We Designed Our Own $340,000 Cadillac. The Process Is Crazy Awesome.

Driving the Cadillac Celestiq is one thing; crafting one to suit your personal taste is another. It all starts with a signal of interest, whether through a dealer recommendation, contact with executives, or simply registering on Cadillac’s website. (Don’t get any ideas; all applications are fully vetted before moving forward.)

This kicks off a process where one of four in-house concierges gets to know you and your personal likes and dislikes, learns your history with Cadillac, and introduces you to the broad spectrum of trim, color, and material choices. These design sessions are typically done via one or more video calls, and the options are narrowed down to a small number of favorites.

The next step is for the buyer to visit Cadillac House at the fabulously midcentury modern, Eero Saarinen–designed GM Tech Center in Michigan. We went through an abbreviated version of this process at Cadillac House and were blown away by the attention to detail, the building itself, and the skill of the concierges, who come from the worlds of fine art, automotive design, fashion design, and high-end furniture.

See All 37 Photos37

Upon arrival, buyers are greeted by their personal concierge and their favorite refreshments before moving to a small sculpture garden. This area is populated with painted shapes and figures chosen to demonstrate how lustrous the Celestiq’s 90-plus standard colors can be—even the blacks—all of which are available in metallic or matte finish.

Next comes a full walkaround and ride and drive of a sample Celestiq to make what’s until that point only been discussed over video into something tangible. If the buyer has a deep affinity for a past Cadillac model—maybe they own one, or their grandfather did—Cadillac will pull an example from its heritage fleet to display on the floor of Cadillac House as inspiration.

Final trim, color, and material selection then happens at a large table, which will be laid out with samples of favorites from the video consultations. Should you need more options, a nearby wall is made from motorized doors that open to reveal lighted cubbies holding scale sculptures of the car in nearly all the available paints, the wheel designs, chunks of interior trim, and swatches of leather, fabric, and carpet in myriad hues. Various etchings and imagery can be applied to some of the metal pieces, too, including the wheels and many 3D-printed parts.

In all, there are more than 350,000 combinations possible from the baseline set of choices, and Cadillac is also happy to cater to any desire as long as it doesn’t run afoul of safety regulations or Cadillac’s own brand guidelines. Yes, some buyers have asked if a hood ornament is possible. The answer is no, it’s not.

The interior has 150 individually hand-wrapped components, so every stitch, panel, piece of piping, and surface can be customized, and you can watch your selections applied in real time on a 10-foot screen as another staff member manipulates software during the conversation. All the while, the concierge is carefully guiding changes and deftly offering suggestions so perfect they seem like they were your idea. If someone winds up with a hideous Celestiq, it won’t be the concierges’ fault.

See All 37 Photos37

This is our Celestiq build. It's pretty rad, if we do say so ourselves.

How long the process takes depends on a lot of factors, only one of which is the actual assembly of the car. (Although that’s not a quick process; the 12-coat paint takes two weeks to apply by hand alone.) The buyer’s personal schedule, their level of decisiveness, if they want to order off-menu, and whether they even have a design point of view can all affect the timeline.

Our concierge said the average time from start to completion is three to four months, although some clients have completed their choices in as little as 45 minutes and another has been in the design process for more than a year. Based on our experiences at Cadillac House and behind the wheel, your own bespoke Celestiq is worth however long it takes.

See All 37 Photos37