Electric vehicles and the $350K Celestiq: How Cadillac is trying to win back customers

Cadillac has a lot riding on its all-new Celestiq.

The new $350,000 electric sedan has been traveling the country, making appearances at The Quail and Audrain Newport Concours to drum up interest with affluent motorists and showcase the future of the brand.

A coterie of designers are on hand to meet with prospective buyers and illustrate what's possible by the Detroit-based team: tailored materials, exclusive colors, bespoke accoutrements. The Celestiq competes for the same customers who can afford a Bentley or Rolls-Royce, which have seen strong demand for bespoke, money-is-no-object vehicles.

Cadillac has struggled to connect with buyers in the last few years; the upscale brand from General Motors has lost market share to its German and Korean competitors. Its flagship SUV, the Escalade, has been buoying the marque -- until now. The company's electric vehicles are slowing winning over drivers, with sales of its Lyriq crossover growing in the third quarter of the year. More EVs are coming, too, though Cadillac executives will point to the Celestiq as the vehicle that could turn around the company's standing with consumers.

We are "very serious about making Cadillac a premium brand again," Michael Simcoe, senior vice president of global design at General Motors, told ABC News. "We will be out there with beautiful designs and vehicles that people fall in love with."

Simcoe discussed what it's like to drive the Celestiq and how the brand's latest concepts, the Opulent Velocity and Sollei, are breaking barriers in the industry.

The interview below has been edited for clarity.

Q: A huge trend in the industry now is customization and coachbuilding. Why is Cadillac going in that direction and what has the response been like? And are you trying to appeal to customers who have Bentleys and Rolls-Royces?

A: With the Celestiq, we're offering customers the ability to truly customize everything. The tyranny of choices is there and we are trying to help our customers. They have the ability to touch every color and finish on the exterior and interior of the car to give it their own personality. Yes, there are a few competitors, but people at this level are looking for something very unique and very specific to them.

Q: How long does it take to build a Celestiq?

A: We can build two a day. We are building cars right now and a number of people have gone through the design process and selected their interior and exterior with our designers. So their cars are now in line to be built.

Q: Are customers coming to the Cadillac House in Michigan or are your designers flying all over the world to meet with them?

A: They have a choice. We can do it online with them, they can come to Cadillac House and go through the samples with us. Or we'll send designers to customers if we need to.

Q: When did Cadillac make the decision to go ultra luxe and offer a product that starts at $350,000?

A: Cadillac has tried a number of times to reestablish its position. It was and is becoming the standard of the world again. That's the way we have always thought about it. Certainly for our customers we haven't delivered that, at least delivered what they expected. We have tried a number of times, through vision products and concept flagships, to spark a rebirth of Cadillac.

The only way to prove internally and externally that we were very serious about making Cadillac a premium brand again was to do a vehicle like the Celestiq. It's an engineering and design tour de force and it's hand built. It's proof we can actually can take Cadillac back to the position it had in the past.

The Celestiq represents the current generation. We are showing people where we are going and I think that's very important. Cadillac will no longer be something static that people get a chance to ignore and forget. We will be out there with beautiful designs and vehicles that people fall in love with.

Q: Celestiq, Lyriq, Optiq, Escalade IQ -- why do all Cadillac EVs end in IQ?

A: We could have gone with our venerable names from the past, but that didn't seem right when we were moving the brand to an all EV-based architecture. It was a signal that these vehicles are our new generation of Cadillacs.

Q: When you were overseeing the design of these new EVs, particularly the Celestiq, what was important to include?

A: We wanted a vehicle that was different to some of the high-end competition. We feel like we did our own thing in proportion to the vehicle. It has a long hood. It has a hint of Cadillac heritage in the way the interior was designed. These long, horizontal architecture lines with metallic finishes and detail inside the car -- that hints back to Cadillacs in the early 60s and 70s.

Q: Are customers actually going to drive the Celestiq or is it a vehicle to be chauffeured around town in?

A: This won't be [a customer's] daily driver but it could be. It has 300-ish miles of range, lots of power and lots of performance. It's a very easy car to drive and control. It has four-wheel steering, so it drives like a small car. It has ride control and air suspension and all of the technical marvels like a large screen.

It is a spirited drive and it feels good. Jay Leno drove it and I think he enjoyed himself. But you can sit back here, in the second row, and it's a premium experience as well. We're not dictating where you should be.

Q: I want to ask about the CT5-V Blackwing and CT4-V Blackwing, two high-performance sedans that have received top praise from the enthusiast community. Are they going away now that the brand's direction is electric? What's the future for them?

A: I can't tell you in detail but they'll be around. We recognize the value of the cars so they'll be around.