is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
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On the surface, Cadillac’s new Elevated Velocity looks like your typical concept car: gull-wing doors; a plush red interior; a retractable steering wheel for fully autonomous driving; and futuristic lighting scheme. But the real attention grabber is the lifted chassis and a new off-roading mode that could hint at a possible new direction for GM’s luxury brand.
The concept is a followup to the Opulent Velocity vehicle that was first revealed at the 2024 Quail, A Motorsport Gathering. That vehicle was an all-electric, 2+2 coupe designed to showcase Cadillac’s vision for future luxury performance and autonomous driving. Cadillac is back at this year’s Quail with the Elevated Velocity, which is 2+2 crossover that’s also meant to foreshadow potential future design cues.
Most compellingly is the concept’s off-road capabilities. The vehicle rides on 24-inch wheels for better off-road navigation. And a new Terra driving mode activates the vehicle’s air suspension for more comfortable driving on uneven surfaces.
“If you think about track mode for the dirt, Terra Active is that, where it boosts the off-road capability, optimizing the active suspension to create the best performance at high speed for the type of terrain you might be on, like loose surface,” Bryan Nesbitt, Cadillac’s design chief, said in a briefing with reporters.
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