Cadillac Isn't Building A Pickup Truck, But This Is The Next Best Thing
Henry Leland founded Cadillac in 1902, naming his company after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the former Louisiana territory governor who established the city of Detroit in 1701. Cadillac became the first automaker to build a car with an enclosed passenger cabin in 1910, and evolved into GM's premier brand as the auto industry flourished during the 20th Century. Cadillac made its mark producing luxurious cars like the Eldorado, Fleetwood, and Calais, but the Escalade completely redefined what an SUV could be with its introduction in 1999.
The original Escalade was simply a rebadged GMC Yukon, but the first-generation model is credited with saving Cadillac from extinction. When the second generation launched in 2002, Cadillac introduced the Escalade EXT, a pickup version that was years ahead of consumer demand for such a strange beast. The EXT died in 2013, never having eclipsed the 15,000 unit sales mark in a single year. The fifth generation of Cadillac's SUV appeared in 2021, and our review of the 2023 Escalade revealed it to be "as enjoyable for the driver as it is for its pampered passengers," while the 2023 Escalade-V model is as powerful as it is sophisticated.
There will be no official factory-issued pickup truck version of the latest Escalade, so you might need to Frankenstein your own Cadillac pickup like one shop did in 2021.
A Miami garage built a Silverado-Escalade mashup
In June of 2021, Dom's Garage in Miami, Florida shared a pair of photos to its Instagram account revealing a Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab with the grille, headlights, and daytime running lights from a 2021 Escalade grafted to its front end. The mesh grille and black trim indicate that the added pieces are from a Sport Trim version Escalade, and the Silverado appears to be a 2019-2021 model.
The door handles were painted black, and a Cadillac emblem was added to the tailgate. The taillights were given a dark tint, and the Escarado (our label) was outfitted with 24-inch custom alloy wheels. It is finished in Chevy's brilliant Cherry red tintcoat, but the paint might have been the easiest part of this one-off build.
The fenders of the Silverado and Escalade don't match up precisely, and a representative from Dom's Garage told GM Authority that the Silverado/Escalade combo took "a lot of fabrication" to piece together.