Check out the: 2015 Cadillac Escalade reaches higher

The once-unthinkable big Cadillac SUV has become indispensable.
Caddy unveils the 2015 Escalade in New York this evening, promising that it'll be in showrooms the first half next year. The General Motors luxury brand isn't providing price or fuel-economy information yet.
Escalade's spring launch gives GM's mechanically similar mainstream models, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Denali SUVs, a few months head start in the market. It's considered unlikely those would swipe any Escalade sales.
The styling is supposed to convey a bold, premium vehicle that's highly advanced even though its chassis is derived from GM's redesigned, 2014 full-size pickup trucks.
That body-on-frame construction -- instead of the more common, car-like unibody used by crossover SUVs -- remains common among big SUVs, though nearly is extinct among midsize and smaller models.
The interior, leathered and high-teched, is supposed to underline the first impression the outside conveys.
Cadillac says the 2015 provides more leg and head room than the predecessor. It will continue to be available in standard (think Tahoe) and long-wheelbase (think Suburban) sizes.

The brand points to the "new 6.2-liter V-8 engine that is more powerful and more efficient than previous models." It's rated 420 horsepower and 460 pounds-feet of torque, up nearly 5% in hp and 10% in torque.
Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book, says the new Escalade "leaves no doubt that the brand is staying on its course of providing a big, bold SUV to its luxury customers with no excuses. The vehicle is more powerful than ever, yet offers better fuel economy, and it is filled with electronic driver aids that should improve its already impressive safety record."
Escalade's important for its profits and its image. Big SUVs, because they're derived from pickups, cost less to build than other models but can be sold at high prices. Escalade's also an icon for some segments of pop culture, which helps steer the Cadillac brand away from the "fogey" label.
Mercedes-Benz models own 44.4% of luxury SUV sales this year, Autodata says. The two version of Escalade, standard size and long-wheelbase version called ESV, account for 12.3% of luxury SUV sales.
That there is an Escalade at all is remarkable.
In the 1990s, as the SUV craze was accelerating, the man then running GM's North American operations, dismissed the idea of a big Caddy SUV as out of character for the brand's refined image. "There'll never be" such a machine, Ron Zarella said then.
Asked later, after the first, 1999 Escalade was a reality, why the about-face, he was candid: "Frankly, there was just too much money on the table" that GM was missing by not having a big luxury SUV.
Now, Cadillac says, Escalade is "the brand's signature SUV."
And Zarella became another example of why, as the admonition goes, one should "never say never."
Expect Caddy to emphasize:
•The segment's only front-center side airbag. It's meant to protect the driver and front passenger from slamming into one another in a side crash. It's a way to provide more protection to the person furthest from the crash impact.
•Newly standard heated and cooled front seats and heating becoming standard on second-row bucket seats.
•Newly standard Magnetic Ride Control, a fast-reacting suspension system that helps tailor the chassis response to the road conditions and driving demands.
•Cut-and-sewn and wrapped interior trim, something that's all the rage among uplevel brands. The dashboard is covered with leather or fabric, instead of presenting a plastic finish made to look classy. The cut-sewn method has visible stitching where pieces join at edges. That's supposed to be a mark of authentic luxury. Replica, faux stitched panels already are springing up in economy cars, though, so the feature's bona fides might not last long.
•CUE becomes standard. It's the electronic command center, using an 8-inch center screen. The screen features "capacitive touch technology" and recognizes gestures. That means you can tap and swipe across it as you would a smartphone, Kindle or iPad.
It can respond even before you touch the screen, using proximity sensors to "activate common options and controls as the user's hand approaches," Cadillac says.
Part of the setup that's handy but sometimes overlooked: All types of favorites can be stored on the same pushbuttons used for radio station presets. There are dozens of buttons, displayed a few at a time. Button 1 might be XM Satellite Radio's Deep Tracks channel, while button 2 might be the navigation route to an important but infrequent destination, button 3, your boss' work phone, and so forth.
Production of the 2015 Escalade begins next spring at Arlington, Texas, in the same factory that builds Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon and Denali. It will be available with rear-wheel or four-wheel drive.
In addition to the standard, full-size model, Escalade continues offering the Suburban-size ESV. It will have a 14-in. longer wheelbase and be about 20 inches longer overall that the full-size Escalade.