The very first 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V was recently sold at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas, fetching a cool $525,000 to benefit the Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design.
The Cadillac Escalade-V hasn’t entered production at the Arlington plant quite yet, meaning the VIN 001 SUV will be delivered to its new owner at a later date. Instead, a placeholder pre-production Escalade-V was present on the auction block. The buyer will select a preferred Cadillac dealer where their high-performance SUV will be delivered.
In addition to receiving the first-ever Escalade-V model to roll off the assembly line, the winning bidder will also get the opportunity to work alongside Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, a well-known athletic footwear designer and founder of Pensole Lewis College, to design an exclusive pair of sneakers that will be produced in a very limited capacity. The luxury marque also donated a track day at the Ron Fellows Spring Mountain driving school, as well as a hard copy of a digital rendering depicting the SUV.
“On behalf of everyone at the Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design, we’re thrilled to collaborate with Barrett-Jackson and Cadillac as the beneficiary for the auction of the first-ever V-series Escalade,” Dr. Edwards said in a statement. “Car enthusiasts know better than most that the art of design goes beyond the eyes and into the soul. From what we wear to what we drive, design is an expression of who we are, and we’re proud that the proceeds of this auction are an investment in the next generation of creative design.”
The 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V is powered by the luxury marque’s supercharged V8 engine (production code LT4), capable of a whopping 682 horsepower and 653 pound-feet of torque, making it the most powerful vehicle to ever be produced by the luxury marque. Cadillac’s 10-speed automatic transmission relays all that power to the pavement, connected to a full-time four-wheel-drive drivetrain for ultimate takeoff and traction.
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