Cadillac is bringing back its own flying lady
Looking to recapture the 1930s with Celestiq
How serious is Cadillac about taking on Rolls Royce with its hand-built Celestiq EV? Cadillac is bringing back a hood ornament, with a return to the Goddess icon that graced the brand’s golden age.
The Cadillac Celestiq is the company’s ultimate flagship. The EV will be hand-built and ultra-exclusive, with a price tag that will likely knock on half a million dollars. Such a car and such a price might seem alien for those who have only known the automaker this century, but there was a time when Cadillac really was the pinnacle of automotive luxury. Today’s bean counters are hoping that bringing back a fancy hood ornament will help remind you of that age.
Cadillac’s Goddess started in 1930 with a heron in flight. The ornament was meant to suggest effortless flight and elegant power.
Through that decade and into the next, the Goddess continued to evolve. Like the Rolls Spirit of Ecstasy, the Goddess is meant to represent aspirational qualities, achievement, and, well, make you feel more important than anyone else on the road. The evolution stopped in 1956 when the adornment was dropped.
“Every detail in a sculpture holds meaning or is intended to evoke an emotional response,” said Cadillac Creative Sculptor Richard Wiquist. “For the new Goddess, it had to have context and imbue the personal connection the figure represents between Cadillac and its clients through vehicles such as Celestiq.”
His inspiration for this new Goddess was the 1933 model that sat on the long hood of Cadillac’s V16 cars. Wiquist said that “the 1933 figure had a great sense of motion conveyed through drapery that appeared to flow from the figure.”
The new Goddess may not actually end up as a hood ornament, but it will make it to a three-dimensional glass fender trim, an icon above the charge door, and to a backlit glass emblem in the cabin’s multi-function controller.
Will the Goddess make it to Cadillac’s other models? And do vehicles like the CT4 and XT4 deserve it? Perhaps not, because this appears to be only for the top-of-the-line.
