Inteluxe Brand Has Made Its Way To All Cadillac Crossovers
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In September 2020, GM Authority was the first to report that General Motors had filed to trademark the Inteluxe name with the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO). Seven months later in April, we exclusively reported that Inteluxe would be become the new name for leatherette seating upholstery on future Cadillac models, starting with the 2022 Cadillac XT4 crossover.
And now, we can confirm that the Inteluxe name will make its way to all the 2022 model year versions of all Cadillac crossovers, namely the Cadillac XT4, Cadillac XT5 (including the hearse and limousine Professional Vehicles) and the Cadillac XT6. The Cadillac Escalade full-size luxury SUV is unlikely to use the Inteluxe brand, since leather upholstery is standard on all trim levels.
It’s highly likely that the remaining models – the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans – will also adopt the Inteluxe name to replace leatherette for the 2022 model year.
As of this writing, it is unclear if Inteluxe-branded leatherette will be used for the upcoming Cadillac Lyriq all-electric crossover, or whether Cadillac EV will use leather as standard. Alternatively, it’s also unclear whether the Inteluxe brand will remain a Cadillac-specific name or if it will end up being used more widely among other GM brands, namely Buick, Chevrolet and GMC.
In the case of Cadillac, the Inteluxe name is likely to feature only on base models, since leatherette is not used in higher trim levels, where actual leather upholstery is (nearly) universal. This applies not only to Cadillac, but to all of its rivaling rivals from Germany – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
As far as we are aware, none of this implies a change in the actual material used. It could be that the change is being implemented simply because Inteluxe has a 21st century feel to it, whereas “leatherette” is more redolent of 1950s New Look fashion and watching Hopalong Cassidy TV programs on a black-and-white set.
Finally, it’s worth noting that GM has also filed a trademark for the term Earthluxe with the USPTO. Like Inteluxe, the term applies to vehicle upholstery and seat covers. However, there is no news at present regarding when – or if – General Motors will use it on a production vehicle.
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I was one who watched Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rodgers on a monochrome TV in the 1950s. Later I watch Saturday color cartoons on a Zenith color TV.
Dave, believe you are wrong on Escalade. Base model(Luxury) comes with vinyl—regardless what they call it!
My guess is this is an attempt to make it seem premium as real leather will be hard to find in the mostly EV Cadillac future. There is a big stupid no leather rule with EV cause of some of the demo they are popular with… Probably trying to build a premium fake leather branding here for some higher end fake textiles that are somehow more OK in EV culture…. Guessing there will be boasting about sustainability and high tech as they explain this new nonsense.
Jake.
Wrong on all counts. It’s just an attempt to name a non-leather seating surface. Very few Cadillacs, and very few of its competition, are sold with a “base” interior.
Have to assume this is some green “sustainable” thing to go with the new EV focus that all the other EVs use. Probably trying to brand the “sustainable” as something nice and techy so as to try and not cause too much annoyances of leather is no long option to keep the extreme end of the EV buying demo happy. Still makes no sense in my opinion how leather isn’t sustainable?
The tanning process involves killing and skinning cows (who first eat a lot of fertilized grass/grain and fart a lot of methane) and uses a lot of water and chemical pollutants (originally urine).
Sorry, is this inaccurate?
Why don’t they offer something different from leather–like cloth? An expensive car should have more choices, not fewer.
The original CTS came standard with cloth seats, but only in the Middle East. Americans had to sweat on vinyl.
Climate-controlled seats. People like heated and cooled seats and they get a fuel mileage credit for putting them in. However, that places restrictions on the materials. For heating, you need to make it thermally conductive, so very fluffy stuff like velour is out. For venting, you need something you can easily punch a bunch of holes into and again doesn’t have fluff to block flow. That basically leaves you with smooth leather-like materials.
My dad’s LeSabre had heated cloth seats that worked fine and never got stiff or slick in cold weather.
My cooled seats have foam and mesh fabric between the air channels and leather, so fluff won’t be a factor. Older Malibus had perforated ultraseude seats with leather sides.
Megeebee, you might be correct and it is just some nomenclature marketing for the normal seating.. But as they move to EV I won’t be surprised if authentic leather goes out the door and they need to claim some other marketing name for optional seating that isn’t leather at all. Whether it be interlude or interluxe deluxe or what have you… Haha. Just assuming there is good chance they will be looking out for anti-leather crowd that make up a lot of EV buyers.
Hey my 2010 Equinox had fake Lester and I love it’s easy to clean doesn’t need to be scrubbed like cloth seats, all I use is mother’s leather and vinyl care on it and it stays nice.