Leading luxury auto brand Cadillac said it has unveiled its all-new 2015Escalade, a sophisticated luxury SUV designed to establish new benchmarks for hand-tailored craftsmanship and technology. The 2015 Cadillac Escalade will hit the showrooms across the UAE in the middle of 2014, said top officials at the launch of the new Cadillac model held at the Armani Hotel in Dubai. The product line will consist of the standard Escalade model, as well as the extended-length ESV edition, which offers a 355 mm wheelbase and approximately 508 mm more in overall length, maximizing space for third-row passengers and 60 per cent more cargo space behind the third-row seat. The fourth-generation Escalade is an entirely new design yet instantly recognizable. Much of the story of Cadillac’s redesigned flagship SUV is in the interior, where new levels of luxury combine with the latest technology. “Cadillac’s growth provides the ideal stage for the all-new Escalade to take a major leap forward,” remarked Bob Ferguson, the senior VP of Global Cadillac. “The 2015 Escalade is completely new and elevated in design and technology, inside and out. The clear objective is to once again assume the leadership position among luxury SUVs,” he noted. Since its introduction, Escalade has quickly became the standard among luxury SUVs with a formula of bold design, powerful capability and luxurious accommodation for up to eight occupants, said the top official. Three succeeding generations led luxury SUV customers to confer icon status on it. The 2015 Escalade takes design and technical elements from Cadillac’s product expansion to elevate the brand’s signature SUV, he added. Offered with 4WD drive train, Escalade features a new 6.2L V-8 engine that is more powerful and more efficient than previous models. Cadillac’s Magnetic Ride Control, the world’s fastest-reacting suspension system, is now standard and delivers precisely controlled driving performance, said the luxury brand in its statement. The exterior features crisp, new and more sophisticated surfaces, accented by dramatic light-emitting diode, or LED, lighting. The front seating area offers more than 44 mm more headroom and more than 101 mm of additional legroom compared to previous models while the second- and third-row seats fold flat for greater cargo versatility – and a segment-first hands-free liftgate includes programmable height settings, it stated. Escalade’s new technologies include safety features to help protect occupants before, during and after a collision, such as Front and Rear Automatic Braking, which relies on short-range radar technology and ultrasonic sensors to help the driver avoid front and rear low-speed collisions via a progression of alerts that extend to complete braking, if necessary, the statement added.   Eric Clough, director of design, Cadillac Interiors, said an exceptional level of craftsmanship has gone into the redesign of the 2015 Cadillac Escalade, and it all centers on the premium materials and extensive use of cut-and-sew live stitching – the way fine furniture is produced. “We designed Escalade with what we call the beauty of contrast. It offers a distinctive combination of bold, truck-like character, but also the refinement of the Cadillac form vocabulary and technology,” he added. The new Escalade’s exterior advances a 15-year legacy of design distinction with evolved character cues designed to add sophistication. Full LED lighting creates a bold new interpretation of Cadillac’s vertical light signature. “The new Escalade’s surfacing is sophisticated, and the sectioning of the body exudes more emotion to forge a new presence for Cadillac’s iconic SUV,” said Bob Boniface, design director, Cadillac Exteriors. “Our designers worked with the studio sculptors closer than ever to translate a two-dimensional vision into a three-dimensional representation that captures your attention from afar, and then pulls you in with beautiful details in the lamps, door handles and wheels,” he added. Source: TradeArabia