GM to recoup Cadillac’s lost mojo with Escalade

Even in its worst days, Cadillac could count on its big, swanky Escalade to deliver profits. It still does, but with Ford Motor Co’s Lincoln Navigator and a handful of European competitors taking a bite out of the large luxury SUV market, General Motors (GM) Co is making a push to turn the fifth-generation Escalade into a high-tech showcase. When it goes on sale in the third quarter, the new model will have the dual mission of recapturing buyers who defected to rivals and restoring some luster to the Cadillac brand.
While it retains the customary broad-shouldered look, the main changes are inside. GM has packed the cabin with two touchscreens, new electronics and even a small refrigerator. There’s also an advanced version of the Super Cruise driver-assist system to compete with Tesla Inc.
“This is a big step for Cadillac,“ GM President Mark Reuss said in an interview. “And it will be the first of many big steps.”
The idea, Reuss said, is to bring Cadillac back to its roots as GM’s showcase for new technology.
Next up will be a battery-powered Cadillac crossover SUV aimed at getting the brand in step with Tesla. It will be the latest of some 20 electric models that several GM brands will sell worldwide by 2023.
GM has a lot of work to do as it tries to reboot a brand in turnaround mode for at least 20 years.
While Cadillac sales have grown in China, the US is still a challenge. Deliveries there rose just 1% as most models lost ground in 2019, hampered in part by a 40-day labor strike. The CT4 and CT5 sedans are new but out of step with luxury consumers who crave sport utility vehicles. The small XT4 has done well but at the expense of the mid-size XT5, which dropped 18% last year, said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC Automotive.

Losing Market Share
The Escalade has had a tough time holding onto market share. Cadillac is still the leader of the large luxury SUV segment, at 25%, but that’s down from 32% in 2016. Since then, the aging model has battled a new Mercedes GLS and the Navigator. The Lincoln model’s sales almost doubled to just under 19,000 last year, while Escalade slipped under 36,000. Each lost sale costs tens of thousands of dollars in potential profit.
“The brand is struggling,” Schuster said. “The other SUVs haven’t done that well. The Escalade really is Cadillac’s identity.”
GM is trying to leapfrog its rivals on touchscreens. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV put a 12-inch screen in its Ram pickup in early 2018 and won plaudits for the truck’s posh interior. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra came out months later with a 7-inch screen.
The Escalade’s new screens stretch from the air vents to the left of the steering wheel to the centre of the dashboard and are curved to fit the contour of the cabin. The two with touch capability display infotainment options and the road ahead in augmented reality at twice the resolution of a 4K television.
For the seats and trim, GM designers created eight different combinations, including one with light brown leather and brandy-coloured wood streaked with gold. GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra picked that one out herself, said Michelle Killen, manager of color and trim for Cadillac. During development of the vehicle, designers called it “Mary’s Interior.”
“It’s so important because you spend so much time in the interior,” Killen said. “We want it to remind you of a favourite handbag or suit.”
Like the new Chevy Tahoe, the Escalade is bigger than the model it replaces and has 10 more inches of legroom in the third row of seats.
The refrigerator in the back is an idea GM got from customers in the Middle East, where prescriptions need to stay cool in the desert heat, said Tim Herrick, vice president for global product programmes.
The new Escalade will offer the latest version of GM’s Super Cruise, allowing it to change lanes like Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot driver-assist feature.
The challenge for GM will be adding all the new electronics — not to mention a smoother-riding independent rear suspension — without the quality problems that dropped Cadillac to the bottom of Consumer Reports’ most recent reliability survey. Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at CR, said customers like the Escalade, and Super Cruise is the top-ranked driver-assist system. But new models tend to have problems.
The good news, he said, is that Reuss paid CR a visit. “He was concerned about the reliability of Cadillac,” Fisher said in an interview. “He is focussed on getting reliability back. I expect we will see improvement.”