General Motors’ luxury brand Cadillac is beginning a full-on assault on brand identification in order to take back America’s hearts as a status symbol for opulence. In order to keep up with emerging markets, the automaker surprised the world with a teaser for its first fully electric SUV on Sunday, slating release for 2022.
Cadillac’s upcoming SUV is a look into the future direction of the automaker, in both offerings and design. Built on GM’s newest modular BEV3 electrified platform (which it only announced on Friday), the concept will be Detroit’s answer to Tesla’s Model X and Jaguar’s I-Pace, allowing Cadillac to lead the way into luxury electrification across the General’s brands.
The platform itself will make use of modular battery packs and drive units, allowing a myriad of combinations to be placed atop a single-minded chassis. GM says that because of this, its offerings can be offered in a configurable front-, rear-, and all-wheel drive. Additionally, battery output can be easily adapted to suit a customer’s needs, meaning that scaling for longer range or performance trims will be streamlined.
Instead of gracing us with a name for the rendering, Cadillac has instead chosen to withhold any identification of the model and its placing in the brand’s existing lineup. Judging by the size and proportions, however, it appears that the concept will fit somewhere between the Escalade and its all-new younger brother: the XT6.
The teasers of the SUV’s sleek and minimalist exterior don’t reveal the complete gamut of the concept’s offerings, however, it does show a firm dedication to Cadillac’s new design language. You may connect the long, flowing lines and bodacious body curves to the styling of the automaker’s Escala concept revealed at Pebble Beach late last year. It almost feels as if engineers took a hard look at the new Chevrolet Blazer and decided it was time to start thinking about a larger electric refresh to realign it with the Cadillac brand.
Due out in 2022, the SUV will be one of the first purely electric models released under the Cadillac moniker. The unnamed SUV likely marks the first of many announcements surrounding Cadillac’s electrified offerings, as the automaker has pledged to cascade a cadence of vehicle introductions every six months over the next two years.
GM Chief, Mary Barra, announced last week that Cadillac was going to not only become an industry leader in autonomous driving technologies (cue its work on semi-autonomous Super Cruise), but also fight for the reigns in the forefront of electrification. Oddly enough, the all-new XT6 doesn’t feature Super Cruise. In a push to become a pure electric brand, the automaker will begin its venture by capitalizing on the largest growing market: SUVs. Cadillac also hinted to be on the look for an updated Escalade and “upcoming performance sedan” but hasn’t released any further details on if they will be following in the concept’s footsteps.