General Motors is prepping an all-new, next-generation Cadillac Escalade for the 2021 model year, and so far, we’ve spotted prototypes that preview the SUV’s new look and restyled fascia, as well as a brief glimpse at the interior. Now, we have a much clearer idea of what the new cabin will look like thanks to a new set of spy photos.
Posted to Twitter by user @chadbrinkley, who spotted the camouflaged prototype in Globe, Arizona, the shots clearly show the new Cadillac Escalade dash, center console and center tunnel. In addition to high-end wood materials, silver switches and glossy surrounds, we also see the new Escalade’s sizable infotainment setup, which incorporates two horizontally oriented digital screens.
This prototype appears to have the same layout as in the one we spotted back in July, and confirms our previous reports that the 2021 Cadillac Escalade was set to receive a “huge” center screen.
The screens stretch clear across the dash, functioning as both the primary infotainment screen and digital gauge cluster. The setup is vaguely similar to that of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Down on the central tunnel, we also see the Electronic Precision Shift gear selector, a feature which will see standardization across the Cadillac line going forward.
Other details include sizable cupholders and storage in the central tunnel, a three-spoke steering wheel and horizontal air vents.
The upcoming fifth-generation Cadillac Escalade will drop in the first quarter of 2020 with a clean-sheet redesign. In addition to a refreshed exterior and interior, the new Escalade will also will offer a new all-electric model variant with 400 miles of range per charge, as well as a high-performance model variant with a supercharged small block under the hood.
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Comments
TOLD YA!!!
That looks pretty sleek. Hopefully they have plenty of material options.
Like what I see
That screen is humongous, the overall layout looks really good and No Column Shifter???….Finally!!
Even though it’s mostly covered up, this looks to leapfrog the Navigator in terms of dash design alone. It remains to be seen if the materials do the same but knowing that Cadillac has been benchmarking the Navigator as well as other luxury SUVs, I’m sure they’re premium.
The question that remains now is: how quickly can this new Cadillac interior design trickle down to the other models.
3 screens, not 2
This is finally a interior that Cadillac deserves, I hope this is the new standard with this and the C8 being praised deservingly so.
I hope these high end touches get trickled down to the Sierra/Silverado refresh’s. I just would have hoped they did it from the beginning but it’s never a bad thing to admit an mistake and fix it.
@Eric
Completely agree. Hopefully GM finally learned their lesson about bad interior materials.
Maybe they did. But they should have learned it 10 years ago so hopefully this time it sticks.
I’m interested in the Tahoe interior. It may also be what ends up in the updated 1/2 tons.
@ArcticDog
I totally agree. I have been stating how important interiors are on this Site for many many years.
And creature comforts as well.
I’m hoping the same. This looks very nice!
When is the reveal?!?!?!
A bit Lincoln style…….like it
Insane.
It already looks better than the X7,Navigator,GLS interiors taken all together..
The good thing is that the models which will come after this car will have this direction inside. No more old and boring styling.
The only thing I don’t like here is the old gear shifter I see. Thats from the XT4-CT-XT6. I mean this is a revolutionary interior and smth more original and better looking would have been much better. Hope its a prototype.
Anyway, Im impressed.
Looks wise I think you might be correct. The key will be a zero compromise interior materials used. If they don’t cut corners on materials, they leapfrogged the Germans in looks and this will be a Grand Slam.
no supercruise?
this is next level btw
I’ll have to wait to see it in full and in person. But no thanks for me at this point. I can’t agree at all with the comments above. Especially the C8 being so nice. That interior on the new C8 is fugly. This doesn’t seem to be looking too much better, but again I’ll need to see the full thing in person.
So either I’m blind as a bat or more realistically my taste (thus opinion) is 100% different from the others posting on this new Escalade interior pics. I just went and googled interior pics of the new Corvette C8 as well as the Lincoln Navigator as a re-fresh. Totally dislike the C8 and what I’m seeing here for the new Escalade. I much prefer the Navigator interior to this, although I really don’t care for it’s overly large I-pad glued to the dash either.
I can’t wait till this fad passes on along with the overly large rims. Thank goodness things are cyclical.
I don’t mind screens and digital dashboards. The ability to reconfigure things could be really nice.
I do agree with you about cars where it looks like a tablet is sticking out of the center of the dash though. That look can’t possibly age well.
You’ll likely be deceased before the “fad” of in car screens goes away…
@Asmodeous:
I’m sure your comment is in jest. But just to clear it up, the fad I referred above is not about screens. It’s about the “design” of sticking them up off and out of the dash. Ever look inside the Tesla Model 3? Hideous. Although I like the interior of the Navigator overall, the huge tablet projecting up and out of the dash doesn’t flow with anything else in the car. The new C8? Give me a break. And now the Escalade? This style is a fad and I can only hope passes quickly, but the screens are certainly not a fad.
Live to dream.. Chevrolet borrows the dash from the 2020 C8 Corvette for the next generation Suburban.
One word: gorgeous.
This reminds me of the old Cadillacs. 50-60s.
I don’t want to look at the germans anymore….
Well done, Caddy.
Praise Jesus. This is what every Cadillac interior should have been after the Escala was shown.
My hopes for the Cadillac Brand going forward in the EV World just went up. Maybe, just maybe, GM has finally learned their lesson from the 1500 Twins that were Interior Duds and will never make that mistake ever again.
If I could nitpick a little…I was hopeful the Slade would’ve received a new more Modern or more luxurious Shift Lever. Oh well.
And a stitched leather wheel hub instead of the same cheesy bumpy rubbery plastic.
@Ralph L
Yes that too. That is what I mean by GM not sweating the small Luxury Details that separate the Germans. Maybe this is just not seen due to this being a Pre Production vehicle out testing. We shall see.
GM will not disappoint with these new full sized SUVs. GM has taken extra extra time in bringing out these totally redesigned models.
We will see them soon, and once we do, everybody will want to own one!
If one looks closely the bright trim at the bottom of the left screen, it seems to be very pre-production cobbled together. I assume the production version will do a much better job of fit and finish.
That “BRIGHT Trim” is actually a sticker protecting that surface. You can see the tabs to peal it off on the right.
Yup, this looks like the Escala dash (Google it). I think, if the materials hold up, that it keeps Caddy in the game and competitive. It would have been next level if introduced, say, 2 years ago, but it’s what they need now and they’ll get it. I wish this had been introduced on the CT sedans, but I imagine they’ll get this motif on refreshes in 4 years or so.
Looks good to me.
Hopefully this style trickles down to the Cadillac line !
Al least its a promising note, now we just wait, and wait still !!
I Think I will love this new Escalade, and love the 19 CT6, but we will simply never own one.
We are mid sized Cadillac people, and in the midsized Cadillac, we are stuck with the average GM blah with a marginal interior, so no new Cadillacs for us —– yet !
But this is a step in the right direction.
In my opinion.
Finallllllly get to see more of the interior and loving it! Bravo on GM for putting money into a Cadillac, since the Tahoe and Yukon have been delayed to 2021 MY I suspect GM is improving the interior from what it originally was, based on the feedback of the trucks.
Hope we get to see the SUV trio in full form ASAP
I hope they have the problem of sun glare resolved!?!
Wow! This thing blows the navigator right out of the water, And it hasn’t even been revealed yet.
So long lincoln, atleast you tried ??♂️
I love what I see so far. Except for the shape of the screens. Not a fan of the rounded design nor the “tablet” look. I personally like how the screens on the XT5/6 are integrated into the dash, but I wouldve much rather seen the shape of the XT4 screen in here.
I still like it though.
AWESOME! But please please please tell me that’s not the CT4/CT5/XT6 steering wheel.
The dash is virtually the same one they showed in the Cadillac Escala, now it is here.
Why do they insist on using the standard GM starter button? Looks so cheap and afterthought. I mean they’re finally (thank everything holy in the world) moving away from the traditional GM designs, couldn’t they spring an extra for a high quality starter button?
As for the rest of the interior, I’ll hold my judgement until I see the entire thing.
If this is the way going forward for Cadillac, I think it’s great. Finally the flagship gets all the tech needed it seems. Btw is this the first full on Johan de Nysschen design?
Those screens are straight out of the Escala concept vehicle.
https://www.cadillac.com/future-concept-vehicles/escala
Man that Escala is a beautiful vehicle !!!!
Just beautiful !!!!
I can not wait to see more of this!
Does anyone else think double screen looks a little odd, like one screen is leaned up against the other?
Wow. That interior looks incredible so far.
I can see the CT5 influence, but with some Escalade-sizing. The materials and tech look really impressive.
I can’t wait to see it in person.
I had the notion that the XT6 was sort of deliberately sandbagged, maybe even the CT4 and 5 too until the new Escalade came out and that that they would be restyled afterwards and upgraded to “2021 Escalade levels” .
@Mr.R
I believe you are giving GM way too much credit but I really do hope you are correct. Time will tell.
As I have been stating here since the XT4 was shown, those interiors are just not good enough. Cadillac needed the Escala Interior to set itself apart in the Luxury field. Cadillac has to go above and beyond in each category to win sales. But we all saw what we were given. I don’t know if anyone watched Bob Lutz on a certain Online channel the other day but he was very hesitant to answer questions about GM interiors of late.
Wow what are those?……..paddle shifters!
Why use 2 separate screens ? why not use 1 single large OLED screen like the Byton M-Byte ?
The Escala’s dash is awesome of course. Unfortunately we are seeing the same old GM “copy and paste” method elsewhere. The xt4 climate controls look alright but don’t flow with the dash and central touchscreen like the current model does and the gear selector isn’t working with it as well. All I can say for GM is if they’re planning to step up to the new navigator, they’ll need a complete redesign that flows together. Don’t half a$$ it. Their classic copy and paste technique will come back to bite them if they do otherwise I’m afraid. (Hopefully most of this Escalade is pre production and they bring it all together the right way) oh and btw, loose the xt6 steering wheel.. rant finished.
If you blow up picture the chief engineer Jeff Wright and his phone number is viable. In stead of posting, call him. As a current Escalade owner with lots of electronic issues, make our voices heard
Hope the screens are glass like smart phones, if plastic and they’ll get all scratched upped. It be nice if they could project a 3D image on the 2D screen to make it look more natural. I see no knobs, hope the steering wheel has volume control. Did you read the driver safety instructions on the center console? Flip the picture! Definitely working out the bugs, something Boeing should have done. What is that chrome oblong thing just above the large cup? Is it a pedal under the steering wheel or something on the center console?
I’m absolutely amazed that no one here noticed that it appears that they have lifted this dash right out of the Escala. Go look at the Escala. This appears to be the OLED multi screen dash in the Escala concept vehicle.
They need to get rid of that ugly stalk sticking out of the steering column.
A vehicle of this price and caliber definitely deserves a leather steering wheel and nice stitching. I have a ‘16 Escalade Premium and have a cheap rubbery plastic wheel and that’s ridiculous given what I paid for the vehicle. Do the right thing Cadillac!
After have a 07, 11, 16 Denali I just jumped ship to a new Navigator. While I like the looks of this design I am concerned for GM’s fit and finish on things. If the level of quality is great they will do well but if it is like the past they will struggle IMO
Wonder how many calls Jeff Wright has received? LOL