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Cadillac Celestiq electric sedan could top $200,000

General Motors teased a slew of new electric vehicles last week at a media event where cameras weren’t allowed, and now thereÂ’s more news about the Celestiq, one of the two EVs in the pipeline for Cadillac. Reports suggest it wonÂ’t come cheap and will retail for at least $200,000. Wall Street Journal auto writer Mike Colias dished that detail, along with word of a mid-2020 launch, on Twitter, attributing it directly to Cadillac President Steve Carlisle. Cadillac has made no official mention of starting price for either the Celestiq luxury sedan or the Lyriq, an EV SUV that it has previously teased. A spokesman told Autoblog the brand wouldnÂ’t comment on future product speculation. Leftover scraps from Cadillac flagship ‘CelestiqÂ’ news: ItÂ’ll be hand-built in the hundreds per year, Caddy chief Steve Carlisle said. Price? Six figures Â… “and it wonÂ’t have a 1 in front of it.” Due mid-2022. — Mike Colias (@MikeColias) March 5, 2020 If true, the six-figure MSRP would make the Celestiq the most expensive Caddy ever assembled, at least outside of one-off coach builds and the presidential limo, vaunting it into the same class as brands like Bentley, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce. By way of comparison, the limited-edition ultra-luxury 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham four-door debuted with a $13,074 price tag, the most expensive car of its day and the equivalent of around $120,000 in todayÂ’s dollars. So what do we know about the Celestiq? For starters, itÂ’ll be a halo flagship hand-built in limited quantities somewhere in the Detroit area. Our reporters who saw the white four-seater describe it as having a long, fastback roofline, no side mirrors or visible door handles, with a long wheelbase, short overhangs and a tinted glass roof. A rendering of the interior showed an LED instrument cluster and infotainment display that stretches between both A pillars, with touchscreen interfaces on the rear of the front seats. It also reportedly features a hatch instead of a conventional trunk and styling cues from the Escala concept from 2016, shown above. Cadillac teased it as the “ultimate luxury experience” and said it would be highly customizable. Cadillac also showed off the Lyriq, the name itÂ’s given to its midsize electric crossover that it had previously promised to unveil in April, possibly at the New York Auto Show, if it manages to happen given the coronavirus.

EV tax credits: Here's every electric car or plug-in hybrid that qualifies

Starting on April 18, the Internal Revenue Service released new guidance for U.S. buyers shopping for a new electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle. On April 18th, the IRS showed only six fully electric vehicles on the qualified list, but a day later Volkswagen confirmed its U.S.-built ID.4 also qualifies. That means right now, seven fully electric vehicles qualify for the full $7,500 EV tax credit, with three more from Chevrolet coming for the 2024 model year (we would expect these 2024 models to roll out slowly and be difficult to find for at least the first few months they are on the market). In addition to those seven fully electric cars, two plug-in hybrids also qualify for the full $7,500 credit. To qualify, a vehicle must be assembled in North America and must meet a strict set of guidelines that cover where battery materials were sourced. If any battery materials come from certain countries (importantly including China), the vehicle's tax credit is automatically cut in half. Further, according to the IRS, the vehicle's manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) can't exceed $80,000 for vans, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks or $55,000 for any other type of vehicle (basically meaning sedans). Electric vehicles that qualify for the full $7,500 EV tax credit: Cadillac Lyriq (2023-2024) Chevrolet Blazer EV (2024) Chevrolet Bolt EV (2023-2024) Chevrolet Bolt EUV (2023-2024) Chevrolet Equinox (2024) Chevrolet Silverado (2024) Ford F-150 Lightning — all models (2022-2023) Tesla Model 3 Performance (2022-2023) Tesla Model Y — all models (2022-2023) Volkswagen ID.4 — U.S.-built models (2022-2023) Plug-in hybrid cars that qualify for the full $7,500 EV tax credit: Chrysler Pacifica PHEV (2022-2023) Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring (2022-2023) A smaller credit is offered on fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids that are assembled in North America but have batteries with materials sourced from unqualified countries (mostly China).

GM executive chief EV engineer says reducing cost of plug-in vehicles is 'huge priority'

As we know, another major automaker investing heavily in electrified vehicles is General Motors, and it's doing things much differently than rivals BMW, Ford or Nissan. The Chevrolet Volt extended-range EV is a modest seller at its $35,000 sticker price but a huge hit with owners. The Chevy Spark BEV, still in limited availability, puts smiley faces on its owners and drivers. The just-introduced Cadillac ELR, a sharp-looking, fun-driving $76,000 luxocoupe take on the Volt's EREV mechanicals, has admittedly low sales expectations. With this interesting trio in showrooms and much more in the works, the third vehicle electrification leader I collared for an interview at Detroit's North American International Auto Show (see #1 and #2) was Pam Fletcher, GM's executive chief engineer, Electrified Vehicles. ABG: Why do your EREVs need four-cylinder power to extend their range when BMW's i3 makes do with an optional 650 cc two-banger? "We designed [the Volt and the ELR] to go anywhere, any time" - Pam Fletcher PF: I get that question all the time: why not something smaller? You don't really need that much. You use the electric to its ability, then you just need to limp. But we designed those cars to go anywhere, any time, and we don't want their performance to be compromised. If you're driving through the mountains, we don't want you to be crawling up grades, or to be limited on any terrain. So it's optimized to be able to travel literally the biggest grades and mountain roads around the globe at posted speeds. Because what if you can't? Another good reason: when the engine is on, you have to run it wide open throttle, max speed, most of the time. And while we can do a lot with acoustics, and the ELR has active noise cancelation, a small-displacement, low cylinder-count engine at high speed, high load all the time isn't something you want to live with. That's how we came up with the balance we did among the key factors of performance, NVH [noise, vibration and harshness] and range. ABG: Where you go from here? Is the range-extender engine due for an update? PF: We know and love the current Volt, and there is still a lot of acclaim about it, so we think it's a good recipe. But we are heavily in the midst of engineering the next-generation car, which I think everyone will love and be excited about.