The all-new Cadillac Escalade IQ was unveiled in August of 2023, dropping in for the 2025 model year as an all-electric variant of the iconic Escalade luxury SUV. In terms of styling, the Cadillac Escalade IQ shows similar styling characteristics seen elsewhere in Cadillac’s EV lineup, including a familiar fascia design and a signature lighting layout. Now, we’re getting a look at what could be an alternative Cadillac Escalade IQ design.
This possible alternative Cadillac Escalade IQ design was spotted in a video tour of the GM Tech Center in Warren, Michigan, where it was positioned alongside several other noteworthy design projects, including what appears to be a refreshed Cadillac Lyriq.
In the video, we see a large SUV with Cadillac’s latest EV-centric design language, albeit in a different form than the production-spec Cadillac Escalade IQ revealed for the 2025 model year. The revised front-end design is particularly noticeable, with a large, blacked-out section stretching across the nose, and a thin body-colored line dividing the upper grille section with the lower bumper section. By contrast, the production-spec Cadillac Escalade IQ includes far more detailing and a different shape as well.
Alternative Escalade IQ design
Production Escalade IQ
The profile design for both vehicles is similar, with prominent black lower styling lines lending the SUV a slimmer silhouette, as well as a horizontal dividing line in the rear pillar. However, the Escalade IQ concept seen at the GM Tech Center also incorporates two rear comms fins, which is somewhat peculiar.
As for GM’s intentions with this model, well, that remains unclear, at least for the moment. Perhaps this is the start of a design refresh for the Escalade IQ, or perhaps it’s an older design for the all-electric SUV that didn’t make it to production. But if this latter scenario is true, then it just leads to more questions, such as – why is it still on the design floor?
Either way, check out the model for yourself in the video below. See it around the four-minute, 33-second mark:
Comments
It looks more like a bit of a black out treatment study to me.
I thought they fired everyone at this location. Maybe just trying to crack the whip and threaten everyone with their jobs to get more work out of them.
What are rear comms fins?
IT IS THE SAME
The problem I see with gm is that all the cars and trucks all look the same now, the front end design is terrible cause they are putting the headlights on the bottom of the car and it’s not the true design class cause the vehicles all look alike now and there’s no originality in design anymore, the trademark looks are gone from each lineup and nobody there is keeping any history in any of the designs and then China has gotten the cars that was good here and it’s really gone downhill cause of the poor design quality, the new cars aren’t nothing like the past or have any of its predecessor’s design influences and that’s when gm lost its popularity and it’s pure luxury cars are even close to what they were before. If you see now it’s totally worthless to see where there going with this so called future cars, cadillac has lost it’s taste in its design, the taillights are the same without the fins it carried from previous models as you see the lyric and celestique looks nothing like a cadillac of the future and nothing of the past, so you see what I mean, I studied all the design language and its nothing like the history of its evolution.
Those are some impressive run-on sentences, but I’m up voting you anyway, because you’re right.
To me, this thing is just a bigger Blazer EV.