Cadillac Celestiq

If there’s a way to play it conservatively with customizing his new Cadillac Celestiq, the all-electric ultra-luxury sedan the automaker is rolling out this year with a price tag that starts at $340,000 and runs into the hundreds of thousands, Todd Fitzgerald, who may be the first buyer from Fort Worth, promises to find it.

Buyers of the car, which Cadillac is hand-building at a rate of two per day at its facility called the Artisan Center in Warren, Michigan can customize everything from color to seats and fabric, lighting, sound, rims, tires and more. “If you want to match a swatch from your shirt, you can do it,” Will Churchill, co-owner of Frank Kent Cadillac in Fort Worth, says. Fitzgerald, founder and CEO of Roxo Energy in Fort Worth and who played football at TCU, is noodling on black with — you guessed it — purple mixed in and a high-quality sound system.

“I want to have some subtlety to mine where you can notice if you look, but it’s not flashy or anything like that; I’m not that kind of person,” Fitzgerald, who drives around in a Cadillac Escalade SUV and was a longtime Jeep owner, said. “I think I’m going to be focused on color and sound. That’s probably where I’ll be on it.”

Fitzgerald, who’s long had a rapport with Churchill, got on the waitlist for the Celestiq through Churchill — and then was surprised when he got the call and learned he could proceed.

“Will had said there were a number of baseball players on the list,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t have a social media presence or anything like that. But at the end of the day, they chose me.”

Fitzgerald earlier this year went through a one-on-one Zoom interview with one of Cadillac’s designers, who introduced him to the design process. Fitzgerald then flew, at Cadillac’s invitation, to Michigan in early August to initiate the second stage, “which is to start to give them an idea of what inspires me about the car and start to adjust the car.”

Cadillac has maintained a mystique about the highly anticipated futuristic Celestiq since beginning to put out details in 2020. Cadillac has authorized only 10% of its 567 dealers to initiate the sales process for the Celestiq, including six in Texas and North Texas’ Frank Kent Cadillac, Sewell Dallas and Crest Cadillac in Frisco, Joseph Singer, a Cadillac spokesman, said. Fitzgerald’s is the first sale of the Celestiq initiated by Frank Kent, Churchill said.

Cadillac isn’t saying much about what can’t be customized. Churchill says the electric power and “sheet metal” may be the only things that can’t be modified.

”Cadillac has nurtured for Celestiq a culture of ‘yes’ and will evaluate with each client their requests, but will not violate regulatory, certification or safety requirements and guidelines,” Singer said.

Even though he doesn’t plan to go over the top with his Celestiq, Fitzgerald says he figures the car will still be conspicuous.

“This car is noticeable because it’s so unique looking,” said Fitzgerald, who plans on maintaining the Escalade as his daily driver. “You see an Escalade every five seconds. But that car [Celestiq] will be very unique.”

frankkentcadillac.com

3500 W. Loop 820 South, Fort Worth

Photo courtesy of Cadillac