Cadillac to Hand-Build New Luxury Sedan
General Motors will invest more than $81 million into the company’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, to prepare, purchase and install required equipment to hand-build the all-electric Cadillac CELESTIQ, the company announced.
The CELESTIQ will be the first production vehicle to be built at GM’s Global Technical Center, the center of the company’s engineering and design efforts since May 1956, Cadillac said.
“As Cadillac’s future flagship sedan, CELESTIQ signifies a new, resurgent era for the brand,” said Mark Reuss, president, General Motors. “Each one will be hand-built by an amazing team of craftspeople on our historic Technical Center campus, and today’s investment announcement emphasizes our commitment to delivering a world-class Cadillac with nothing but the best in craftsmanship, design, engineering and technology.”
The Cadillac CELESTIQ will be built on GM’s Ultium Platform. CELESTIQ’s roof is expected to be one of the first to feature a four-quadrant, suspended-particle-device smart glass. With this smart glass, each occupant of the vehicle can set their own level of roof transparency, designers said.
The driver and front-seat passenger will enjoy a pillar-to-pillar freeform display with active privacy to help mitigate driver distraction.
CELESTIQ is also expected to have the highest volume of 3D printed components — more than 100 — of any GM production vehicle. This will include both structural and cosmetic parts, and both polymer and metal pieces. Additionally, the CELESTIQ production facility itself will leverage additive manufacturing for tooling, fixtures and gauges in the assembly process, the company said.
“This investment is a great example of our commitment to GM’s EV transformation as we apply our manufacturing expertise to a one-of-a-kind, ultra-luxury vehicle for the Cadillac brand,” said Gerald Johnson, executive vice president of Global Manufacturing and Sustainability. “The advanced manufacturing technology and tools we are utilizing on CELESTIQ will help our team deliver the highest quality vehicles to our customers.”
The vehicle is expected to debut in late July.
