Spied: Supercharged Escalade-V Returns on 24s, with 55-inch Touchscreen

Cadillac’s luxury truck has been on a tear: Last year, the carmaker sold more Escalades than it had since 2007. The vehicle in these spy shots, a refreshed version of the 682-hp Escalade-V with new interior bits, proves that Cadillac isn’t done squeezing the goodness from this recipe.

We met the Escalade-V back in 2022. Priced at $149,990, it was the most expensive and the most powerful Escalade at its launch. Unfortunately, Cadillac neither shares average transaction prices nor splits out sales of the supercharged SUV from those of the other Escalades, so we don’t know how the hi-po version has been received in the market. A spokesperson for the automaker did tell us that Cadillac sells every Escalade-V it builds, and that the V-Series as a whole is attracting a younger customer to the brand.

We see the appeal. Under the hood of each Escalade-V is nestled a hand-built version of GM’s LT4 V-8, a combination of parts from the mill in the CT5-V Blackwing sedan and the one in the C7 Corvette ZR1, with a healthy output of 682 hp and 653 lb-ft of torque. To read the nitty-gritty details of how Cadillac engineers put this package together, head over to Brandan Gillogly’s drive review of the 2023 Escalade-V. Spoiler: He liked it.

The supercharged V-8 ’Slade won’t be top dog in the hierarchy for long. Change is afoot, and its name is IQ, the two letters that Cadillac is using to denote its pure-electric models. In most cases, those letters are integrated into the names of the models: Celestiq, Lyriq, Optiq. In the case of the Escalade, Cadillac knew better than to mess with the cachet of the name … anyway, Escaladiq sounds stupid.

The battery-electric IQ model trumps the current Escalade-V on paper: In V-Max mode, it makes 750 hp and 785 lb-ft of torque. However, that output is only available in short bursts; the figures you can expect all day, every day, are 680 hp and 615 lb-ft of torque, just slightly less than those of the supercharged Escalade.

Numbers aside, there is no replacement for the chesty rumble of a V-8, so Cadillac is—wisely—selling the ICE alongside the EV model, at least for now. (The EV model is scheduled to go into production this summer. Judging by the lack of camo, this new Escalade-V is just about ready to meet the world.)

These spy shots reveal that the refreshed Escalade-V will steal the best bits from the EV model: New head- and taillights, a 24-inch wheel design, and a 55-inch touchscreen, capped at either end by a speaker. We’ve seen this screen twice—first in the Celestiq, then in the Escalade IQ—but haven’t interacted with it, since the reveals of both vehicles were look-but-don’t-touch. However, if the understated, clean modernity of the IQ interiors means anything, you can expect the menus and digital buttons to be beautifully designed. That’s especially important for a GM product, since the automaker does not allow CarPlay.

We’re strong believers in freedom of choice, so the presence of the supercharged Escalade alongside the inevitable battery-electric model earns our applause. Twenty five years after Escalade debuted, Cadillac is positioning its full-size SUV as the best of old-school and new-school cool.

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