A funny thing happened while you weren’t looking. Cadillac became an electric car company.
It still sells a few gas-powered models, but now has a battery-powered SUV in every size segment.
The midsize Lyriq was the first to launch in 2023 and it has since been joined by the compact Optiq, the large three-row Vistiq and the full-size Escalade IQ, which is the most important.
That is because the internal combustion engine-powered Escalade is both the Cadillac’s best-selling model and the USA’s most popular large luxury SUV. It is so successful that it is practically a brand of its own.
That is how Cadillac sees it, which is why it called the electric version the Escalade IQ instead of giving it an entirely new name with the -iq suffix like the rest of its EVs.
The Escalade IQ isn’t just an Escalade stuffed with batteries and electric motors. It is an entirely different vehicle that shares its platform with the GMC Hummer EV and GM’s other electric pickups, but you would never know that by looking at it.
Its styling is uniquely Cadillac and sleeker than the regular Escalade’s, with a slick faux grille and a tapered roofline for improved aerodynamic efficiency. Its dramatically long hood hides a carpeted “frunk” storage compartment instead of a dirty engine.
The interior is dressed to the nines and features a 55-inch widescreen display on the top of the dashboard, synthetic leather upholstery that is nice enough to fool a cowboy, ample seating for seven and a full panoramic glass roof.
The Escalade IQ weighs more than 9,000 pounds and its 205-kilowatt-hour battery pack accounts for about a third of that. It is technically a heavy-duty truck. One trick to determine that is to look at the passenger side rearview mirror, which is flat instead of convex. Regulations do not require wide-angle mirrors on heavy-duty trucks, so objects in them are exactly the size they appear to be.
The classification also means it is exempt from an official EPA range rating, but Cadillac provides its own. It claims the Escalade IQ can drive 460 miles between charges, and it actually can. I drove one for a week and it delivered exactly on that promise, which is an antidote for the range anxiety that keeps a lot of people from buying electric vehicles.
Price will be more of a factor in this case as the Escalade IQ starts at $130,090 and can be optioned up to well over $150,000. It comes with many features to help justify the amount.
The Escalade IQ’s dual-motor all-wheel-drive system produces 750 horsepower, which is more than enough to overcome its weight. It can accelerate to 60 mph in less than five seconds, which would leave a lot of sports cars in its wake.
It has an air suspension that smooths the ride to magic carpet levels of comfort and can also be used to adjust the height of the vehicle. A four-wheel-steering system provides a few other tricks.
At low speeds, it can turn the rear wheels opposite the front wheels to reduce the size of its turning circle to that of a midsize car’s. Switch to Arrival Mode and it turns them all in the same direction so it can drive diagonally and sidle up to the curb in style. Cadillac had a famous advertising campaign in the 1990s for the short-lived Catera sport sedan that called it “the Caddy that zigs,” but the Escalade IQ literally does that.
It is an appropriate feature for a vehicle that is already becoming a fixture of the black hire car services that shuttle VIPs around New York and other cities, and it has another trick up its sleeve for them.
Top models are equipped with four power doors that can be opened and closed remotely from one of the touchscreens inside the vehicle. They have sensors so that they won’t crash into anything or anyone, and the driver’s door can be set to close when you step on the brake pedal. It sounds unnecessary and extravagant, but once you try it, you never want to do it the old fashioned way again.
As far as flagship models are concerned, Cadillac couldn’t have made a finer one for its electric SUV fleet.
