Objectivity is a very difficult thing. We all bring certain learnings, preconceptions, and preferences to anything we see, hear, touch, and experience. It's human nature. And the Cadillac Celestiq stirs up a multitude of emotional responses that make it hard to pass impartial judgment.

First, there's the scale and out-there confidence of the design, then the wildly optimistic decision to take on the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley on pricing—also the deep contrast with Cadillac's range of other vehicles. The Celestiq is controversial, puzzling, and different enough to be characterized as folly. Oh, it's also an EV, which is enough to raise many hackles all on its own.

Let me address my own Cadillac baggage. First, I'm a Brit, so Cadillac doesn't resonate in positive or negative ways on a molecular level. I didn't grow up surrounded by them. "The standard of the world" wasn't a familiar phrase. Culturally, Cadillacs were stereotypically big and pink and would rock for 30 minutes after a hard stop on a suspension made of jelly, as relevant to my own world as root beer and Little League Baseball.

2025 Cadillac Celestiq

Yet, over time, I came to know Cadillac in a very different way. Now the name makes me think of the superb sports sedans of recent years, most especially the big, bad, marauding CT5-V Blackwing. A car that still rocks but now to the beat of a supercharged V-8 that can be mated to a manual gearbox, a combination that snooty European makers no longer allow. It's a heroic last stand in a world of downsized, paddle-shifted monotony. So I guess you could say I'm fond of Cadillac, or at least one of its guises—a feeling that grows every time I see or hear the spectacular V-Series.R race car on track.

The Celestiq channels a very different version of Cadillac. This is big-studio Hollywood glamour, engineering integrity, opulent luxury, and a kind of grandstanding elegance that shouldn't make sense but kind of does. A luxurious land yacht with effortless torque and a mission to isolate you from the world, while making an unmissable statement to those poor souls who have to exist outside in grubby reality. It costs around $340,000, is largely handmade, and probably doesn't make a great business case for itself. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's not something to be celebrated.

So, here are the basic, objective details. The Celestiq sits on GM's Ultium EV platform. It is huge. At 217.2 inches in length, 89.9 inches wide, and 57.2 inches high, it's a little shorter than a Rolls-Royce Phantom but wider and much lower, which makes for dramatic, concept-car proportions. Cadillac claims the aluminum chassis is lighter and stiffer thanks to an underbody made of six large sand-cast sections.

Power comes from two electric motors with integral single-speed gearboxes, one for each axle. These produce a combined peak of 655 hp and 646 lb-ft. Performance is decent—0–60 mph in a claimed 3.7 seconds—but this isn't an EV concerned with face-crushing accelerative g's like alternatives with four-figure power outputs.

The suspension uses a multilink arrangement front and rear with air springs and adaptive dampers, these being GM's Magnetic Ride Control 4.0 system, with active anti-roll bars. To aid agility and maneuverability given its 130.2-inch wheelbase, the Celestiq has rear-wheel steering too. A 111-kWh battery pack provides up to 303 miles of range, and the Celestiq can charge at up to 190 kW, which is some way short of, say, a Lucid Air or a Porsche Taycan (both capable of 300-plus kilowatts) but in line with the Rolls-Royce Spectre.

Parked in dappled sunshine on an intricate black and white mosaic-tiled floor outside the libertine Pendry West Hollywood Boutique Hotel, the Celestiq is an arresting presence. Beautiful? Perhaps not, but there's a confidence, scale, and shock factor that, to me at least, feels like it draws directly from the stunning V-16 and the one-of-400 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham parked just a few feet away. But the new car doesn't fall clumsily into retro pastiche; it's a reinterpretation rather than a rip-off.

2025 Cadillac Celestiq

Press a button on the black B-pillar and the Celestiq's front door opens electronically in a swift movement. At least, it does unless you are standing too close, at which point it just flicks out a little bit and then stops. Automatically opening doors sound luxurious, but the reality always feels a little pointless. Anyway, the slightly clumsy initial exchange—I quickly learned to press the button then take a step back—is forgotten as the interior is revealed. This is clean, bold, and yet rather restrained, at least as long as you don't go mad with the trim options. Cadillac seems to have avoided the super ornate style of the Fifties and delivered on a more midcentury-modern L.A. vibe. The electrochromic glass roof is stunning too.

Pressing the brake pedal swings the door closed, and suddenly I really am in my own luxurious world. The sound insulation is superb, and although the interior is flooded with light, there's a sense that you're observing and enjoying what's outside while nicely cocooned from the noise, heat, and activity. The dash is a huge 55-inch sweeping digital screen, and although it's well executed, somehow it feels slightly out of place. Analog is the new luxury, and intricate 3D-printed dials and a retracting screen would surely feel more special and deliver a timeless experience. It's an odd miss.

There are two 12.6-inch fixed screens mounted on the back of the front seats for rear passengers too. I wish there weren't, but right now these screens have to stay, despite the highly bespoke build process and meticulous commissioning process, with each buyer having the opportunity to visit Cadillac House at GM's Global Technical Center campus in Warren, Michigan, to specify their perfect car.

2025 Cadillac Celestiq

Rolling along Sunset Boulevard, minor gripes mostly melt away. There are niggles: The seating position feels a little high within the car thanks to the big battery pack, and the seats themselves are overstuffed and a tad firm. Tony Roma, who led the Celestiq program and is now executive chief engineer for Corvette, says the production seats will be better. It's a shame, as the Celestiq's refinement and comfort are superb. It is so quiet, and while throttle response in Tour mode is perhaps a bit lazy, the ride is outstanding. Air springs tend to have an odd patter over small, high-frequency bumps, but the Celestiq is resolutely calm. Roma attributes this to the Magnetic Ride 4.0 and is particularly proud of how this trait has been dialed out.

The Celestiq has other good stuff too. The steering is smooth and accurate, and the agility afforded by the rear-steer at low speeds means it doesn't feel vast and unwieldy. It was amazingly easy just to glide through L.A. traffic, and the Celestiq treads a really fine line between a sense of connection in terms of its fluency and intuitive responses and one of serene isolation. The overarching feeling is simply, "Well, this is pretty cool." Which sounds trite but is exactly the same feeling as, say, a Bentley Flying Spur Speed imparts: an intangible but unmistakable sense of satisfaction. The 38-speaker AKG Studio Reference stereo system with three amplifiers and 3D surround sound is a monster, too. Clarity and depth are off the charts.

2025 Cadillac Celestiq

Cadillac was keen I experience the Celestiq's full dynamic range on a route that took me up into the Angeles Forest area. With Sport mode selected, the ride remained excellent but the active anti-roll bars cut body movements to virtually zero. A true flat cornering stance often feels a little unnatural, but in the Celestiq it actually works well. This is a huge, heavy car (weighing 6840 pounds on Cadillac's numbers), yet it displays a lovely neutral balance, deft wheel control, and very clean, polished dynamics. In sunny but relatively cool temperatures, the brakes rather predictably struggled under sustained high-speed running, and thermal issues also reduce power, but the Celestiq is very unlikely to face sustained enthusiastic driving of this sort from owners on these types of roads.

So it's a win, then? Well, yes, in some ways. The Celestiq is a well-executed statement piece. It looks outrageous and drives with a light, fluid gait that's very different to something like a Bentley, but it still possesses a strong appeal, and the highly bespoke ownership experience seems to have been thoughtfully designed. All very big boxes checked.

2025 Cadillac Celestiq

Perhaps the bigger question is whether anybody wants a super-bespoke, highly luxurious EV sedan. Rolls-Royce has struggled to sell the Spectre, and, well, it's Rolls-Royce. For Cadillac to reach up to this price point with a concept that even fully established and covetable brands are struggling to conquer is ambitious to say the least. Cadillac says it will only be producing 25 cars for the 2025 model year, most of which have been sold. Beyond that, capacity is "fewer than two per day."

Add in the fact that the interior is so dominated by screens—probably a good move when this car was devised in a pre-pandemic world—and that the materials lack the sheer heft and sense of opulence as those in a Bentley, and the case for the Celestiq becomes a harder sell. The simple truth is that its appeal would get an instant shot in the arm if it had one of those old-fashioned internal-combustion powertrains. A V-16 sounds good, don't you think?

As it is, I suspect the Celestiq likely won't make much of an impact in the sphere of ultra-opulence. But what an endeavor, though. Cadillac has been brave here, and I commend the sheer madness of it all.