Cadillac’s most-profitable model, the Escalade, still rides on very familiar General Motors underpinnings, which also happens to include a solid-rear axle. A new rumor from Automobile says the time for independent rear suspension is quickly approaching, however.
Should the 2020 Cadillac Escalade move to an independent rear suspension, it would help ditch some of the truck-like behavior associated with the luxury SUV. Probably the biggest benefit will be a lowered flat cargo floor. The report says the switch to an IRS has come fairly late in the next-generation Escalade’s development program, which means its launch may be pushed back to around the year 2020.
Additionally, the fifth-generation Escalade will likely adopt Cadillac’s new corporate face, which was previewed with the Escala concept. The concept vehicle showed off horizontal headlights on a Cadillac for the first time in years. The interior should also benefit from some Escala design cues as well.
The Cadillac Escala also previewed Cadillac’s upcoming 4.2-liter twin-turbo DOHC V8 engine, and the report pegs the Escalade to be one of the first vehicles to take advantage of the new engine. A plug-in hybrid option may also be likely.
Our first taste of GM’s next-generation SUVs will actually arrive with the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and 2019 GMC Sierra, but as Cadillac moves to distance itself from its parent automaker, the Escalade will likely pack more exclusive content than ever. And with a strengthening luxury SUV market, the Cadillac flagship vehicle sure could use it.
Comments
Finally.
Should be Standard on Slade and hopefully the Tahoe and Yukon will offer as option as well.
So does that mean Tahoe/Yukon, Silverado/sierra is still solid rear axle?. Or the IRS on the trucks are just gonna be optional?
I would like to see this be exclusive to Escalade. The vehicle has been harped in the past for driving too much like the lesser priced vehicles on which it is based. IRS and an exclusive engine (4.2TT) would be substantial enough differentiations to let the Escalade stand apart for its corporate cousins.
Don’t know about the suspension, but the upcoming V8 won’t change the smallblocks for the Chevy/GMC. So I guess IRS will be exclusive too.
Some people say its interior will be crazy, very close to da Caddy’s last concept.
Damn, great times ahead.
Exclusive to the Escalade would be nice but knowing GM speading it across the line would be cost effective. I could see them going wit the Engine , upgraded interior and some electronics.
Definitely agree, David! While we may not all be on board with the current direction of the Cadillac brand, I think we can all agree with the fact that Cadillac needs to better distance itself from its parent company sibling brands. The more exclusivity, the better Cadillac can justify its value, be competitive in the market, and be taken more seriously by the buyers of competitive products! While it’s not expected of Cadillac to not share parts/platforms, it should be expected of them to deliver superb engineering, exclusive and innovative technology, and a better overall driving experience than its corporate siblings!
I think the SUVs needs to have the IRS like the expedition and nav. Not sure if at this point the F150 is a IRS
F150 as well as all other pickups have solid rears, except for the Ridgeline (if you consider that a real truck).
Ridgeline to me is more of a Odyssey/Pilot truck. Not a real truck
And Denali in year two?
The Ford Expedition has had an IRS for decades…
I wondered how long this would take to leak..
Cadillac demonstrated a few years ago how a modern luxury car can be a world-class sports sedan with their CTS-V; Cadillac needs to push the luxury, performance and a steward to the environment with plug-in hybrid to all vehicles in the fleet especially if by doing so can increase fuel mileage by as much as 30-percent.
I’m a Escalade owner and wouldn’t like to see independent suspension on the Cadillac Escalades I have head a Cadillac since the first generation and I have the 4th generation the fourth generation has 20 thousand kilometers on it and has lots of electrical issues never had these issues before I don’t understand how GM does it charging you so much for a vehicle and have so many problems that come along with them.
I have had a new 15 Tahoe and a 16 Tahoe and have had zero issues, just updates done at the dealer when I go in for an Oil change or a winter tire change over. Very happy with the new SUV models. I can see where the IRS would be nice when one has a load of PX’s in the rear and it does feel like a work truck on bumps.
Welcome to the 21st century. Time to get rid of the agricultural rear suspension. 20 years behind Ford and everybody else…
If this is happening so late in the product development cycle, it obviously reveals that the product planners are really out of touch. No one would consider a solid axle on a 100K SUV. Were the GM guys shocked to see how good the new Navigator is? And they thought they could actually continue to peddle the same old crap?
Would the Escalade be renamed as the XT8 by 2020?
Hopefully not. There is a lot of emotional attachment to the Escalade name. I had a friend who battled a life threatening illness for a long period. He vowed he would buy an Escalade if he beat it. Fortunately he did beat it, and has now had two new Escalades back to back. To the people buying this vehicle, the name says it all. If they want to sell an XT7 or XT8 in addition, based off the LWB C1XX platform, that would be a better option IMO.
Cadillac just needs to go ahead and bite-the-bullet and rechristen the Escalade to align with their other forgettable new “names”. Makes no sense to have one hold-out. Thus, Escalde Platinum should become XT7P62 which, according to genius JoHan would be much more appealing to buyers.
No. The Xt8 just like an xt7 is a different model. Escalade is a local cash cow, while xt7/8 will be a global cash cow.
Btw, there also will be the ct7 and the ct8.
More than likely, the XT8 will compete higher, price-wise, than the Escalade to battle against the Bentaga and Cullinan whenever Cadillac starts to work on the XT8 program. Right now, the XT8 is reserved for the time being.
Cadillac had already stated that Escalade has too much equity behind the name to get rid of it. It is a brand all to itself within Cadillac.
No Cadillac based on a Chevy work truck is going to “compete” with a Rolls Royce or Bentley.
There was a time when Cadillac was in the same class with Rolls but that was 85 years ago. I see no evidence Cadillac is moving in the direction of becoming a Rolls/Bentley peer despite the haughty talk coming from the brand’s leadership. After all, there’s no plan to build the CT8 anymore. Ciel, Elmiraj, and Escala were merely concepts with no production intent. Instead more corporate platform FWD crossovers are coming like the XT5. Those aren’t products that will elevate the brand. That’s unfortunate but that’s apparently as high as Cadillac aspires to be.
no. the escalde is going to continue as an escalade. when Cadillac announced the new naming they said escalade will be the only one to remain.
The sales leader that is the escalade will soon be the rest of the Cadillac lineup! Go ahead laugh now, but you wouldn’t be able to do so in the future
It always surprises me that it has taken the General so long to contemplate IRS on the SLADE, I have owned both Escalade and Lincoln Navigator, the IRS Air ride was slightly problematic, but rode like a cloud even with a family of 8 on board towing a 32 foot travel trailer. The Escalade got better mileage, but suffered from bad ride under load attributes, and a whole slew of electrical gremlins. Hope they can bring back their world class reliability on the new models, Future looks great!
Wow! Cadillac is really daring now; an independent rear suspension! They might win another DeWar for innovation.
With that, hopefully the GMC Yukon/Yukon XL and Chevy Tahoe/Suburban goes with that too so that they can be more space efficient. Hearing that they might add a powerful upgrade engine, I might end up getting this over the GMC Yukon XL Denali but what would make me really do so is them adding an adjustable air suspension.
The New Generation Escalade WILL have independent Rear Suspension. It is also going to have 3 different power trains, all Exclusive body panels that will not be shared with other GM products(Tahoe and Yukon) and Price will range from $80,000-150,000. I know we have all been waiting for Cadillac to produce a High Horsepowered V-Series Escalade and it is coming! You can also expect Super Cruise to be available on this behemoth.
But most importantly will GM improve reliability? The Escalade has the worst record of any Cadillac and the worst record of any full size SUV. There’s no excuse for this.