It will be completely electric.

We would be lying if our excitement about the hand-built flagship Cadillac sedan was not exaggerated. General Motors presented its ambitious plans for future electric vehicles last month. It introduced its new Ultium batteries and teased new products. Cadillac will be launching two of these vehicles: the Lyriq, and the new Celestiq flagship. The unveiling date for the Celestiq is unknown as Cadillac has not yet announced it. It’s hard not to think of previous Cadillac concepts, such as the Escala or Ciel. This suggests that the Celestiq will be returning to the US in a large and luxurious American sedan.

We will have to use renderings until we see the Celestiq in its final form. It will likely take design cues form the Lyriq. This crossover Cadillac teased before the 2019 Detroit Auto Show. This means that we will likely see new front-end design language and vertical daytime running lamps.

These renderings show a huge sedan with plenty sheet metal behind and ahead of the passenger compartment. The C-pillar creates an impressive visual mass. It is contrasted by an elegant taillight design that cuts from the C-pillar to the rear end down to the bumper and back into the fender. It reminds me of finned Cadillacs decades ago. It should also be the norm to use high-end, premium materials inside.We didn’t expect to see Cadillac lead GM’s electrification efforts a year ago. Although we knew that a crossover was possible – they are the hottest item right now – we were surprised by a luxury, hand-built flagship design. It was almost as unexpected as Cadillac’s announcement last year about bringing back model names.