1 best of : Cadillac’s future design highlighted in Escala concept

While not as outrageously styled as the previous Ciel and Elmiraj concept vehicles, the Cadillac Escala unveiled in Monterey, Calif., on Thursday will be the basis of future design for the brand, executives said.

“Cadillac has pushed bold, courageous design for quite some time, but it needs to evolve,” Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen said in an interview here, adding that the Escala “really does announce what future Cadillac design will be.”

In describing the new design ethos, de Nysschen said that the “hard and crisp wedge shape” of the brand’s Art & Science styling will become “more organic” and feature a “sporty muscularity.”

“We are revisiting the proportions of the car,” he said. “From the wheel height to body depth to the greenhouse to the overhangs, we have fixed them [in place], so regardless of [each vehicle’s] size, the proportions will be consistent.”

Certain existing design keystones, such as the signature vertical lighting, will be retained. But the upright nature of the current design will now include sweeping horizontal elements that “enhance the car’s visual mass and stretch the car optically to be low and wide,” de Nysschen said.

Escala exterior design chief Taki Karras described the new concept as “a departure from our other concepts,” referring to the Ciel and Elmiraj that had wowed fans of the brand. While those two concepts were about reconnecting with Cadillac’s heritage, the styling of the Escala looks to the future, Karras said.

A subtle but key indicator of Cadillac’s seriousness in this design direction is that the Escala was created in a production-design studio, while the Ciel and Elmiraj were done in a concept studio. Also, the Escala was placed atop GM’s new Omega platform that also underpins the CT6, whereas the two previous concepts were one-off rollers.

“We don’t have to bash people over the head with our design,” Karras said. “We are the pinnacle American brand, but we don’t have to do it in a way that’s garish or flamboyant. We can be sophisticated, refined, and modern.”