When it comes to the Cadillac Celestiq flagship EV, four seems to be the magic number.
For the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Cadillac confirmed some details of the upcoming electric sedan, including all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, and a four-quadrant glass roof.
The roof is made from suspended-particle-device smart glass, allowing each of the four occupants (the Celestiq won’t have a middle rear seat) to set the level of transparency for their quadrant, a Cadillac press release said.
Cadillac also said the Celestiq will have a “pillar-to-pillar freeform display” for the driver and front passenger, with individual screens for both passengers. Additional screen between the seats in the first and second rows “will separate individualized comfort settings from entertainment displays,” the automaker said, implying that these screens will be used for controlling different features.
The Celestiq is one of numerous electric cars based on General Motors’ Ultium modular battery architecture and BEV3 platform. It’s expected to have a fastback shape, and will be hand-assembled in Detroit—not unlike coachbuilt Cadillacs of the prewar era.
The same basic platform will be used for the Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV, which is expected to arrive before the Celestiq, in 2022. At least one more electric Cadillac—a larger SUV inspired by the Escalade—is planned by the middle of the decade, with more likely on the way.
Cadillac’s design boss has hinted that EVs won’t mirror gasoline models in design, and in an early preview of the concept Green Car Reports saw an even more daring iteration of some of the curvaceousness in the already-revealed Lyriq.
Cadillac has been declared the standard bearer for GM’s electrification efforts, and will sell mostly electric vehicles by 2030, the automaker has said. A November Automotive News report said GM was already communicating that plan to dealers, and offering dealers unsure about the electric vision $500,000 to drop their Cadillac franchises.