2015 Cadillac Escalade Teaser Photos Reveal New Badge, LED Lights; GM Hopes To Revitalize Its Luxury SUV That Has Seen Sales Falling

UPDATE Oct. 2, 2013:

GM releases another shot of the 2015 Cadillac Escalade:

Original story begins here:

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) is foregoing the usual routine of unveiling new models at auto shows and will present the 2015 Cadillac Escalade in New York on Oct. 7. On Tuesday it teased the world with two images of the newly designed version of its $68,000 luxury SUV famously driven by a particular fictional Jersey mob boss in the later seasons of “The Sopranos.”

GM hasn’t revealed much else, but it did add a few videos to the Cadillac YouTube channel depicting leathery hands stitching the leather of a steering wheel and molding a mock-up of a body panel. About all we really know right now is the Escalade is getting a new vehicle badge and that it has LED lights.

The new Escalade will target buyers of other premium SUVs like the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class and the Lincoln Navigator. The first Escalade debuted in 1998 and it hasn’t had any significant design updates since 2006. Sales have been flagging, too; they’re down 4.7 percent for the year through August. They were down 16.3 percent in 2012, to 12,615 units. The redesign was long overdue.

GM is promoting Cadillac as a world-class luxury brand, a category currently dominated by the Germans. Earlier this week GM said the Cadillac ATS luxury compact would be sold in China before the end of the year as part of this effort.

The 2015 Cadillac Escalade will be available sometime next spring.