Cadillac Goddess returns after three decades on all-new electric Celestiq

Cadillac is bringing ecstasy to the global auto industry as it revives its iconic Goddess crest on an all-new Celestiq, its flagship electric vehicle.

This is coming over 60 years after Cadillac rested the initial design.

The Cadillac Goddess was a hood ornament – a symbol of prestige and luxury for the brand.

The Cadillac’s Goddess may not be as famous as the Rolls Royce wreath or crest, it certainly adorned the hoods of vehicles between 1930 and 1956, before making a brief return on the iconic 1959 Eldorado Brougham. It then faded into history, but it is being resurrected for use on the company’s electric flagship, Carscoops reports.

The company sees the Goddess as a “new symbol of the brand’s personalised, handcrafted artistry” and notes it will be exclusive to the Celestiq as it denotes the car’s hand-crafted, bespoke nature.

Cadillac Design Executive Director Bryan Nesbitt says, “We wanted this flagship EV to embody the significant heritage of the brand in a truly meaningful way, with the Goddess representing the absolute pinnacle of bespoke craftsmanship from Cadillac.”

The Goddess’ return is a long time coming as it originally debuted in 1930 alongside a Heron mascot. The latter only lasted four years, but a redesigned version of the Goddess debuted in 1933 and became a “fixture on Cadillac vehicles.”

It was initially available exclusively on models equipped with a V16 engine, but a revised version would appear on V8 and V12 models the following year.

With the death of the V12 and V16 engines, a new Goddess was introduced in 1941 and it appeared on all the company’s vehicles. It continued to evolve over the years, but was phased out and largely forgotten until Cadillac introduced the Escala concept in 2016.

This, the brand says, “marked a beginning in the Cadillac design studio’s quest to resurrect the Goddess as inspiration for the next generation of vehicles, leading the brand into its all-electric future.”

As a result, sculptor Richard Wiquist was tasked with creating a new Goddess that points to the future of Cadillac, while also embracing its past. The resulting design draws inspiration from the 1933 Goddess and appears ready to withstand the test of time.

Motor1.com in its report says since hood ornaments aren’t a thing these days (at least with Cadillac), the return of the Goddess comes in modernised forms. One is found on the front quarter panel – a trim piece milled from billet aluminum, encasing the Goddess molded in glass.

The Goddess also appears when charging the Celestiq EV. It will be a visual cue when initiating and ending the charging process.

Inside, the Cadillac Goddess is found on the infotainment controller. It’s also encased in glass and stands as a backlit centrepiece of the interior that remains upright (the aluminum dial turns independently).

Motor1 also quotes Nesbitt as saying, “Celestiq is the beginning of the future for Cadillac, conveying the artistic innovation the brand is bringing to luxury electric vehicles.”