Cadillac Points Toward Its Tomorrow With Elevated Velocity

Cadillac has one of the most expansive electric vehicle portfolios available in the U.S. today. Its Optiq, Lyriq, Vistiq and Escalade IQ are servicing the brand’s SUV customers while Celestiq is being offered to the cream of Cadillac’s client crop.

Most of the SUVs are offered in V-Series variants, higher-performance versions, following the nomenclature and engineering roots grown by the company’s sedans.

The company’s new concept car pushes V-Series into the future. Named Elevated Velocity, the elevated, battery-electric, high-performance crossover is made to showcase the possibilities of a Cadillac of tomorrow.

It also raises the bar on the customization possibilities currently offered on Celestiq and Cadillac’s CT5-V Blackwing sedan.

Technology abounds inside the concept car. Welcome Mode greets the driver in a fashion similar to how drivers of German luxury SUVs are welcomed today. The seats, instrument panel, doors, steering wheel and floor illuminate.

In theory, the car is capable of autonomous driving, which allows its occupants to sit back, relax and enjoy the amenities and surroundings while it is piloted down the road using cutting-edge technology.

Among those amenities is integrated red light therapy to help occupants recover from their day and air purification.

“Elevated Velocity seeks to demonstrate our interpretation of an uncompromised performance luxury experience, where one can repurpose their valuable time by commuting fully autonomously, then unlock a true hands-on high-performance experience in places not unlike the rich dunes of the Lahbab desert, leaving zero emissions in their wake,” said Bryan Nesbitt, vice president of global design at General Motors, in a press release.

Velocity Mode, an ambience mode, is designed to help a driver concentrate on the road ahead and pilot the vehicle using a deployable steering wheel.

It features gullwing doors, like a supercar, and rides on 24-inch wheels, the same size as is standard on an Escalade IQ. The car has a Vapor Blue paint exterior that is matched with multiple shades of red in the cabin (Morello Red, cerise and garnet).

Scalable driving modes showcase what a vehicle could do when strained in off-road conditions. Cadillac likens its perspective performance in those conditions to the “maximum thrill of a hypercar.”

One of the car’s features, Sand Vision, utilizes existing and similar Night Vision technology to help a driver see in a sandstorm when otherwise blinded.

Cadillac will show off the model for the first time during The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, on August 15.