ve compiled for you.
- Fixed smart glass roof
- Features Suspended Particle Device Technology – an industry-first feature. Multi-color ambient lighting and choreography create an interplay between the exterior and the amount of light allowed into the cabin through four separate zones.
- Tint levels for the zones range from less than 1% for the darkest level of opacity, to 20%, which is the standard tint level of a traditional sunroof.
- Materials:
- Carbon fiber is present in several areas of the exterior. The visible metallic surfaces are authentic metal, including the aluminum grille, header, rocker, taillamp and headlamp trim, brushed aluminum bodyside trim, aluminum eTrunk lining, and brushed metal lift gate openings.
- Exterior lighting:
- Every single point of light in the Celestiq’s animation is its own source rather than banks of lights like in other vehicles. There will be over 1,600 individual LEDs per EV (depending on the sales market). The Cadillac-first Digital Micro-mirror Device headlamps feature 1.3 million pixels per side.
- Lighting choreography:
- The vehicle welcomes its owner when they are 15 feet away by illuminating the front Cadillac Crest. Light then moves from the middle of the black crystal shield grill to the headlamps, creating an impression the vehicle is powering up.
- Immersive interior lighting:
- Featuring more than 450 distinct LEDs, drivers can personalize their color selections for each interior zone or let the vehicle curate the lighting combinations to harmonize throughout. The Celestiq includes 18 different lighting animations.
- Hand-finished metalwork and hand-wrapped leather
- Many of the metal elements throughout Cadillac Celestiq require detail and finish work such as fine milling, anodization, and a final polishing by hand. The leather is hand-wrapped by artisans.
- Unique color:
- The customer is involved in every color decision pertaining to materials and finishes, and will have the opportunity to develop new colors or paint to match with the Cadillac design team. This also enables an infinite range of exterior and interior colors, materials, and finishes to design a truly bespoke vehicle.
- Infotainment:
- The centerpiece of the Cadillac Celestiq interior is a pillar-to-pillar, 55-inch diagonal HD display. It contains two separate screens under a single pane of glass. The driver’s side has pixel density comparable to an 8K screen, while the passenger side allows occupants to play media, use the internet, or connect their smartphones.
- Rear passengers have their own 12.6-inch diagonal displays in front of them, mounted on the front seat backs.
- Sound experience:
- Celestiq offers 41-speakers, including three exterior speakers. A 38-speaker AKG Studio Reference Audio System in the cabin is custom tuned by professional audio engineers and utilizes three separate amplifiers to power 30 channels for complete audio immersion. The system features 3D surround, vehicle noise compensation, conversation enhancement, and phone zones.
- The EV will also introduce a Cadillac-first Vehicle Exterior Sound System, which provides Cadillac curated propulsion sounds while driving.
- Ultra Cruise:
- Celestiq will arrive with the latest hands-free advanced driver assistance technologies with Ultra Cruise. It will be equipped with all of the necessary Ultra Cruise hardware to enable incremental growth in the future via over-the-air updates in 2024.
The Celestiqs will be constructed at GM’s Global Technical Center, in Warren, Michigan – the first vehicle to be built at that site since it opened 66 years ago and the automaker has invested $81 million to make it happen.
Once again, the Cadillac Celestiq will start at an MSRP over $300,000 and is currently available by waitlist only.
Production is expected to begin in December of 2023, and although Cadillac would not share the total vehicle output it has planned, its team did tell us that it expects to be producing only two EVs per day when assembly gets going. Low volume indeed.
It is sure to be an experience when we can see one of these unique EVs up close. Perhaps we can make our way to Warren, Michigan, and share some footage of them being hand-built. Until then, here’s a little teaser video of the Celestiq provided by Cadillac.
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Environment
Tesla (TSLA) brand damage is destroying used car value: ‘People don’t want them anymore’
Tesla’s brand damage is eroding the value of used Tesla vehicles at a rapid rate, as owners rush to sell theirs.
It is breaking the used Tesla market as prices are plunging just as the broader used car market is recovering.
After a few tough years for the used car market following the pandemic, it is finally starting to recover over the last month.
Economic uncertainty and a fear of higher inflation due to Trump’s tariffs are prompting some buyers to shift from the new car market to the used car market.
From March 2024 to March 2025, average used car prices decreased by 2.68% in the US, but the trend has finally reversed.
According to Car Guru‘s used car index, used car prices have risen an impressive 2.17% in the last 30 days alone.
However, there’s an exception: Tesla.
The price of used Tesla vehicles has been falling, like the rest of the used car market, since the pandemic; however, it is not benefiting from the reversal in the current macroeconomic situation.
While average used car prices rose more than 2% in the last 30 days, Tesla’s used car prices decreased by 1.34% in the US.
That’s due to oversupply, as many Tesla owners are selling their vehicles to distance themselves from the Tesla brand, which is associated with CEO Elon Musk and his increasingly divisive political views.
The demand to sell used Tesla vehicles is so high that many used car dealers, who had been fighting to acquire inventory just a year prior, are starting to be reticent about buying Tesla vehicles as the value decreases so rapidly.
In Quebec, Le Journal de Montréal spoke with local used car dealers and attended a car auction where many Tesla vehicles were up for sale, with some selling for half the price they were selling for just over a year ago.
Éric Piuze, owner of a used car dealership on Montreal’s South Shore, said (translated from French):
“People don’t want them anymore. The Elon Musk effect is very real in Quebec.”
The used car dealers at the auction noted that they are not confident they can sell the used Tesla quickly enough to avoid further value decreases.
Furthermore, they note that potential buyers are lowballing on Tesla vehicles because they are aware that inventory is high, creating a buyer’s market.
Dealers are also seeing higher defaults on Tesla car payments, as buyers who took on debt to purchase them just a few years ago struggle to make payments.
Piuze added (translated from French):
People paid a lot of money for Teslas. During the pandemic, we saw many people remortgaging their homes to buy a Tesla. Those days are over.
At its peak, the average used Tesla price was over $60,000 in 2022. Now, the same vehicles are worth a fraction, but their car payments are still high.
Electrek’s Take
Even with the used car market finally getting a breather from crashing prices, Tesla vehicles are not benefiting at all. This highlights a significant issue in the used Tesla market. It’s broken.
The market can’t absorb the surge in people selling their Tesla vehicles.
I wouldn’t want to be a company holding a fleet of Tesla vehicles right now. The value erosion is impressive.
I thought that maybe the Cybertruck was dragging the entire Tesla market down, with a 6.64% decrease in used value over the last 30 days. However, the Model Y alone saw a 1.67% decrease during the same period.
The good news is that the vast majority of people selling their used Tesla vehicles are purchasing other electric vehicles, thereby boosting the EV market. It’s also giving people the chance to get into Tesla vehicles for cheaper, although they should expect the value of those vehicles to decrease rapidly.
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The new flagship Q-Range electric drive cone plant from the quarry experts at Sandvik is engineered to be safe, quiet, and tough enough to operate in the most hostile environments the mining and quarrying industries can put it in.
Cone crushers enhance quarrying efficiency by enabling operators to crush rock, stone, and ore down to a precise size. In ELI5 terms, big rocks go into the top of the plant. Inside, a cone-shaped mantle moves inside a larger cone in an eccentric circle that grinds up the stone and ore between the mantle and the cone’s sides, breaking them up into smaller pieces. Once the pieces are ground to a given size determined by the position of the mantle within the larger cone, they fall out into a cone-shaped pile (but that’s just a coincidence).
Basic mechanisms of cone crusher
The cone crusher is part of a broader “train” of machines on a quarry that work together to turn a massive rock face into a fine sand and/or anything in between. With the launch of the QH443E electric cone plant, Sandvik now offers mine operators a fully electric driven train – one that includes the UJ443E fully electric jaw crusher launched in 2023, the QE342e hybrid scalper, and the QA452e hybrid triple-deck Doublescreen launched in 2022 (if you want to know more about how those work, let us know in the comments).
The new QH443E features a new heavy-duty feeder design equipped with electrically driven components, which can be powered by batteries, or a connection to grid power. An on-board diesel generator capable of running on 100% HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil), providing a number of more sustainable fuel choices and effectively reducing the mine’s operating costs.
Sandvik claims the electric delivers a 25% fuel savings on generator (and, obviously, 100% on grid or battery power), as well as a 78% reduction in oil usage compared to previous generations.
The new crusher bridges the gap between tracked mobile, wheeled portable, and stationary cone plants by combining electric drives and track mobility on a single platform. The QH443E uses Optik intuitive automation system and My Fleet remote monitoring software hooked to a suite of sensors that provide 24/7 telematics, geo-fencing, and remote-operator support that’s designed to ensure continuous crushing and optimal performance.
Those sensors also help drive innovations in safety, as well. “Safety is paramount in the design of the QH443E,” said Sandvik, in a statement. “The unit includes remote camera viewing of the crushing chamber, 270 degree access around the crusher for easy maintenance and mandatory audible and visual warnings for safe operation. Our extensive global distributor and sales support network ensures that you receive the best support for your operations.”
The QH443E is available in the EU now through Sandvik Mobile’s global dealer network, and will be available everywhere by Q4 of 2025.
Electrek’s Take
While there are a lot of people outside the drilling and mining space who may scoff at environmental concerns, the quest for improved efficiency and cost reduction among commercial fleet managers knows no political ideology. Simply put: If it’s better or cheaper, they’ll buy it. If it’s better and cheaper, they’ll buy two — and battery power is proving to be consistently better, in a broader scope of use cases, than diesel.
SOURCE | PHOTOS: Sandvik; via Global Highways, Pit & Quarry.
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The current EV era is ripe with revered classic car designs and nameplates that are being reborn as battery-powered rides – and the success of cars the Renault 5 proves it can be a winning formula. Today, I’m suggesting another classic that deserves a modern electric update: the OG Ford Taurus.
It might seem old and dated now, but when the original Ford Taurus made its debut in 1985, it was so fresh, so different, so futuristic that it was included, almost unchanged, in Robocop’s sci-fi vision of a dystopian Detroit. Really.
I’d buy that for a dollar
The aerodynamic design of the Ford Taurus wasn’t just futuristic, it was successful – and, from 1992 through 1996, the OG Taurus was not just Ford’s best-selling car, but the best selling car in North America.
The sedan market is very different forty years on – so different, in fact, that Ford doesn’t actually sell any sedans in North America. With the exception of the 2-door ICE Mustang, the Blue Oval brand doesn’t even sell any cars, and operates almost entirely as a truck and SUV brand.
Now, imagine Ford decides to get back into the sedan game. It’s 2025 now, and the Tesla Model 3 has proven that there’s enough demand for at least one successful electric sedan in the US. And, crucially, it seems like most of those buyers won’t be trading their Tesla back in for another one.
If there was ever a time to do it, that time is now – and Ford is perfectly positioned to fast-track a new-age Taurus.
The VW connection
Yes, I know that’s a Volkswagen – but hear me out. Ford and VW have a strong, existing relationship when it comes to EVs, having co-developed the MEB electric skateboard platform that underpins both the high-riding Ford Capri (itself a modern take on a classic Ford) and the Volkswagen ID.7 shown, above.
The ID.7 is an interesting piece, because it was always Volkswagen’s original intention to bring the car to the US, but slowing sedan demand and a dealer body that would rather sell Scout-branded SUVs and pickups than near/entry-luxe sedans killed the car’s chances before before the first one made it over. Now, it’s not coming to the US at all.
That might have been a mistake, since the the midsized ID.7 sedan is currently the best-selling EV in Germany, with sales continuing to accelerate throughout Europe in the wake of Tesla’s catastrophic, politically-fueled decline.
So, VW dealers don’t want a perfectly capable, Ford-developed, aerodynamic midsized sedan to sell in the US? No problem. Ramp up the BlueOval SK battery plant, set off a hiring frenzy at BlueOval City, start building an oval-badged ID.7-based Ford Taurus in the US, and slap a Tesla conquest rebate on the thing to help overcome Tesla buyer’s increasingly negative equity.
It even looks good in 90s Ford Taurus green.
Original content from Electrek; featured image by ChatGPT.
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