Big electric SUVs are taking over, and Cadillac’s stressfully large SUV is being redesigned to be part of that movement. The automaker has new teaser footage of the Escalade IQ, which was first announced last month, and is planning to fully reveal the full-size SUV on August 9th.
The new Escalade IQ footage gives only a few glimpses of the behemoth three-row, including an extruded taillight / spoiler wedge and animated front LEDs that are spread like a wing from the bottom of the grille and tessellated on the sides. The footage also has a close-up of what are likely to be huge 22-inch wheels mounted on Michelin Primacy LTX tires, and there’s a close pan of the planar roof and antenna.
The IQ’s fascia has even more LEDs on the left and right side, which includes solid vertical lines and animated dotted ones — a similar arrangement compared to Cadillac’s smaller Lyriq SUV. The short teaser video states that the IQ will be “the reinvention of an icon.”
GM will build the Escalade IQ at the “Factory Zero” Detroit-Hamtramck assembly center, which is the automaker’s EV-oriented factory that is currently used to build the juggernaut GMC Hummer EV. GM states in a press release that it has poured $2.2 billion into renovating and retooling the factory to “serve as the launchpad” for the automaker’s EV strategy.
GM’s EV strategy, unfortunately, does not include smaller electric vehicles anymore, as it has axed the Bolt EV and even the relatively new Bolt EUV. Now, the company is focused on making EVs larger than the Bolt and building on its Ultium electric vehicle platform.
