The Opulent Velocity features two enormous upswinging doors spanning nearly the entire length of the vehicle.Courtesy of manufacturer
Cadillac is wading into uncharted waters with a concept that imagines what a high-performance V-Series car would look like if it ditched the brand’s signature V6 and V8 engines in favour of electric power.
The new Opulent Velocity concept is just a design study, and a rather fantastical one at that, so don’t go looking for technical details here on how Cadillac’s future Ultium EV platform might tackle Tesla’s next-gen Roadster or BMW M’s upcoming quad-motor EV. Instead, this concept – being revealed Friday at The Quail car show in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif. – is more like a statement of intent. Cadillac is signalling it won’t give up its V-Series sub-brand just because the industry is shifting to battery power.
“V series will continue to be crucial to Cadillac’s identity and future trajectory,” said Brandon Vivian, executive chief engineer at Cadillac, in a virtual presentation prior to the public unveiling.
Like most carmakers, Cadillac is grappling with the daunting prospect of transferring any high-performance credibility built-up in the combustion-engine era into an electric future where all motors sound, look and feel similar.
For 20 years, Cadillac has worked (read: spent lots and lots of money) to make the V-Series credible in a market dominated by BMW’s M Division and Mercedes-AMG. It was an uphill battle. Twenty years ago, Cadillac was primarily known for soggy-handling luxury barges often found cruising around America’s top retirement communities. Today, however, while perhaps not quite as much of a household name as its German rivals, Cadillac’s V-Series carries serious cache with driving enthusiasts, owing to cult-classic cars like the 2011 CTS-V Wagon, the latest CT5-V Blackwing and a handful of other tire-smoking luxury cars that’ll hold their own on a racetrack. Today, the V-Series lineup has grown to include some excellent all-wheel-drive sedans as well as an inevitable high-power SUV.
Cadillac reveals the Opulent Velocity concept as car companies that make high-performance gas cars try to distinguish themselves in an electric era where many cars can accelerate quickly.GM-DESIGN/Courtesy of manufacturer
“We’ve got a lot of hard-earned equity in the V-Series series. You know, we are in the end of our second decade, and it’s been … a lot of effort and energy,” said Bryan Nesbitt, Cadillac’s executive director of global design. “Certainly, we want to keep building a future for that equity.”
Of course, the company didn’t invest so much into the V-Series to please a handful of driving enthusiasts, but to turn a profit.
Vivian said the customers who buy V-Series cars are, on average, Cadillac’s youngest and most affluent clients. As many as 80 per cent of them are new to Cadillac, which indicates V-Series models are pulling customers away from rival luxury brands.
“These are multiple-purchase customers, and once they build trust inside of Cadillac with V-Series, they’re purchasing additional Cadillac vehicles,” Vivian said.
Trying to retain these customers in the electric future is just good business.
The Opulent Velocity has a low-slung cabin with seating for four, a Formula 1-style steering wheel with screen and a front windscreen that doubles as a huge augmented-reality head-up display.GM-DESIGN/Courtesy of manufacturer
Apart from the way it looks, the new Opulent Velocity concept offers precious few clues as to how Cadillac plans to bring the V-Series’ combination of speed and comfort into the electric era.
Because all electric cars could theoretically accelerate like a lightning bolt, automakers are looking for new ways to distinguish their high-performance products. To that end, Cadillac’s concept features two driving modes: Velocity and Opulent.
Velocity mode offers drivers maximum performance and a digital driving coach to improve their lap times on the track. Opulent mode builds on Cadillac’s Super Cruise semi-automated driving system, imagining a future where drivers can take their eyes off the road and relax in a spa-like space.
Car companies have been talking up similar technology for years. But, given recent problems and crashes at General Motors’ robotaxi subsidiary Cruise, it’s still unclear when or if true self-driving cars will land in a dealership near you.
In terms of the concept’s look and feel, however, customers can expect to see some of those design cues on a production car, eventually.
The Opulent Velocity features two enormous upswinging doors spanning nearly the entire length of the vehicle. They open to reveal a low-slung cabin with seating for four, a Formula 1-style steering wheel with screen and a front windscreen that doubles as a huge augmented-reality head-up display. Inside and out, there are luxurious materials, including fluted glass, jewel-covered 3D-printed surfaces and burnt metal that looks as if it was just flamed by a welder’s torch.
“We are kind of foreshadowing things we’re interested in looking at, as far as moving the surface vocabulary of the vehicle and the integration of the tech,” said Nesbitt.
Whether all of this will be enough to distinguish Cadillac’s future battery-powered V-Series models from their similarly rapid electric rivals, drivers have to wait and find out for themselves.
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