The Escalade™ was Cadillac’s entry into the full size luxury SUV market. The Cadillac® team realized this was the fastest growing segment in the American car market. The Escalade first appeared in 1999 after only a 10 month development period. This second generation version was part of Cadillac’s new “Art & Science” design theme. The second generation of Escalades started in 2002 with very distinctive styling. It was based on a new truck chassis developed by GM. This all wheel drive version was powered by a Vortec 6.0 L V-8 engine.