Cadillac
In 2020, Ars tested the then-new Cadillac Escalade. The big SUV is Cadillac’s best-seller, and while we might not have enjoyed the way it drove, or its thirst, it did feature some interesting driver assistance technology. There’s a chance we might prefer driving the next Escalade, though—on Monday afternoon Cadillac revealed that it is working on an electric Escalade, called the Escalade IQ, and it will show off the new electric SUV later this year.
There’s quite a lot riding on the electric Escalade. The regular version accounts for about a third of Cadillac’s total sales each year, and automakers in general make the most money from large, loaded, and expensive vehicles.
That probably explains why the electric version will still be called an Escalade—you’d be silly to throw away that brand identity—although appending an “IQ” to the end creates a corporate link with Caddy’s other EVs, the $60,000 Lyriq and $300,000 Celestiq. (No, that’s not a typo.)
The automaker is still in the production ramp for the Lyriq—builds of model-year 2024 Lyrics only started earlier in May, several weeks later than planned. Meanwhile the Celestiq is being hand-built at a rate of 500 a year.
Cadillac shared no other information on the Escalade IQ, so we don’t know when this year we’ll see the new EV, nor when it will actually go on sale, although Cadillac has previously said it will launch three new EVs in 2024.
It also hasn’t said anything about how much an Escalade IQ might cost. However, a conventionally powered Escalade ranges from about $80,000 up to $150,000 for the powerful Blackwing version, for context.
Similarly, technical details are entirely absent now, but expect it to use the same BT1 architecture that underpins the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV (and also the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV pickups), as well as Ultium battery packs and drive units.
