Following the introduction of Bentley’s new super-luxury Bentayga SUV at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, executives at Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz are now licking their lips at plans of pushing their SUVs into the same segment.
Cadillac’s recently re-designed Escalade SUV has seen decent sales growth, and is easily the brand’s most measurable success of an offering at the moment. The Escalade currently peaks at around the $95,000 threshold with the ESV Premium, falling just outside of the Range Rover Autobiography, Bentayga, and G-Wagon price point. Cadillac executives are convinced the only way to go is up with their Escalade, via Automotive News.
With Cadillac failing to promise any solid plans for production of an upper-market SUV, Mercedes confidently chimed in with more substance to their tease.
In a report also from Automotive News, Mercedes-Benz is eyeing the segment of super-luxury SUVs, and what they’re finding is palpable growth. While there is no solid decision just yet Mercedes did tease that the Maybach brand is guaranteed growth in the near future, and a Bentayga rival would be nothing but a “natural fit” for the Mercedes-owned luxury brand.
All things considered, neither company has anything material in motion quite yet but given the position of each brand - with Mercedes steadily pushing upmarket and higher in price with offerings like the GL-Class and G-Wagons tipping $125,000 - it seems the German brand is better positioned to strike while the iron is hot.
Porsche is also just outside the $100k club with the 2015 GTS, and don’t forget about the upcoming SUV concepts from Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce. I also wouldn’t be be too surprised to see those earlier rumors of a larger BMW SUV morph into something a little more competitive with this growing super-luxury SUV market very very soon.
PHOTO CREDIT: ANDREW COLLINS / JALOPNIK