Former top general motors car designer talks about automotive design
Dick Lutzin, former Chevrolet Prime Minister and Cadillac designer of General Motors, shares his thoughts on automotive design.
When Michigan’s first resident, Mark Mitchell, received the ultra-luxurious handmade Cadillac Celestique, he bought more than his car when he accepted the delivery.
One of the first versions of the brand’s first all-electric sedan, his Celestiq offers a similar cultural cache to buying fine art.
Mitchell said that he accepted delivery last month at Duxton Hotel, a four-star luxury hotel owned in Birmingham, was “a very proud moment for me.”
“When it’s delivered here at my hotel, the moment is even more special, reflecting the strong relationship we’ve built with Cadillac,” he said. “The vehicle exceeded my expectations completely.”
Most Celestiq buyers remain anonymous for privacy. Prices from $400,000 for model 2026 will increase in response to a 18.1-foot-long four-seater with 23-inch wheels, with the first Celestiq to be delivered around the beginning of 2024, but are reportedly hit snuggles in the production process.
Cadillac spokesman Joe Singer has been described as an “ultra-low volume” production vehicle for “large customers” and the brand is expected to produce less than 500 vehicles a year.
He said only 25 people will be made this year, and Cadillac has the ability to build two a day.
The less the better
Collectors of American luxury cars don’t have many options. This is what Ethan Gibson, director of North American Communications at RM Sotheby’s, the world’s largest automotive luxury auction house, said that the Cadillac’s historic longevity is what makes today’s vehicles so valuable.
“Some of the most important prewar markings like the Duesenberg and Packard, the big luxury cars that represent wealth even during the Great Gatsby era and the Great Depression, are no longer present,” he said. “Cadillac is one of the few American luxury brands of its era, and it has become unique. I can see collectors who are also interested in vintage pre-war cars that are drawn to Cadillac because of its continuity.”
The process of designing an exclusive vehicle requires a creative process that is completely involved. Like many of the colours in Celestiq’s palette, sculptures were created to showcase the inspiration of its founding. The exterior of Mitchell’s vehicle is called the Inuktitut word for “ice” in the Inukutitut word for indigenous peoples of northern Canada.
“We created an iceberg that floats on acrylic boxes,” said Julie Brokeman, lead creative designer in Mitchell’s Celestique colors, materials and finishes. Regarding the colour itself, “It looks white, but when it hits the second sun, it’s bright blue metallic.”
A graduate of Detroit’s Creative Research College, Brokeman recently served as GM’s Global Appearance Director. She worked with Mitchell to design Celestique at Cadillac House, a former cafeteria on the campus of General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Michigan.
Mitchell is not the first Celestiq customer, but he was the first to design him directly with the newly renovated Atelier, which began to acknowledge clients for Celestiq builds last summer. Some clients have many color ideas and preferences, but Mitchell was open to the proposal, Brokeman said.
“Lucy, who worked as his concierge, put together some mood boards, one inspired by the hotel, the cars she already had, and it’s different from the other two,” she said. “Then if they want that, (clients) can get help from someone especially from Cadillac Design, which is when I was involved.”
Mitchell was obsessed with the way Shik’s paint changed colours under the sun, Brokeman said.
“We try our best in virtual meetings to see the samples, but we can’t beat them face to face,” she said. “He chose that exterior colour and that really led the design.”
Each car is unique
If your client is completely “palette”, the process of styling your custom-made Cadillac Celestiq can take just three months. But the studio can create almost anything, so the process can proceed indefinitely, for example, as you can customize fabrics and textiles to suit your customer’s favorite handbags and chairs.
GM’s Immersive Tech team can provide clients with logins to a program called Unreal Engine to tinker with the vehicle’s appearance, allowing them to customize their own vehicle. Cadillac House uses a larger, more sophisticated version of the software for screens that are large enough to display virtual vehicles at scale.
However, there are several areas where the design draws out the line, according to Broekman, for example, a change in design that would compromise the safety of the vehicle or change the overall design or silhouette.
Still, customers are always right on the matter of preference. However, design will do everything possible to help them.
“When it comes to car design, I’m a minimalist. I want the materials to be talked about,” Brokeman said. When it comes to clients, meeting in person really helps the process. “Do they really want to stand out? Or are they flying more under the radar?
For design teams, it is important to produce functional and road-friendly vehicles, but not all collectors consider the practical use of the vehicle. According to Gibson, today’s collectors treat vehicles more like art objects than transport, often displaying them in the gallery’s honorary gallery rather than hiding them in the garage.
“People really don’t want 10,000 paintings. If there are 20,000 Picassos that look identical, it would underestimate them,” he said. “The more special, the fewer versions there are, the more people see them as art.”
Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Contact her at jcharniga@freepress.com.
