DETROIT — Cadillac is launching a performance variant of the Escalade, its top-selling nameplate, for the 2023 model year.
The luxury brand teased the Escalade V-Series in a video Thursday and confirmed the new variant on Friday.
Cadillac will share vehicle and performance specs when the SUV is formally revealed this spring.
The Escalade, redesigned for the 2021 model year, a Cadillac pillar for more than two decades and one of GM’s most profitable nameplates, is the top seller in the full-size luxury SUV segment.
It racked up U.S. sales of more than 40,000 in 2021, according to the Automotive News Data and Research Center. It was followed by the Mercedes-Benz GL/GLS, Land Rover Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender.
The V-series variant is an opportunity for Cadillac to drum up even more excitement for the Escalade franchise, said Paul Waatti, manager of industry analysis at AutoPacific.
The Escalade-V will likely be the most powerful three-row SUV when it launches, he said.
“Escalade buyers have been clamoring over a V-series performance model since it launched,” said Waatti. “We have yet to see a ceiling on how much consumers will spend on luxury SUVs.”
The highest-priced 2022 Escalade trim, Sport Platinum, starts at more than $103,000.
Cadillac has offered a V-Series option on the CT4 and CT5 sedans since 2020. The 2022 CT5 V-Series Blackwing became the most powerful vehicle Cadillac had ever built.
Cadillac declined to say whether the Escalade-V will get the Blackwing track-capable power and badging.