Cadillac’s return to Australia will see it launch as an electric-only brand, but it has left the door open for combustion-powered vehicles.
When it returns here later this year, it will be the only General Motors brand on sale locally without an exclusively V8-powered lineup, instead focusing on bringing premium electric vehicles (EVs) to the local market.
However, while the Lyriq electric SUV is the only model confirmed to debut so far – and the battery-powered Optiq and Vistiq are waiting in the wings – Cadillac could still introduce V8-powered models such as the flashy Escalade to Australian showrooms.
2025 Escalade
Speaking to Australian media, General Motors Australia and New Zealand’s managing director Jess Bala said the V8 Escalade – revealed in facelifted guise this week – isn’t off the cards for a local berth.
“That [Escalade] was my baby. I revealed that to our [US] dealers about two years ago and the reaction we’ve seen in the last 24 hours is exactly the reaction we got from them live,” said Ms Bala, who was most recently Cadillac’s director of planning and product marketing before taking the top job in Australia.
“It is a stunning car, but for us right here, it’s about picking the right vehicles for our market and also the customer base and we’ve got to factor in price points and things like that.
“But I can tell you that we’ve already shared that we’re an EV-only brand, but that doesn’t mean that we are stopping assessing everything that’s in GM’s portfolio and constantly looking at what might be the best fit for us as our market evolves because there are just so many options.”
2025 Escalade-V
When asked whether General Motors can’t have or doesn’t want the Escalade V8 in Australia, Ms Bala replied: “I’d say it’s more of the latter right now, just from a priority standpoint.”
“I know it’s not under Cadillac, but we are obviously bringing the Yukon out under our GMSV brand next year as well, which it is a very similar vehicle to.
“We can do anything we would like to do. Essentially it just comes down to where we see the best opportunity for our market and our customers at a point in time.
“Obviously there’s bigger discussions that have to happen from a GM standpoint, and what’s the right fit for the company as a whole as well, when it’s looking at vehicles like the Escalade and where it plays globally as well.
“It’s not just a matter of what we would like to do, we have to look at it from an entire company standpoint as well.”
The current generation Escalade has been in production in the US since late 2020, however the facelifted model revealed this week brings updates from the electric Escalade IQ, including a huge 55-inch touchscreen which spans the dash from pillar to pillar.
Low uptake of the available 3.0-litre turbo-diesel six-cylinder in the pre-facelift Escalade meant this engine has been dropped in the US from 2025, with the three-row SUV now going V8-only at a time when emissions nets are tightening in many markets.
In the ‘base’ Escalade this means a 6.2-litre ‘L87’ V8 petrol engine, producing 313kW of power and 623Nm of torque, driving all four wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission.
This engine is already available in Australia, powering the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 which is based on the same platform as the Escalade.
Stepping up to the high-performance flagship Escalade-V brings a different 6.2-litre V8 – known as the LT4 – which is supercharged, producing 508kW and 885Nm.
If Australia did receive the Cadillac Escalade-V with the same tune as US-delivered examples, it would be the most powerful GM vehicle sold locally, besting the 477kW Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, 475kW Corvette Z06 and 474kW HSV GTS-R W1.
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