GM has been doing something of an overhaul to its business in the Oceania region that encompasses Australia and New Zealand. Holden went away and Cadillac came in, but exclusively as an EV brand. Does that mean the ICE-powered and perennially desirable Cadillac Escalade won’t be available in the region? Australian outlet CarExpert got the answer in an interview with GM Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala.
“When you look at the Cadillac Escalade… we do already have a vehicle off that platform [and] we have announced that Cadillac will be an EV brand only, so that wouldn’t mean that we would move forward with the current Escalade, being an ICE product,” Bala said. The “vehicle off that platform” she’s referring to is the GMC Yukon Denali, which shares the T1 platform with the Escalade. The Yukon is available through GM Specialty Vehicles, which also sells Chevy trucks and the Corvette in Australia.
So, there you have it: the Escalade won’t be available in Australia because it isn’t electric. As for the all-electric Cadillac Escalade IQ, that’s a maybe for the Australian market.
“IQ we will keep assessing, but right now, our priority is the vehicles that we’ve announced,” said Bala. “We have said openly we’ll keep analyzing the IQ and where that fits and what could that be for us. Right now, there are no plans. There are some complexities that come with that vehicle… That architecture doesn’t have right-hand drive on it, so we’d have to convert it here, plus there are some things we’d have to work through around the screen and how we do that for right-hand drive with software and things like that.”
“Plus, when you look at what we’re bringing in with Cadillac right now, having already got Lyriq on sale and we’re delivering as of this month, adding in Optiq, Vistiq, Lyriq-V as well, we think that those vehicles are the bigger priority for our market,” Bala continued. “That’s four cars that we’re doing in very quick succession, and we want to be able to launch and introduce them to the best of our ability and focus on the ones that we think have the greatest opportunity for our market.”
Is GM missing out on sales by not offering the ICE-powered Cadillac Escalade in Australia, or would it be redundant with the GMC Yukon Denali?
Comments
I am so sick of the left hand/right hand drive excuse. Global automakers should never have a single vehicle platform that can’t function in either format. Just no excuse. And if they want to just produce one platform they need to start working together to lobby the countries that still allow right hand drive to switch!
Sometimes the excuses do seem flimsy. I recall a few years ago that several carmakers claimed AM radio couldn’t exist in EVs because the electric motor caused interference. Both parties from congress got involved (since AM radio is used for national emergency broadcasting) and suddenly the interference problem went away with a software update.
No country should be forced to change their driving style based the countries that have
left hand drive. The manufacturer should build a plant in these countries exclusively for the right hand drive platform. See where the market takes them.
SO gm tells customers in another country what they will get and maybe not what what they want as in an ICE Escalade. An all EV Cadillac s doomed. JMO. Looks like the 2024 XT4 that we love is our last Cadillac purchase. No desire for or need for EV in my rural part of MS. Closest “big” town is Tupelo. Caddy dealer there for approximately 60 years dropped the brand rather than spend bug $ to sell EV. Still has GMC, Buick & Honda. Don’t know if he sells any of their EV models.
Manufacturers have to meet all kinds of worldwide standards. LDH/RHD, emissions, safety standards. Not all vehicles are built to meet all standards. As for moving all countries to LHD that horse bolted at least 50 yers ago. Those of us in RHD markets have more than enough models and options to choose from as it is.
And let’s not forget that when you wage war on the entire world, the world no longer want your products or your cars…
Oh here we go again, another lefty throwing his toys out of his play pen!
Well, it is true.