Cadillac Celestiq Uses ZF’s New Smart Chassis Sensor System: Feature Spotlight

As its flagship model, the opulent Cadillac Celestiq represents the best Cadillac has to offer when it comes to lavish luxury and ultra-modern technology. The hand-built, $340,000 fastback offers a magnitude of customization on par with products from high-end automakers like Aston Martin and Ferrari. It also has 655 horsepower and 646 pound-feet of torque on tap, courtesy of a dual-motor propulsion system that draws power from a 111-kWh battery pack.

And though the Celestiq isn’t an outright performance vehicle, it’s 3.7-second 0-60 time isn’t too far off from Cadillac’s quickest-ever production model. That would be the all-new Lyriq-V, which is 0.4-seconds quicker to 60 mph from a standstill. Supplementing that performance and aiding in the control of the Celestiq’s hefty mass is ZF’s new Smart Chassis sensor system, which is an advanced sensor system that reads a vehicle’s ride height and provides data for electronic damping control and headlamp leveling.

Integrated into the suspension system’s ball joints at all four corners, the Smart Chassis Sensor saves time and weight in manufacturing and is less susceptible to poor weather conditions, according to ZF, its supplier.

“The series premiere of our Smart Chassis Sensor illustrates the importance of intelligent and robust sensors for new electronic vehicle features,” explains Steffen Reichelt, Head of the Chassis Components Product Line at ZF. “With the help of evaluation algorithms, our sensor not only replaces conventional height sensors, it also significantly outperforms them in terms of the quantity and reliability of the data collected.”

We’re curious to see how well this system performs in the real world. Notably, Jay Leno described it as “sure-footed” and absent of any “floaty” sensations. In the same video, Celestiq Vehicle Chief Engineer, Tony Roma, disclosed that the luxury marque would hand-build a maximum of 250 units per year.