Is This the Next Cadillac Escalade?

Good news: It looks great. :)

Bad news: Yet another (badge-engineered) Lambda-based SUV? In the great time-honored GM tradition—milk a platform till it bleeds. I guess they really haven't learned as much in their restructuring as they say they have. :(

Taking a Cadillac Lambda into account, I think the only redundant one is the Chevy/GMC. The GMC looks better, fine. But why both? That begs another question, though, which is, why GMC?
Time will tell how they separate the Caddy from the Enclave. I suspect it will be far more unique than what old GM was known for, like, say, the first gen Escalade or Yukon Denali. THAT was bad.

The styling seems a be too restrained to be a Caddy. Hopefully they spruce it up.

If this comes into the equation, what happens to the Enclave?

Daddy kill it please! Please kill it Daddy!!!

good news - it looks great!

bad news - these are just photo illustrations...

Saturn Outlook, Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, Cadillac Escalade...
Repeat of Buick Rainier, Chevy Trailblazer, Isuzu Ascender, Olds Bravada and Saab 9-X.

Yeah, it looks nice, and in my opinion, if they make it, it should have been the SRX.

However, it is really just overkill. You've already got the Enclave and the Acadia is coming out with the Denali version.

Any mention of engine upgrades?

Saab 9-7X I meant.

And roar02ram -
The old SRX had 3 rows available.

It needs to be a lot more special than just another Lambda CUV...but I suspect GM will construe that as meaning it should be a hybrid with some extra leather and fancy features and slap a $60,000 price tag on it.

That's a damn good looking chop from the front....but the artist put no effort into the back. This could be another success for Cadillac, but to do so they have to pull out ALL the stops. The interior can in no way give the slightest idea of being related to the Enclave. It has to perform with more agility, and the engine HAS to be more powerful (350+hp). And it has to look awesome-which is in question because Caddy mistepped when it redesigned the SRX. The ESV plan is smart too.

I thought GM said they were going to try to move away from badge engineering...

I don't give a damn about fuel economy or anything else . . . the day the Escalade becomes a crossover I will curl up in the fetal posotion and just DIE!!!

I can not summon all the necessary words to expressed my pure HATRED of this entire putrid vehicle segment (read some of my previous posts regarding crossovers) by I draw the line here. Ford commited the first blasphemous act by making the Explorer the quasi-minivan-mobile but this is WRONG on biblical levels.

I SERIOUSLY feel the need to go to GM HQ in person and file a formal grievence . . . that is how much this article upsets me. The rational side of my brain understands CAFE is dictating future product to a degree but this . . . buy the eight speed auto from ZF; improve the cylinder deactivation, make the next generation Escalade lighter . . . ANYTHING BUT ANOTHER God-FORSAKEN CROSSOVER!!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!

Its nice. BUT, come one GM, lets kill the Ford re badging trend. Especially Cadillac who tends to differentiate they're luxury line up from its siblings.

Wow. Another lambda based ute on a now aging platform. I hope they at least find a way to stuff something special under the hood. Otherwise this will be a pointless excercise in how to spend money you don't really have for a vehicle you don't really need.

I wonder how long they are going to continue putting the same grill on every car they produce. Parts must be cheap

Looks way too much like the outlook and acadia to be a cadillac. They'd better offer some more powerful engines too, the 3.6l in the outlook is way to buzzy sounding and strained for a cadillac.

If they are smart they will make it more truck-like, a la MB GL-class. This is a vehicle that thrives only on the way that it looks, and beefing it up a bit can only help

Christ Edmunds, write RENDER:(Insert title here). People here are CLEARLY thinking this is the real deal vehicle.

you mean make it look like the previous/current escalade?

@half_ton:

The next Escalade has to be body on frame because:

Escalade owners do alot of offroading... no, that's not right.
Escalade owners do alot of towing... no you don't see that either.
Because ridiculously overweight vehicles are safer... nope.
The Tahoe platform has better seating for 7... only if 3rd row passenger like their knees under their chin.
Because 26" wheels are really heavy... maybe?

I have yet to come up with a Reason for the Escalade being body on frame other than GM has already beaten the Lambda platform to death.

roar02ram says:
06:16 PM, 06/ 7/10
Dumb idea. A two-row X5 fighter built from CTS bones would make more sense. Oh wait - that was the old SRX.

LOL!!!

But yeah...that rendering is heinous. Like freak-show ugly. I like my Escalades like I like my women... unnecessarily large with a tendency to be a guzzler

@ arumage: Excellent! You are so right. You could apply that to almost any body-on-frame SUV.

While half_ton is slightly psychotic, I do think they should dump the Escalade nameplate. When I hear Escalade, I think ginormous, hugely expensive, gas-hogging marauder. Not...a classy and refined fullsize crossover.

As long as the ESV stays true to its roots, I'm OK with it. That's the only one I would buy anyway. I'll take mine in Platinum Edition please. Only I'll buy a 3-year old model with 40k miles on it for half the price of new, and keep it for 12 more years and 160k miles. They are wonderful trucks if you actually use them for what they were made for (I do).

IT IS NOT GOING TO REPLACE THE ESCALADE!! GM has said that the next Escalade will be truck based already. This will just be another crossover to take on M-class, MKT, and possibly GX460.

Can you remind me what exactly the escalade was made to do?

The escalade was only made so gm could get a larger profit margin on a badge engineered yukon.

What the hell is wrong with GM? Didn't they learn their lesson from the past? Look how watered-down the GMT 360 (nee Chevy Trailblazer) platform was. You had the Chevy Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Olds Bravada, Buick Rainier, and even the Saab 9-7x and Isuzu Ascender on that platform. There was very little differentiation. With this "bright idea" GM has for the next Escalade, they're doing it all over again. The beltline and rear of this think stink of GMC Acadia. It's OK to share platforms to save money, but geez....at least make an effort on the sheetmetal so everything looks completely different from the other. GM doesn't even try; "Oh gee...let's just slap a wreath and crest emblem on it; they'll never know the difference!"

What jlcii said. Cadillac knows the market for the Escalade, and they'll keep it around as long as the Tahoe/Suburban live.

Given the success of the SRX, Traverse, Enclave, etc etc., I'm sure GM has their eyes on a lambda-based Caddy, but it could certainly cannibalize sales from the Acadia Denali and Enclave. I'm sure they'd make it stand out more than this illustration as well.

Wooo Hooo.. another one.. Hey GM ! Go ahead and introduce a baby Cadillac. Call it the CRZ. We are dumb we don't know the difference.

It came to me as a surprise why this article was even published? Ed Hellwig, this photo is the most blatant form of photo shop of a GMC Acadia, DT7 concept car front end, SRX rear end with full size Escalade rear quarter windows. The next Escalade will not be riding on a smaller platform. GM has already recently announced that there is still a market for the large truck based Escalade, Tahoe and GMC Yukon (Suburban/XL) respectively, but of which are being redesigned to be even more aerodynamic and full efficient. A new crossover based on the Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave…of that will be called something else, NOT Escalade.

After all the hard work on the Cadillac brand over the past decade they plan to roll out this lightly altered version of the lambda platform??? It's fine to borrow some pieces from the parts bin, but the car still needs to look like it was designed specifically for Cadillac. This is an upscale brand, the customer expects something special. Is Cadillac aiming for Lincoln here? Dumb decision.

What, they got rid of Saturn and there is a rule at GM that there needs to be at least 4 Lambda crossovers of identical size and utility, so they decided to add 1 for Cadillac?

What's next, an epsilon based front driver, because they got rid of Saab, Saturn and Pontiac?

How about using a specific vehicle to reach a target audience? You already have a luxury people mover in the Buick Enclave. You also already have an over-styled, overpriced, overweight, crossover for those who don't particularly care about cars, but want to look rich and have a better view of the road in the new SRX. You have a giant truck for the 22inch dub crowd, or the "I want to be able to pull my boat" crowd in the Escalade. Which audience does this vehicle target that isn't covered by one of those vehicles?

TERRIBLE. The current and last gen Escladde looked great. This thing look like an SRX which is one of the ugliest SUV's ever created. That front is so cheap looking and full of plastic is amazing. Hopefully this photoshop is dead wrong.

@arumage
We all know there is a huge difference between what a vehicle is capable of and whet is actually used for. Your points; all of them are very accurate but that doesn't mean a brand and/or image should be allowed to be watered-down.

Take the Jeep nameplate for example. When they introduced the Patriot and Compass Jeep purists all over were scratching their head wondering why. In this price range and this vehicle segment specifically, image matters and that image is 110% DESTROYED by putting the Escalade name on a crossover. Anyone you buys one of these vehicles is lying if they say the don't like the pressence of this vehicle; something that even Edmunds acknowledges is unmatched by it's competitors.

@ampeg500
Belive it not I'm not psychotic at all but I am VERY passionate about HATING crossovers.

WTF....... $-/

IF THEY DO THIS GM WILL REALLY GO BANK RUPT... NUMBER ONE ITS UGLY. NUMBER TWO IT LOOKS LIKE A GMC ACAIDIA WHICH IS VERY NICE LOOKING THIS IS CRAP GM IS ON A SLOW SLOPE TO DESTRUCTION, IF THIS IS THE NEW ESCALADE THEY WILL BE CRASH LOL

I never buy a next generation Cadillac Escalade will GM Lamboda platform is crossover. I know first, secord and third generation Cadillac Escalade is GMT platform is related Chevy Tahoe, Suburban and Silerado and same GMC Sierra and Yukon. I know many Celebrities, Professional Sports, Rappers and Godfathers will never buy a next generation Cadillac Escalade. they are real mad at GM about traditional Escalade is gone. If I know if Lincoln Navigator will join to Ford D4 Platform is related Ford Taurus and 2011 Ford Explorer have Ecoboost. I still mad at Ford Motor Company about traditional Ford Explorer and 2003-2005 Lincoln Aviator are RIP.

I think it's a good step if they're just utilizing the platform, and nothing else. The illustration makes it look like just another GM rebadge, which won't work. We may not all like the Escalade, but it has a character/attitude all its own. Turning it into a soft, family-friendly crossover probably isn't going to help its case with the people that have helped make it so successful.

If it's another model altogether (which is most likely the case), then it should wear a different badge. I think it'll fit nicely into the range somewhere between the SRX and the current Escalade.

Someone should spray a can of RAID on that car. SMH. When will dumb ideas ever end?

All we need now is the SAAB version and we're up to Police Acadamy 6.

NOW YOU CAN REALLY SEE WHY FORD SALES ARE SKY ROCKETING BECAUSE GM IS GETTING worse and worse actually buick is doing well though nice new products that are rolling out

OK GM, time for a new design for this platform. at least the Taurus platform mates look reasonably different. GM is just going back to its old ways.

at one time we had-
three versions of the Malibu
two versions of the DTS
three versions of the Impala
three versions of the Tahoe
now five versions of the Traverse
six versions of the Trailblazer
two versions of the Silverado
two versions of the Avalanche
two versions of the Cobalt

Looks like a GM now with those Gm/Equinox soft, rounded, puffy wheel arches. They totally crapped all over the Caddy design language with this mistake.

It's like a Chevy with Caddy brake lights and grill. Fail.

At jm1212-

SOOOO true. How many times can one remake the same car?

"It's like a Chevy with Caddy brake lights and grill. Fail."

Sounds like a Cimarron.

@half-ton:

Most Escalades are seen with nothing but scorn. I don't think this rendering is a fix for the problem as it's way to similar to the other Lambda crossovers, but I do think a well thought out and well differentiated redesign could be a bigger hit.

Photoshop version looks like an Acadia with a Caddy grill grafted on. Oh wait, that's exactly what it is! Will be just like the new (old) GM to tart up an aging product, slap a 10k premium on it, blow it out with 5k worth of incentives when it doesn't sell, then blame "competition". What Q7, X5, GL350 etc. prospect isn't going to recognize this for exactly what it is. Escalade is now a brand, probably stronger that Cadillac actually is. To dilute that brand with essentially the Saturn Outlook would be plain stupid on GM's part.

Cadillac was on a roll with a lot of its products. The new CTS and its iterations look phenomenal. Then the new SRX came out....that's a blatant rebadge of the late Saturn Vue on the Theta (Chevy Equinox) platform. If they go with this piece of garbage, they might as well sell Cadillac off to the Chinese or the Indians. There's a reason Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn are dead, and if new product development for GM consists of simply rebadging existing models, then they haven't learned their lesson and we should prepare for the funeral.

How come a lot of you are saying it is a Chevy Traverse? It is obviously a GMC Acadia, which was out before all the larger CUV of GM's product base. (actually I don't know which came first the Saturn Outlook or the GMC Acadia but the outlook is no longer so...) And I am sure they will redesign a CUV with the art and science of Cadillac if it ever makes it into production.

I like it, but is it just a new face on the GMC Arcadia. Look at the photos side by side. Photoshop???

Cuz the old SRX sold so well?! Sounds like there is a future job at GM for you.

Ok, so the photo rendering has brought out many comments. I feel that for the next revision of the platform, IRS is needed. More leg-room for the 2nd rows, and a fold-flat 3rd row seat. The trucks are reasonably refined gives the live axle suspension, and yes image matters most in this shopping category.

While the MB GL is nice, I like the size and smoothed-over rugged looks of the current-gen Escalade. If there is to be another Caddy suv/ crossover, I think revisions to the envoy/ trailblazer platform would have made the most sense if they were still made. That would place a vehicle squarely in the sights of the Lexus GX460 and MB ML/ GLX. Completely redo the interior, drop in a 6 cyl as base engine and add an 8cyl as an option, should they want it with the 6spd trans, or even the new 8spd that everyone is using.

GM. Enough with the rebadging. Re-badged engineering is tired and too akin to what in many ways got you in trouble. Give it up once and for all.
The Escalade deserves more than a morph of the Lambda platform. Why not make it worthy of the 60 - 80K price by designing a sweet frame with IRS; i.e. Range Rover like. And get some Range Rover level components in there; i.e. hill decent; various all wheel drive settings; adaptive cruise; air lift suspension; and the most premium leathers. The Escalade's competition is not the new Explorer or Dode Durango, it's the MB GL, Lexus, Range Rover and the new Infiniti.
Come on get in the game and get those flip'n pencil pushing dweebs the hell out of the office!!!!! They are destroying what's left of a once great company, or should a say a new gov't agency.

GM was doing things right for 2009 and 2010 but if they make the Cadillac Escalade into a GMC its all bad.

@ kingdorsey
the Escalade is already a GMC. it's called a Yukon Denali

please dont make the escalade a crossover. If you do dont call it an escalade because it wont be.

I think Cadillac should have kept the same styling as current Escalade, with more detail and styling changes. For example... I would make the front headlight light narrower, body colored front grilles, less use of chrome, which dates the car drastically. I would make it smaller, however no more than the current Chevy Trail Blazer and have it keep its "truck-like" stance. I would still have large wheels and make the interior more upscale.... as like the new CTS coupe and XTS concept... this car is a luxury car... and buyers like a large look. A V6 should be standard but you have to offer a V8, even a V10 to compete with the Porsche SUVs.

I agree with a lot of you. Cadi said they wanted to be separate from the rest GM brand but they make Boring designs. the front is nice to look at but the side and back, its bland. come on cadi. Flare up the back lights. even volvo stepped up to the plate and wows up with there suv. Get it together.

GM is up to the same old tricks again. Slapping another badge of the same friggin car. Chevrolet, GMC, and Buick already sell a version of this thing, why a Caddy now??? Seems like a waste of money....tax payers money!!!

cant wait for $4 gas.

cant wait for $4 gas.

Have you not already heard that GM has approved production for their next-generation full-sized truck based SUVs. These vehicles are expected for the 2013 MY and will include each GM vehicle that is currently in that vehicle segment including their two SUTs, the Chevy Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT. This Lambda Escalade rumor is very dated and its been proven untrue.