I got to be quasi-buddies with a salesman at the Caddy dealer in Cincy where we bought our 2014. I'd stop by when I was in for an oil change and we'd chat. He told me they sold every Escalade at list about as soon as they hit the floor. He had one in stock, on the showroom floor, listing at $95 K. He said it would be gone that day, mostly sold to women living in Indian Hill. I took a look at it, it certainly has "features" galore, but the thing is a Chevy Tahoe. Supposedly Caddy is working on a new one that will be unique, or more unique.
Cadillac makes almost all their profit on them, and the smaller SUVs (which are also Chevy clones). I had one of them as a loaner and did not like it at all. The wife liked sitting up higher, that is a big deal for the ladies apparently. You sit pretty high in a minivan also. So, longer term, Caddy is bringing out more SUVs and electric vehicles and cutting way down on sedans, which makes sense financially, other than the EVs which still don't make a profit.
Tesla is about to face some high end competition from folks like Volvo and Audi and others who can deliver on promises and turn out enough vehicles to fill the pipelines. I have thought of pricier EVs as being mostly choices for "early adopters" with money (and that $7500 tax credit). There are only so many of them around. We MIGHT end up with a surfeit of EVs at varying price points and few customers. The industry is pushing this hard right now.
The Escalade is the only Caddillac I like. That thing is gorgeous. I do see what you're saying in terms of it being a clone of the Tahoe though. Easy to see why they make huge profit of them- they sell that truck for $100k. I remember when it first came out in 2000 and a fully loaded one was 55k at most. Essentially doubled in price. And it's a choice ride for rappers, athletes, mobsters, drug dealers, and rich soccer moms.
As for Tesla, I just don't buy that Tesla is going to face any real competition from Volvo or Audi or Porsche or anyone really. Not any time soon. This is a myth that the Musk haters and Tesla bears have been perpetuating for 10 years straight now, and it wasn't true then and it isn't true now. It's like the boy who cried wolf. They keep saying it, but nothing happens. Why? Because: batteries.
Tesla is light years ahead of everyone there. Tesla pays far less for it's batteries than any of their competitors and their battery powered electric motors far out-perform every single one of their competitors. Tesla's batteries right now are getting 4.1 miles per KW/h. It's competitors are getting 2.3 miles per KW/h on a good day. Almost 2 to 1 in range. Tesla batteries are far superior. They are more powerful, have more range, are 50% lighter, use less cobalt and therefore are at least 25-30% cheaper than their competitors. Tesla's battery costs will only continue to drop year over year as they scale production at their Gigafacory battery plants. 10 years ago the batteries were costing Tesla $300 per kw/h, now it's down to $111 and will soon be below $100. Tesla is the largest producer of batteries in the fricken world. None of their competitors can come close to the performance and the cost. Not for years, not yet.
There were articles in the German press from not even a month or so ago, where Audi/Porsche engineers did tear downs of the Model 3 and they basically shit their pants in fear because they realized their EV platform sucked compared to Tesla and they were at least 3-5 years behind and they had to go back to the drawing board and re-design a whole bunch of shit to get their PPE platform even remotely close to what Tesla did with the model 3.
Tesla by the way- is breaking ground on their China factory in Shanghai this year. China is the largest auto market in the entire world. China is also the largest EV market in the world with about half of all EVs in the world. And China is also mandating that all new autos be EV by 2030. Tesla is opening up a battery and vehicle production factory in China which will just bring the costs of their batteries down even more and help them sell more cars in the largest auto and largest EV market in the entire world. Tesla's business in China by the way will be the first wholly foreign owned auto business in the history of China. GM/VW/Ford- they all had to give China a 50% or more taste in their businesses in China. China is pushing so hard for EV's, they relaxed the rules forcing a state owned joint venture- and are letting Tesla own the entire business 100% and helped Telsa secure $550 million in Chinese loans to build the factory.
Tesla's costs on the batteries keep going down and the performance keeps improving. They have a massive head start on their competitors and that China deal is HUGE for them. They can own China and keep all that money and tech for themselves. The biggest mistake so many American companies did was whore themselves out to China and let China not only take half the profits, but get all their tech. These short sighted morons were so hard on for a quick buck and to boost stock prices they signed their own death warrants by handing all of their tech over to the Chinese.