Cadillac works to elevate luxury brand with bespoke vehicles, curated experience

DETROIT — Two years ago, Cadillac set its sights on returning to being the "standard of the world" when it debuted the ultraluxury Celestiq electric sedan.

The Celestiq's long fastback body proportions, premium materials and electric powertrain were meant to convey a sense of Cadillac's future, both as an EV brand and as a manufacturer of customer-curated luxury vehicles that can compete against high-end brands such as Rolls-Royce.

Cadillac set its bespoke ambitions higher in July with the Sollei electric concept convertible — a design study to explore the future of custom vehicle commissions and a throwback to its heritage as a classic American luxury brand, down to its use of an exterior color from the 1950s.

Leaders of the brand want to elevate its standing among top-tier luxury players by expanding into more global markets and refining the customer experience at its dealerships. Cadillac also is catering to Celestiq customers with a curated design experience at Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, a dedicated building at General Motors' Global Technical Center outside Detroit where each buyer can work with a concierge to select materials and finishes.

The hand-built Celestiq is an important signal to the market — and "all the doubters around the brand for many, many years" — that Cadillac is serious about its reinvention, said Michael Simcoe, GM's senior vice president of global design.

"Part of the game here is communicating that you understand that market and understand that level of product. Without actually doing that and actually getting customers to buy into that [emotion] and vision, you'll never convince anyone that you're serious," Simcoe told Automotive News after revealing the Sollei at Cadillac House.

"In the same way it's a vision for what we'd like to be," he said, "it's also the embodiment of proof that we can actually do it."

To be sure, Cadillac still has its work cut out. The brand has not yet delivered a Celestiq, which starts around $340,000 before customization. Cadillac initially had said the car would go into production at the Tech Center campus last December.

A Cadillac spokesperson told Automotive News that "saleable Celestiq units have entered the hand-built production process." John Roth, vice president of global Cadillac, declined to say how many were in production but told reporters in July that "99 percent" of customer-commissioned Celestiqs were still in the design phase and that Cadillac is working to begin deliveries by the end of 2024. The timeline for each vehicle varies based on the level of customization.

"This is the first time in, what, 50 years that we've hand-built a Cadillac from start to finish," Roth said. "It's a much more precise process than mass manufacturing. And when you're working with materials that are one-of-one, you want to make sure that everything comes together."

Cadillac's goal is ambitious, and the brand does have perception challenges to overcome, automotive design journalist Laura Burstein said. But the Celestiq and the Sollei are "a bold move," she added, and Cadillac appears to be sending a message — with the help of GM's investment in new, dedicated design facilities — about prioritizing design.

"It seems that they are doing all the right things in order to achieve it," Burstein said.

Materials and craftsmanship are important to luxury consumers, and it's important for luxury brands to distinguish their products in the market with high quality, attention to detail and rarity, Burstein said. High-end brands such as Ferrari and Porsche offer bespoke experiences similar to what Cadillac is doing with the Celestiq.

Cadillac House at Vanderbilt was named for Suzanne Vanderbilt, who joined GM in 1955 and worked in the design studio on such notable vehicles as a 1958 Eldorado Seville coupe called the Baroness and the Saxony convertible.

The single-story building once housed the Tech Center's Central Restaurant before Cadillac renovated it last year. It retains the midcentury design of architect Eero Saarinen while adding 21st-century touches, including a turntable in the center of the floor to showcase vehicles and a glass door for vehicles to enter.

"We've never really in modern days worked with a client like this," said Alexandra Dymowska, a senior brand strategy designer who worked on Cadillac House and the Celestiq. "It's a really pivotal shift for how Cadillac does business, because it's really one of the first times we're interacting with clients face-to-face."

Providing a boutique experience is one way for brands to create exclusivity, including for vehicles at the Celestiq's price point, Burstein said. Wealthy buyers want an experience that feels unique and special, she said, and a space like Cadillac House may now be necessary for brands that want to operate in the ultraluxury market.

Customers "really want to put their own mark on something, and they also want to hear the story behind things. That's the other way that design is important," she said. "Every material, every color, every finish, is because somebody was in a room with somebody and talked about the story behind it."

Finding the line between bespoke vehicles aimed at ultraluxury buyers and applying elements of them to more-affordable offerings is "a delicate balance," Burstein said.

Cadillac has shared some design cues, from lighting signatures to front fascias, up and down its portfolio. Simcoe said that, while not every vehicle is individually tailored like the Celestiq, their character and use of materials can be similar.

"Once you create an aspiration," he said, "you can express it in every vehicle you do inside the brand."

Howard Drake, a Cadillac dealer in Los Angeles, said his store used to work with high-end upfitters to personalize Escalade SUVs for customers 20 years ago. Drake said he likes the idea of the factory handling the customization and thinks adopting pieces of that strategy on other vehicles could benefit Cadillac, dealers and customers.

It would be hard to add $15,000 worth of customization to a $60,000 vehicle, Drake said, but customers might be willing to pay for smaller amounts of personalization.

"I would love to see us — and I think the plan is to — find middle ground and do more of that," he said.