Cadillac counts on 2025 Escalade IQ for EV sizzle

General Motors said it's all-in on transitioning its entire passenger-vehicle lineup to EVs and there may be no more critical litmus test of the strategy than the reception for the imposing 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ. If the EV version of the GM luxury brand's best-selling model can continue to project the gravitas established by the internal-combustion Escalade, it will go a long way toward establishing GM's EV credibility.

After all, the Escalade has instilled itself as the signature expression in the luxury SUV segment where, said John Roth, vice president of Global Cadillac at a media introduction for the 2025 Escalade IQ, one in three current segment sales is an Escalade. “The Escalade is the dominant player in the market,” he said, insinuating that in an SUV segment where today's buyers can't seem to get enough or pay enough, the distinctiveness of all-electric Escalade ought to be a can't-lose proposition.