Upgraded Escalade a Hit With Repeat, Conquest Buyers

CHICAGO – The toughest Cadillac for consumers to get their hands on?

The fullsize Escalade SUV that was redesigned and upgraded for 2015 and went on sale this summer.

“It's hard to find one. Demand exceeds supply,” Todd Brown, Escalade/SRX marketing manager, says in an interview.

Have conservationists preaching the evils of big SUVs with V-8 engines lost their audience?

“People have calmed down and accepted the fact that certain buyers like a big SUV,” Brown says in explaining strong sales of the new model.

“Once you've owned a big luxury SUV it's hard to give up and you don’t want to change. Luxury SUV buyers are passionate for their vehicles. Escalade owners are very loyal and most of the trades on the new one are old Escalades.

“But we're also getting trades of every vehicle in the segment – Mercedes, Infiniti, and Lexus – some of them from people coming back to Escalade.”

The Escalade is important to Cadillac because it keeps owners in the family rather than migrate to a rival brand, Brown says. It also is important because “Escalade owners are our youngest and wealthiest Cadillac buyers, with the average age of the short-wheelbase Escalade buyer at 60 years, the long-wheelbase ESV buyer at only 53 years, and the average household income of the short-wheelbase (owner) is $185,000 while it's $270,000 for the long-wheelbase ESV.”

That translates into customers young enough to keep buying and wealthy enough to afford to keep buying.

The new ’15 Escalade’s highway fuel efficiency is rated 3 mpg (1.3 km/L) higher than the ’14 model. For 2015 there’s a new-generation 6.2L V-8 under the hood rated at 420 hp compared with 403 hp for the ’14 version it replaces.

Asked if Cadillac might consider diesel power for an even more significant mileage gain, Brown replies, ‟Nothing like that is planned for this new-generation Escalade and I can't see far enough into the future to answer if it's ever coming.”