The $300,000 Cadillac Is Soon To Hit The Market: Can it Succeed?
However, before jumping to conclusions, it’s best to assess whether or not the Cadillac name is powerful enough to warrant […]
Monza Staff
However, before jumping to conclusions, it’s best to assess whether or not the Cadillac name is powerful enough to warrant a $300,000 vehicle. My opinion: In a word, yeah. If GM embraces that direction fully, I believe Cadillac has a better chance of competing with Bentley & Rolls-Royce than Maybach. The Celestiq will compete for head-on with both British brands, yes. However, Celestiq’s survival is by no means guaranteed. Uh, no. Our Buyer’s Guides has placed it dead last in its category, so it’s a horrible little item. Check out all 15 images The design team will not be implementing such changes to the final production Celestiqs.
The annual Pebble Beach Car Week has come to a close. In my 12th consecutive year attending, this year’s celebrations were more vibrant and all-encompassing than ever before, and they were certainly the world’s largest automotive bash/gala/jubilee. Cadillac invited me as a guest to the 120th-anniversary party. Caddy debuted the Project GTP Hypercar, a stealthy fighter-inspired design that foreshadows the third-generation prototype racing car that will compete in the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours. However, Cadillac’s impending hand-built electric supersedan, the Celestiq, continues to steal the show. How significant is this matter? I saw General Motors CEO Mary Barra at the Celestiq reveal party. I asked a lot of questions and had a good look at the Celestiq before the beef wellington and lobsters were presented.
At the Celestiq get-together, I brought up the following on many occasions: “I’ve indeed visited Crewe. The lady who spends 13 hours hand-stitching each Bentley steering wheel is someone I’ve met. A Bentley owner will have seen the film if they haven’t traveled to Crewe to see her in person. At Goodwood, I also got to chat with the person who paints the pinstripes on every Rolls-Royce by hand. What’s the status of those? Is it true that you’ve employed these folks?” The results did not make me happy. According to what I’ve heard, the production vehicle currently lacks the necessary in-house resources, albeit some of the design team have the requisite skills. Speaker 1: No one from the design team would ever do that to a real Celestiq in production. I persisted and was given an even worse response: suppliers would be responsible for dealing with issues like this. And who are you, Johnson Controls? A response like that is just unacceptable.
I don’t want to come out as pretentious and don’t think that way. Spending $300,000 on a car is a luxury, and those who do it do so out of choice. It’s a frivolous extravagance that’s not required at all. The little tasks are impossible to delegate. So Bentley has a man called Clive (or something equally British) with his chisel working on the wood so that he can sweat them. Given the variety and lack of consistency in my responses, I can’t say that I’m convinced that Cadillac has it all figured out just yet. The vehicle won’t see showroom floors for another two years.
Every person I talked with assured me that the amount of customization and individualization would be unrivaled in the business. Do you have a special guitar string? This feature will be built into the cabin of Cadillacs. Or, if you like, you may have the instrument itself repaired or even Grandma’s old dentures. As an American public member with a soft spot for excellent Cadillacs, I hope GM has tremendous success with the Celestia. Before you can defeat the competition, you must improve to at least their level.