The 2026 Cadillac Celestiq will be priced at more than $400,000 plus customer customization. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted to authorize a strike after more than a year of negotiations by the United Auto Workers failed to reach an agreement. More at The Detroit News.
+ Shares in Stellantis fell sharply after the automaker issued a warning on one-off costs through the second half of the year due to political, economic, and regulatory challenges. More at CNBC.
+ General Motors announced that Dave Richardson, the automaker’s senior vice president of software and services engineering since last June, is leaving the company. More at the Detroit Free Press.
+ Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports overcame multiple setbacks to finish third in overtime at the season finale at Phoenix, winning his second NASCAR Cup championship. More at USA Today.
+ The National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) is looking into multiple crashes of Tesla robotaxis in Austin, Texas that occurred with human safety monitors aboard. More at Autoblog.
+ The Petersen Automotive Museum will honor drag racing legend Don Garlits with its Robert E. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 SEMA Industry Honors. More at Old Cars.
+ Volkswagen has secured $425.62 million in credit lines from Brazil’s state development bank BNDES to boost exports and the development of hybrid vehicles. More at World Auto Forum.
+ For 2026, Cadillac has increased the price of the ultra-luxury Celestiq EV, hand-built at the Warren Technical Center, to more than $400,000 plus buyer customization features. More at Yahoo! Autos.
+ More than 80 percent of Scout Motors reservations are for extended-range EV versions, signaling strong consumer demand for gas-assisted range vehicles, the company says. More at CBT News.
+ The FIA was summoned to a French court hearing after presidential candidate Laura Villars launched legal action over “serious democratic failings” in the election process. More at Racer.
+ Two emergency responders and a volunteer were fatally injured in separate accidents at the H-Town Throwdown, a sanctioned street racing event in Hartshorne, Oklahoma. More at Tulsa News 6.
Photo courtesy of Cadillac.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from October 31 here.
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Decades ago, I overheard a rule of thumb on the 7th floor (Enforcement) at the Nassif Bldg was for every complaint/crash NHTSA documented, there were likely 10-100 more incidents unreported. What person really wants to invite a “I’m from the government, I am here to help, which do you believe” into their life?
Whippetsnapper self driver “catachizers” here in Ohio have already monetized using the public for crash test dummies and lab mice, trying to convince taxcattle into trusting that enough lines of code jammed in a low-bid cable box will be good enuff to run a 94,000# CNG powered flatbed hauling steel coils thru any school zone or their thimble-rigged uncontrolled roundabouts fed by active railroad crossings…
You do go on.
Thanks for the compliment. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is unique from the 49 other state transportation agencies in the USA: ODOT is it’s own federal agency, provides all of it’s own oversight over federal funding, makes all of it’s own rules, has it’s very own MUTCD that obviously can be ignored at will and not enforced, and “if you don’t like it, you can move away”….
Re: Celestiqc: A fool and his money are easily parted.
I cannot fathom that Cadillac has something up it’s sleeve that’s better than the Lucid Air. Perhaps more luxurious, but 250K more luxurious? Lucid is so far ahead of everyone else as far as engineering so…
Lucid has yet to turn a profit so one cannot guarantee that they’ll continue to provide parts and service two years from now. They are largely financed by Saudi Arabia and that may be a negative for some.
Lucid does have a very good product and that’s in their favor. I think that the Celestiq is the halo car that Cadillac has needed for decades and support its existence although I can’t afford one. “The Standard Of The World” and all that. No car is actually worth $400k, nor $150k for that matter. It’s all a pissing contest for the rich at this level.
Celestiq is a demonstration project as I see it. They don’t seem to have any trouble selling them, but then the line rate is only two per day.