ESCALADE 1ST GENERATION (GMT400)
1999 – 2000suv
Total Revs
12
trending_uptrending
Global Rank
#123
Gen Rank
1 MORE REVS TO REACH #122
About the Escalade 1st Generation (GMT400)
The one that started it all was, honestly, a bit of a con. Take a GMC Yukon Denali, add Cadillac badges and a slightly different grille, charge $10,000 more. That was the plan. Cadillac had never built an SUV before. Lincoln's Navigator was eating their lunch in a segment they didn't even have a seat at. So in 1999, they did the fastest thing possible — slapped a crest on a truck and hoped nobody noticed. The 5.7 Vortec made 255 hp, which was adequate in the same way gas station coffee is adequate. It sold anyway. Because the badge on the hood mattered more than the platform underneath it. That lesson shaped everything that came after.