Zac Quinn 
Cadillac has begun its transition to a fully electric vehicle portfolio, which is targeted for the year 2030. It started with the recently launched Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV and will be followed by the ultra-opulent Celstiq electric flagship sedan. Eventually, the iconic Escalade and high-octane V-Series line of products will also have to align with this strategy. During the company’s 2022 GM Investor Day, GM President Mark Reuss took some time to hype the upcoming Escalade IQ and IQL, which are expected to debut by 2024. However, the GM President didn’t directly refer to these vehicles as such, and instead only described them as “a full-sized Cadillac electric SUV.”
Cadillac Escalade IQ And IQL: Details
“You can imagine what this competes with and where it competes. This will be a pinnacle of design and execution,” said Reuss. “Some of the things we learned on Celestiq will find their way into these vehicles, which I think is going to wow the world once again. Even after the Escalade that we sell today, even in V form, so there’s some great things happening here.”
In reference to the Celestiq, hopefully that means Cadillac will offer a sort of bespoke color and trim program for the iconic SUV, but details were not immediately given out.
Traditionally, the Escalade utilizes the same platform as Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 full-size pickups. In the case of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the GMC Sierra EV, that’s the GM BT1 platform, which incorporates the company’s Ultium battery technology. The BT1 platform is expected to serve as the base architecture from everything, including an electric Chevrolet Tahoe to the go-anywhere GMC Hummer EV pickup we see today. It’s believed that the electric Cadillac Escalade family will be built at the revamped Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, also known as Factory Zero. The Cadillac Escalade IQ is expected to arrive in 2024, while the longer Escalade IQL is expected a year later in 2025.
Talk of an electric Cadillac Escalade came around in 2019, while the IQ and IQL designations could be found in 2021 within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Reuss went on to speak of the extended-length variant for the Cadillac Escalade, saying that “the wheelbase differences we have today and the size base differences we have today on our full-size SUVs, we’re going to do it again in a much more innovative way, though. You’re going to see things here, design, size, platform sharing-wise, but also technology-wise, that will be very different from what we execute today… we’re pretty much finished with the design, and going for production.”
Demand for an electric Cadillac Escalade will be something to watch. The Escalade, in its current V8-powered form, is the most relevant Cadillac vehicle in the past century, weaving itself firmly into high-status American culture, and a vehicle that’s otherwise aspirational. This is currently capstoned with the 680 horsepower Cadillac Escalade-V, which is the most powerful production three-row body-on-frame SUV in the world. Pricing starts just over $150,000 USD.
While one can easily find themselves in a cheap low-milage lease in other Cadillac products, it’s the Escalade that tells everybody that you’ve made it. Should the Escalade IQ and longer Escalade IQL electric vehicles capture the same magic as the standard SUV, Cadillac could have a huge winner on the way.
