2024 Cadillac Opulent Velocity showcases future EV hypercar

From big and cruisy to sleek and swift, Cadillac is a brand embracing change, and it’s prepared to go to the extremes, as showcased by the new Opulent Velocity concept.

The one-off concept is a sexy glimpse into the future of the American brand and indicative of its evolution as Cadillac looks to escalate its battle with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

“This is a future vision of what we’ll see in production,” said Cadillac Advanced Design manager Magalie Debellis, referring to the technologies and themes of the car.

A dedicated hypercar has been on Cadillac’s agenda for a while now and was directly addressed earlier this year by GM design boss Mike Simcoe, who confirmed such a product would absolutely be on the radar for Australia.

“Could we build a hypercar? Yes. Would we like to build one? Yes. Are we building one? That would be giving too much away,” he told carsales in May.

Debellis confirmed Simcoe’s enthusiasm hadn’t waned in the months since, but tried valiantly to keep a lid on what now appears to be almost inevitable.

“I think he’d love to do one, but whether we do or not remains to be seen,” she said.

Such a vehicle would be given a baptism of fire given the current crop of high-end exotica circulating at the moment, with models like the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-AMG One either already here or on the way, not to mention the upcoming Ferrari LaFerrari successor and probable Genesis X Gran Berlinetta.

All these models are or will be fitted with elite hybrid powertrains, but dedicated electric hypercars aren’t too far off either – Porsche is expected to build a production version of its Mission X concept in the near future and Lotus already has the Evija.

While Cadillac holds a certain swagger in its homeland, there’s work to be done in major markets such as Europe and Asia, hence the emergence the Celestiq limousine.?

Designed to take on Rolls-Royce as the pinnacle of luxury, the Celestiq is a showcase of the brand’s innovation and capabilities rather than anything that will shift the sales needle since the plan is to only build two a day.

Think of the Opulent Velocity as having similar values, albeit with the luxury side of the ledger swayed toward ultimate performance.

Where the Opulent Velocity differs to its would-be rivals is in its split personality.

In ‘Opulent’ mode it employs Level 4 autonomy with an emphasis on luxury while in ‘Velocity’ mode, a steering wheel and pedals rise for the driver to take full control of and enjoy the potent performance promised by dual electric motors.

Helping them do so on-track is the ‘ghost car’ virtual driving coach which provides visual guides via the vast – the entre windscreen – head-up display.

“By the end of the decade we’re going to have a lot more high-end technology integrated with the software,” Debellis said.?

And all the glass in the car can switch to opaque at the press of a button, providing more privacy for occupants when running in driverless mode.

“We already have that type of technology on our Celestiq flagship (sunroof) and so this is the vision of how we’re going to take it to the next level.”

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