New Cadillac

Last night I attended the 2015 Cadillac Escalade reveal party in NYC. It was a great event and Cadillac pulled out all the punches to create an exciting event. There was a slight rain outside but that didn’t damper any spirits at all. The minute I turned the corner and saw the complete Cadillac line up of cars waiting alongside its newest addition I knew we were in for a special evening.

To be honest I was amazed at how good both the ELR and the ATS looked outstanding with the little bit of rain running off it’s silver paint. I knew I wold see the Escalade uncovered after a while so I focused on taking a picture or two of the ELR and ATS.

I asked the security guard if I could take one home but he said he couldn’t let it out of his sights! It took all my might to go inside and see the new Escalade. The reason we were here in the first place.  

As the event was getting started they had a great band which fit the venue really well. I had never heard of the beautiful Ruby Amanfu before and I was spell bound by her voice. It was exactly what this event was needing as the people walked in and grabbed an appetizer and a drink. I will be buying her music on Itunes for sure.

The excitement was starting to build once the band performed about 7 or 8 songs. It was time for the big reveal. Once again Donald Trump and his beautiful wife Melania were in attendance and sitting up front with Ed Welburn who leads Cadillacs global design team. Really nice guy, we chatted for a few minutes after all the excitement died down. You may have seen Ed in the few Jay Leno videos I have shared over the years.

Bob Ferguson then took the stage and talked about Cadillac for a few minutes and the direction the cars are heading along with how Cadillac has reinvented itself across all their models over the last year or so. Here is his video just before he pulled out the new 2015 Escalade. Too see the reveal skip down to the next video.

The crowd was ready to see the newly designed 2015 Cadillac Escalade at this point. The room was buzzing with excitement. The big door on the stage opened and out came they new Escalade.

After Bob and a few guys from the design team were done talking they invited everyone to take a up close look at the new Escalade and that is when all heck broke loose. All of a sudden there were too many people on stage to get a good photo of the car but that is ok I had plenty of time for that after the crowd calmed down. I also noticed that they had a second Escalade parked to the left of the stage with a cover on it so I knew there would be two and that one would likely be less crowded.

First thing that you notice is the headlights. It gets your attention right away. It is a line of LEDS from the top of the hood almost all the way down to the ground. The front grille also stands out and says “Hello I am a Cadillac and I demand your attention.” For me it was how sleek the rear corner panel looked. It was sleek like an SRX in a way but different. Bob talked about the car being two inches lower and how it was easier to get in and out of. I have to agree after I got into the other Escalade later on. It was easy to get in and out of. When I sat in the front passenger seat a rather large person got in the back seat behind me and they had no trouble at all getting in or out at all.

I jumped at the chance to get behind the wheel when I wandered over to the next Escalade. It was funny as I was in the drivers seat the guy in charge of the interior got in the passenger seat and was telling me all about the hand stitching and the wood used in the interior. A reporter from Road & Track magazine got in the rear and did a quick interview with him as I was sitting there. I learned a lot during the interview, it then dawned on me that I should be doing this also. I contacted the people at Cadillac and they will have some people for me to interview over the next couple of months. Maybe even do a podcast since I haven’t done one of them in a while.

I will have more pictures over the next couple of days over on the Caddychat Flickr account.