December 12, 2025
TLDR: The Cadillac Escalade IQ takes MotorTrend’s SUV of the Year with 415 miles of real-world range, proving luxury EVs operate in a different market than the mass-market segment where dealer sentiment has hit historic lows.
Dealer EV sentiment sits at 24 out of 100, per Cox Automotive’s Q4 survey. That’s down from 33 just one quarter earlier, the lowest reading since Cox started tracking. Franchised dealers are increasingly skeptical about electric inventory at mainstream price points.
Meanwhile, MotorTrend just handed its SUV of the Year trophy to a $130,000 electric Cadillac.
The contrast tells you where EVs are working in America, and where they’re not.
The Luxury Exception
The Escalade IQ isn’t competing in the market that’s struggling. It’s competing against the Mercedes EQS SUV, the electric G-Class, and the Lucid Gravity. At this price point, range anxiety matters more than purchase price, and GM solved that problem with characteristic American excess: 415 miles in MotorTrend’s real-world testing, with 149 miles added in 15 minutes of DC fast charging.
MotorTrend’s judges called it “a distinctly American approach to modern luxury” that “answers the EV range questions in a uniquely American way while not compromising in any other.”
GM’s Quiet EV Progress
While the industry focuses on Tesla’s challenges and Ford’s Lightning production cuts, Cadillac has been building EV credibility. The Lyriq went from 122 units sold in 2022 to over 28,000 in 2024. Through Q3 2025, the brand has already moved 16,626 Lyriqs.
The ICE Escalade remains rock-solid at 41,737 units YTD, matching last year’s pace. GM isn’t cannibalizing its cash cow. It’s expanding the nameplate into a segment where buyers can afford to wait for charging infrastructure to catch up.
Why It Matters
The Escalade IQ win validates a strategy the mass market can’t easily replicate. At $130K, you can over-engineer the battery for range, over-spec the charging for speed, and over-build the interior for luxury. The math works because margins work.
At $35K, the calculus is different. The Equinox EV and its competitors are fighting over price-sensitive buyers who weigh resale value and charging access more heavily.
Chief engineer Al Oppenheiser, who also led the 2016 Camaro to Car of the Year, becomes the first engineer to win both COTY and SUVOTY. His approach: “We sit in a room with the team and talk about what kind of awards we want to win.”
For the Escalade IQ, that meant building an EV for buyers whose purchase decisions aren’t shaped by the same concerns dragging down mass-market sentiment.
