Imagine Wagons – Where the Cadillac Celestiq Went Wrong

By Phil Royle – Nov. 1, 2022

With Cadillac jumping into the ultra luxury segment through the pending release of its $300,000-plus Celestiq electric sedan, the question pundits have been posing is who the market for this 600 hp, 640 lb-ft “Cadillac of EVs” is? The price tag indicates Cadillac intends it to be for exclusive clientele – the so-called 1%. Unfortunately for Cadillac, that audience matters little when attempting to elevate a floundering brand.

The reality is it was far more important for Cadillac to win over automotive enthusiast diehards and motoring media with an aspirational poster-car that would garner oodles of effusively positive press, creating a modern-day legend – even if the majority of people would never own it. This is something the Celestiq hasn’t done. And it would have been so easy to accomplish – all the Celestiq’s design team needed to add was a larger rear end.

Cadillac will, without a doubt, sell every hand-built, custom-ordered Celestiq it can produce – that would be the result regardless of what the Celestiq looked like, especially since Cadillac is reportedly targeting a production of only 500 per year. In the current environment, any company actually capable of producing an EV will sell out at least its first year of production. The Celestiq is expensive and will be limited in quantity – those two work in tandem to all but guarantee buyers. But for Cadillac to really win, the Celestiq needed to be something enthusiasts would obsess over.

Wagon, Estate, Avant, Variant, Tourer – the name matters little when the results are all so sweet. Had Cadillac penned a wagon version of the Celestiq instead of what appears to be a lift-back with an undoubtedly massive blind spot thanks to the strange C-pillar winglets, automotive enthusiasts and journalists alike would have fawned over the ultra-luxury EV sedan instead of giving its design language a lukewarm shrug.

The Cadillac CTS-V Wagon was a non-conformer that won accolades from nearly all automotive enthusiasts and journalists, reminding many that Cadillac was still a brand worth considering.

Most reviewers write about Cadillac’s Celestiq design without a word of emotional connection. You don’t have to go too far back in history to find a Cadillac that received a different reception.

"Is it weird that this is my new daily driver obsession? I'm suddenly really into wagons.” MotorTrend’s Michael Shaffer wrote in 2011 as he introduced the magazine’s new long-term test vehicle, the brand-new 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Wagon.

“If any vehicle on the market today could be considered the automotive equivalent of baseball’s five-tool player, the Cadillac CTS-V wagon would be it,” K.C. Colwell wrote in 2011 about Car & Driver’s Cadillac CTS-V Wagon long-term tester. Meanwhile, Edmunds published in 2014 in its CTS-V Wagon review: “The CTS-V wagon's uncommon combination of attributes includes an outrageously powerful engine, distinctive bodywork and an edgy personality to match.”

In contrast, MotorTrend’s Johnny Lieberman had this to say about the Celestiq in September 2022: “I still can't figure out the design. The size is right – read: massive – but I neither love it nor hate it.”

The reviews are shockingly different.

The CTS-V Wagon sported nearly as much horsepower and about 100 lb-ft less torque than the Celestiq, with a 0-60 mph time in the low four-second mark, compared to an estimated acceleration of 3.8 seconds from zero to 60 for the Celestiq. On paper, these vehicles are remarkably similar.

Adjusted for inflation, the 2011 CTS-V Wagon would cost about $92,000 today, compared to the $300,000-plus of the Celestiq – and I would contest that with all of the cult-like press it garnered, the CTS-V Wagon did more for the brand’s image than the Celestiq ever will.

Would public reception of the Cadillac Celestiq been warmer had the luxury EV been designed as a wagon?

It’s not too late to exorcize the Celestiq’s demons, Cadillac. By your own accounts, the Celestiq is almost infinitely customizable – make one of those options a wagon variant, then sit back, read the reviews from re-enthused Cadillac believers, and let the good times roll once more.

(Images courtesy Cadillac)

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