For 2025, the Escalade Gets the Kit It Needs to Become Cadillac’s S-Class

No other model has done more for Cadillac’s image in the 21st century than the Escalade. Halfway through the fifth generation, Cadillac has lavished upon its darling the extravagant tech and infotainment features that the Escalade needs to make everyone forget it shares a frame with a Chevrolet.

Top of the list is the 420-hp, 6.2-liter engine, which remains the standard powerplant for 2025. A wise decision: As the emissions of a V-8 become harder for a corporation to offset, and thus harder for a customer to find in a new vehicle, they become more exclusive. Since these engines are so thirsty for fuel, they become even more of an indulgence. For all Escalades to be powered by a V-8, then, indicates that Cadillac understands the prestige of a V-8. Anyways, it now has the all-electric Lyriq to win back CAFE points!

On that note: While it continues to remain silent on what percentage of Escalades are the V-Series model, with its 682-hp supercharged V-8, Cadillac did say it has increased production volume.

The vertical headlights of the Lyriq have been steadily pervading Cadillac’s lineup, progressing to the Celestiq, then to the CT4 and CT5 sedans. They now appear on the Escalade, in testament to Cadillac’s committment to visual consistency across its lineup. The actual part that makes up this LED stack is new to Cadillac: As we learned when we visited the Cadillac design studio to peek at the Lyriq, Dan Schmeckpeper had to work with GM’s suppliers to commission these new, 15-mm-wide “slimline” LEDs. They look great on the Escalade. Its job, after all, is to look large and in charge, and lights that emphasize its imposing height fit the bill. So too do the optional 24-inch rims, the largest ever offered on an Escalade from the factory.

The rear profile has also been chiseled a bit, and the changes include a new set of blade-light LED taillights to match the aesthetic of the front. There are three new paint colors: In place of Dark Emerald Metallic there is Aegean Stone, a green-tinted gray; Dark Moon Blue Metallic gives way to Deep Sea Metallic, a dark blue flecked with gold; and Sandstone Metallic is replaced by Latte Metallic, a shimmery “light bronze.” But the most impressive changes are inside.

The curved, 55-inch touchscreen, capped at either end by an AKG speaker, reaches nearly from pillar to pillar and would make an S-Class blush. (Only Mercedes’ electric models get a similar, dash-wide display.) The massive display comes standard in the truck for 2025. It’s actually two displays under one pane of glass: A 35-inch display for the drier and a 20-inch one for their passenger. (Keen-eyed readers will recognize the speaker/screen/speaker combo from the Celestiq.) The shifter has moved from a knob on the center console to a stalk on the steering column, freeing up space for a 11-inch screen Cadillac calls the Front Command Center and a few lovingly detailed, clickable dials. Controls for the four-wheel-drive system, drive modes, and trailering are actual buttons on the dashboard to the left of the steering column. That 11-inch screen hosts a lot of the basic settings for the vehicle including climate control and lights, and it also serves as a keyboard. The steering wheel now has two spokes instead of three. An array of LED lights lets you pick from 126 colors of ambient lighting—100 more than the current truck!

Like so many of GM’s products now, Google is built into the infotainment system, which you can control via voice by saying “Hey, Google.” You can download third-party apps, like Hulu or YouTube, directly to your car. If those streaming services aren’t enough for your passenger, they also have an HDMI port on their side of the dash. Google Maps is the native navigation system, and the onboard wifi system is capable of 5G, rather than 4G LTE. As is becoming standard on luxury vehicles, services like Google Built-In and wifi connectivity are available for a free trial period (on the 2025 Escalade, three years) before you must re-up the subscription on your own dime.

As on the current Escalade, the infotainment system is compatible with Amazon Alexa, and with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Much has been made of GM’s decision to axe Apple CarPlay, but the decision, for now, only applies to its battery-electric cars. Super Cruise remains available, as does Night Vision, which uses an infrared sensor to spot pedestrians or large animals in low-light conditions. That, and the augmented reality features that help with turn-by-turn navigation and visibility during low-speed maneuvers, will be even more impressive on that giant screen.

Two new interior choices represent yet another wise extravagance on the part of Cadillac’s product planners. Interior upholstery is one of the hardest things to change about a vehicle, because it has to meet so many competing criteria: It has to be soft and pliable yet durable enough to withstand UV rays and the triple-digit temperatures produced when you leave it out in the parking lot during the summer for a few hours while you hit the mall. Even so, Cadillac has added not one but two new schemes: Renaissance Red, a leather interior accented with dark wood, and Jet Black/Sheer Gray, which pairs leather with a heathered gray fabric. (If that fabric is the same as on the Optiq, we’ve seen it, and it’s chic indeed.) The sheer range of high quality materials on offer—carbon-fiber, both open-pore and glossy veneer wood, fabric, genuine leather—is something you’d expect from an S-Class. Take a glance inside the $100K Yukon Denali Ultimate, which currently overlaps in price with lower-spec Escalades, and you’d never know it shares a chassis with the Cadillac.

Our favorite thing about the interior is the name on the sill plates. They don’t advertise the name of the manufacturer (as in the Mercedes we recently reviewed), but the name of the model. Anybody can add an illuminated grille or badge on the nose of their vehicle, but very few vehicles have the stature to flaunt their own name above that of the manufacturer. Even the little thumb slider for the center console reads “Escalade”!

The doors of the 2025 Escalade boast a party trick worthy of a German flagship sedan. The driver’s door will open automatically, when it senses the key approaching (presumably, in your pocket or hand). Once inside, a press of the brake pedal tells the door to close itself. You can also open all four doors of the truck: From the outside, with the key fob, and inside, using a button on the door or on the “command center” display. You can also tell the doors how far they should open: All the way, just a little, or in between. Radars in the doors, which sense the proximity of the key fob, also sense obstacles around the truck, and will stop themselves from opening into another vehicle or the door of your garage.

Pricing will be announced later. Production of the 2025 model year truck begins in late 2024 at GM’s Arlington Assembly Plant in Texas, now celebrating its 70th anniversary. Though we know it today as the birthplace of GM’s body-on-frame SUVs, it originally built Buicks, Oldsmobiles, and Pontiacs. Many beloved American classics have exited its doors: Five generations of the Olds Cutlass, the ’63–70 Bel Air, the ’90s Impala SS, and the GTM400 trucks and sport utilities.

Much about the new Escalade is old-school: The V-8 under the hood, body-on-frame construction, leather lining the cabin. Make no mistake, however: With the 2025 model, Cadillac is making a new statement of ambition.

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