The Taylor Swift of automobiles: get in line for the Cadillac Celestiq
For those who think that getting hold of a pair of Taylor Swift tickets is a challenge, consider the prospective buyers seeking to lay out $300,000 for a Cadillac Celestiq, who’ve been told that wait time is at least a year and a half.
The exotic electric Celestiq, a halo car flagship for General Motors if ever there was one, is scheduled to go into production in the GM Global Technical Center in Michigan in just about a year. But Tony Roma, the car’s chief engineer, says that output for the hand-built machine will likely be limited to two units per day.
“We have quite a few hand-raisers. Many, many more than we’re going to be able to build in the first year, 18 months.” he said in a wide-ranging interview with Autoline After Hours. He said that Cadillac has quite a few interested customers, including Lenny Kravitz, looking to get their hands on the bespoke luxury vehicle. Translated, that means, don’t expect to find discounted demo units of a Celestiq on a Cadillac showroom floor for some time.
The all-wheel-drive Celestiq was developed “to pay interesting dividends in other products” down the line, Roma said. It’s the first hand-built car from GM since the long-gone EV1 from the late 90s, he added. Roma said that Celestiq prototypes are now testing in various hot weather/cold weather regions of the U.S.
The Celestiq will be equipped with a pair of motors sending 600 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels. Cadillac estimates the Celestiq will be able to hit 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. Electricity is supplied via a 111-kWh battery pack.
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