Cadillac doesn’t rule out using V8 engines for Australia

Cadillac’s When it returns to Australia, it will launch an all-electric brand, but will remain open to internal combustion engine vehicles.

When it returns later this year, it will be the only General Motors brand sold locally that does not have a V8-only lineup, focusing instead on bringing premium electric vehicles (EVs) to the local market.

However, while Lyrics Electric SUV is the only model confirmed to launch so far – and it will be battery-powered optics And Vistiq wait – Cadillac can still introduce V8-powered models like the flashy Escalade into Australian showrooms.

Speaking to Australian media, General Motors Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala said the V8 Escalade – which was launched with a facelift this week – was still likely to be sold in the domestic market.

“That thing [Escalade] is my child. I revealed it to us. [US] “We introduced the car to dealers about two years ago and the response we’ve seen in the last 24 hours is exactly the response we’ve gotten from them,” said Ms Bala, who was most recently Cadillac’s director of product planning and marketing before taking the top job in Australia.

“It’s a beautiful car, but for us it’s important to choose the right car for our market and our customer base and we have to take into account pricing and things like that.

“But I can tell you that we have shared that we are an electric-only brand, but that doesn’t mean we stop evaluating everything in the GM portfolio and constantly looking at what might be the best fit for us as our market evolves because there are so many options.“

Asked whether General Motors might or might not want the Escalade V8 in Australia, Ms Bala replied: “I think it’s the latter at the moment, in terms of priority.”

“I know it’s not a Cadillac, but obviously we’re going to launch the Yukon under the GMSV brand next year, because it’s a very similar vehicle to that brand.

“We can do whatever we want to do. Basically, what matters is that we see the best opportunity for the market and our customers at a certain point in time.

“There clearly needs to be a larger conversation from a GM perspective, as to what is the best fit for the entire company given vehicles like the Escalade and where we are globally.

“It’s not just a matter of what we want to do, we have to look at it from a company-wide perspective.”

The current generation Escalade has been in production in the United States since late 2020, but the facelifted model unveiled this week brings updates from the electric Escalade IQ, including a massive 55-inch touchscreen that stretches from pillar to pillar across the dashboard.

Due to poor fuel economy for the 3.0-liter six-cylinder turbodiesel engine available in the pre-facelift Escalade, it has been phased out in the US from 2025, and the three-row SUV is now V8-only at a time when emissions regulations are tightening in many markets.

In the ‘base’ Escalade, this means a 6.2-litre ‘L87’ V8 petrol engine, producing 313kW of power and 623Nm of torque, driving all four wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission.

The engine is now available in Australia, powering Chevrolet Silverado 1500 built on the same platform as the Escalade.

The high-performance Escalade-V gets a different 6.2-litre V8 – called the LT4 – which is turbocharged, producing 508kW of power and 885Nm of torque.

If Australia gets the Cadillac Escalade-V in the same tune as the models delivered in the US, it will be the most powerful GM vehicle sold locally, surpassing the 477kW Chevrolet Camaro ZL1475kW Corvette Z06 and HSV GTS-R W1 474kW.

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