Within hours of Cadillac announcing the Escalade IQ, we saw spy shots of the electric SUV under heavy camouflage. Now, the folks from Kolesa strip away the covering to imagine how the model really looks.
The renderings blend styling elements from the existing Escalade and the Lyriq electric SUV. It retains the current model's chiseled shape but adds an illuminated grille and full-width taillights that wrap around the sides.
Gallery: Cadillac Escalade IQ Renderings
The development vehicle appears to ride on massive, 24-inch wheels with eight lugs. The huge size really fills out the fenders.
So far, we only have peeks at the interior by looking through the windows of the development vehicle. It appears to have screens spanning the dashboard.
All signs point to the Escalade IQ riding on General Motors' Ultium EV platform, but no specifics are available at this time. For comparison, the GMC Hummer EV is available with a battery pack as large as 205 kilowatt-hours to achieve a range of over 300 miles. While we don't know whether the Cadillac would use this same setup, it shows the automaker has access to big battery packs for sizable vehicles.
The Escalade IQ will debut later in 2023. Although, an exact date isn't yet available. The least expensive existing model costs $84,190. We'd expect the EV to be more than that.
Cadillac plans to unveil three electric vehicles before the end of the year, and all of them would be in production in 2024. At the time of the announcement, Cadillac Global Vice President Ron Harvey said some of them would be global offerings, rather than purely for North America.
The automaker already trademarked several names for potential EVs. The monikers include Lumistiq, Optiq, Symboliq, and Vistiq.
The Lyriq SUV is the only EV in Cadillac's current lineup. The Celestiq range-topping luxury sedan goes into production in December. Prices for the four-door start at $300,000, and the factory at the General Motors Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, plans to produce just six vehicles at a time.
