It's been a couple of months since the 2021 Cadillac Escalade broke cover, marking the start of a new generation of the luxury SUV. Compared to its predecessor, the 2021 Cadillac Escalade is more luxurious and more advanced than ever before. Given that it's loaded with new tech and improvements, we were expecting the new Escalade to have a significant price increase. Cadillac hasn't officially announced pricing for the 2021 Escalade yet, but we have learned from local dealers how much the redesigned luxury SUV will cost.
The entry-level Luxury trim will start at $76,195. Impressively, that's only $1,000 more than the base price of the outgoing 2020 Cadillac Escalade.
Moving up the range, the Sport trim level starts at $85,595, while the Premium Luxury trim starts at $85,695 when equipped with the Performance Package, which adds electronic limited-slip differential, magnetic ride control, and the trailering integration package.
For the 2021 model year, the range-topping Platinum trim is available as a package for the Premium Luxury and Sport trims. When equipped, the starting price for the Premium Luxury Platinum and Escalade Sport Platinum increases to $101,745. These prices don't include destination charges and only apply to the RWD and standard-length variants. Inevitably, these prices will increase as soon as you start adding options.
Even so, the 2021 Cadillac Escalade is still cheaper than we expected considering the number of upgrades you get. As standard, the new Escalade rides on 22-inch wheels, the exterior has been redesigned, and the interior has taken a quantum leap forward withan industry-first 38-inch curved OLED screen. However, it remains to be seen whether it will be offered as standard or come as an expensive optional extra.
Under the hood, the 2021 Cadillac Escalade is offered with a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 with 420 horsepower or a 3.0-liter turbo-diesel engine. Both engines are mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. Customer deliveries of the 2021 Cadillac Escalade are expected to start later this year but don't be surprised if the launch gets delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.