Tag Archives: Cadillac

News

Tenneco Joins Cadillac F1, and Detroit Is About to Go Racing Again

If Cadillac’s return to top-tier motorsport was going to be more than a badge exercise, it needed real engineering muscle behind it. Enter Tenneco. The 125-year-old American supplier—best known in enthusiast circles for everything from Monroe dampers to Walker exhausts—has signed a multi-year technical partnership with the Cadillac Formula 1 Team ahead of its 2026 debut. And unlike the marketing-heavy tie-ups that often orbit F1, this one is about parts, data, and hard-nosed performance.

The pitch is straightforward: two old-school American engineering powerhouses teaming up to go fight the sharpest knives in global motorsport. Cadillac brings the ambition and the factory-backed Formula 1 program. Tenneco brings the stuff that actually keeps race cars alive when the boost is turned up and the margins are microscopic.

That’s not empty talk. Tenneco has spent more than a century building a reputation in environments where failure is not an option—factories, commercial fleets, and, crucially, high-performance automotive applications. Its long relationship with General Motors has put Tenneco hardware deep inside some of GM’s most demanding powertrain, ride, and emissions systems. In other words, the company already knows how GM thinks, how it engineers, and how it breaks things in order to make them better.

In Formula 1, that familiarity matters. Cadillac’s F1 effort is being built around GM Performance Power Units, and Tenneco will be embedded in the technical side of that operation, supplying a portfolio of performance-critical components and engineering support. The headline items are advanced powertrain and ignition technologies—exactly the sort of systems that decide whether a modern hybrid F1 engine makes class-leading power or ends the race coughing oil into the runoff.

But the real advantage isn’t just the hardware. Tenneco engineers will be working directly with Cadillac F1’s technical staff, integrating those systems into the car and feeding performance data back into development. That’s the Formula 1 flywheel: track data informs design, design improves the parts, and the next race gets a little faster. Do that better than the competition, and you win.

For Cadillac, this partnership is a signal that its F1 program isn’t being built on vibes and branding decks. It’s being built the way serious race teams are built: with suppliers that understand heat, vibration, stress, and the ugly reality of pushing components far beyond what any road car will ever see.

For Tenneco, it’s a chance to prove that its century-plus of engineering experience still applies at the absolute bleeding edge of automotive performance. If their technology can survive 300-kilometer-per-hour straights, brutal energy recovery systems, and the relentless pace of an F1 season, it can survive just about anything.

And for American racing fans, it’s something else entirely: another reminder that Detroit isn’t just about pickup trucks and crossovers. With Cadillac and Tenneco heading to Formula 1 together in 2026, the U.S. is putting real hardware, real engineers, and real ambition back onto the world’s fastest stage. That’s not nostalgia. That’s competition.

Source: Cadillac

News

The 2026 Cadillac Celestiq Gets Pricier—and More Exclusive

Cadillac’s ultra-luxury flagship, the Celestiq, was never meant to be a volume seller. It’s the brand’s grand statement piece, a hand-built EV designed to show what the company can do when the accountants leave the room. And now, it’s getting even more exclusive—thanks to a higher price tag.

For 2026, the Celestiq will start in the low $400,000 range, a bump of roughly $60,000 over the 2025 model, according to Automotive News. Cadillac justifies the increase by making the smart glass roof standard—an extravagant panel that lets each passenger dial in their own level of tint—and by bundling in eight years of connected services.

That’s right: even a $400K luxury EV isn’t immune to subscription talk. But at least Cadillac is throwing in a few perks for good measure, including a streamlined personalization process for customers who might prefer to spend less time in the configurator and more time deciding between the house in Aspen or the chalet in Verbier.

Introduced in late 2022, the Celestiq marked Cadillac’s most dramatic pivot toward electrification yet. Riding on GM’s Ultium platform, the dual-motor setup delivers 655 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque, hustling the nearly 19-foot-long EV to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds when using Velocity Max mode. Underneath, adaptive air suspension and Magnetic Ride Control 4.0 keep things composed, while four-wheel steering ensures it can maneuver with grace that belies its size.

Inside, the Celestiq is a tech playground. There’s a pillar-to-pillar HD display, a 38-speaker AKG sound system, and even heated armrests. The cabin is dotted with 3D-printed parts, a nod to the car’s bespoke craftsmanship. Cadillac insists that no two Celestiqs will ever be alike—and given the made-to-order paint, materials, and trim options, that might actually be true.

For all its avant-garde features, the Celestiq remains an old-school luxury idea executed with new-school tools: hand-built in Michigan, limited to just 25 units per model year, and priced to squarely target the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Cadillac has already sold every 2025 example, but order books for the 2026 model are now open.

If the goal was to prove that American luxury can still rival Europe’s finest—just with electrons instead of V12s—Cadillac might just have built its strongest argument yet.

Source: Automotive News

Tuning

Larte Design Turns the Cadillac Escalade into a Rolling Work of Excess

The Cadillac Escalade isn’t a common sight on European roads, and that’s putting it mildly. It’s vast, brash, and gloriously excessive—an unapologetic slice of Americana that makes a Bentley Bentayga look demure. Threading one through the cobbled streets of Paris or Prague would be like piloting a luxury yacht through a Venetian canal. But for German tuner Larte Design, that challenge wasn’t deterrent—it was inspiration.

Meet the Larte Esthete, a bodykit so bold it makes even the 682-hp Escalade-V look restrained. This is the sort of visual theater the Escalade was always destined for, now dialed up to eleven.

A Kit with Presence—and Then Some

The Esthete package, developed specifically for 2024–2026 Escalade models, can be crafted from either pre-preg carbon fiber or basalt composite fiber—the latter being a lightweight, heat-resistant material derived from volcanic rock. Larte says there are more than a dozen new components in total, each one sculpted to exaggerate the SUV’s already immense proportions.

The transformation begins up front with a new hood, available in either bare carbon or painted to match the body, paired with a subtle hood deflector and revised trim outlining the Escalade’s massive grille. A sharper front splitter and a pair of small integrated DRLs round off the fascia, adding an extra dash of menace.

Wide Shoulders, Wider Attitude

Along the sides, flared fenders swell over both axles, giving the Cadillac a stance that borders on cartoonish—in a good way. Larte also reshapes the mirror caps, tweaks the side skirts, and offers a set of forged wheels fitted with a carbon fiber aero ring, because, apparently, efficiency matters even when your SUV has the aerodynamic profile of a townhouse.

Rear-End Refinement, the Larte Way

The rear treatment is equally dramatic. A roof spoiler and a reshaped trunk lid trim set the tone, while a revised bumper, quad exhaust outlets, and slim vertical LED brake lights give the Escalade a look that could almost pass for a concept car. The new diffuser ties it all together, adding a final layer of visual aggression.

Form Over Function? Absolutely—and Proud of It

Installation reportedly takes about six hours, and the kit can be shipped worldwide, meaning a few American Escalades are bound to get the full Esthete treatment soon. Pricing hasn’t been disclosed, but given the materials and the craftsmanship, expect a figure somewhere north of “reasonable.”

Of course, none of this makes the Escalade any more practical for navigating Alpine switchbacks or medieval alleyways. But practicality was never the point. The Larte Esthete exists purely to amplify what the Escalade already represents—size, spectacle, and swagger. And in that mission, it’s mission accomplished.

Source: Cadillac