2005 Cadillac Escalade on 2040-cars

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Cadillac Elmiraj Concept slinks in Leno's Garage

Jay Leno's Garage has moved to Pebble Beach for the week. This time around, the affable comedian is taking a look at the Cadillac Elmiraj Concept that debuted during the Monterey car week, and is talking to General Motors vice president of global design, Ed Welburn.
There's plenty of reminiscing about what concept cars were like when these two were kids, before a fairly deep dive into the striking Elmiraj Concept itself. Welburn shares a few anecdotes about the design process behind the two-door concept, including how his designers changed his mind on the grille design.
After bringing up the Cimarron, Leno makes a solid point that the Elmiraj would be a solid production car that could even spawn a four-door variant. We couldn't agree more. Take a look below for the full video from Jay Leno's Garage.

Chevy's low-cost pedestrian avoidance to debut on 2016 Malibu

The mainstreaming of safety technologies that began on luxury vehicles will get a big boost from General Motors later this year. The General says it plans to offer 22 driver assistance systems across its product portfolio of 2016 models, starting with the redesigned Chevrolet Malibu - the one that we know will keep tabs on teenagers for the benefit of parents. Pedestrian avoidance will be another of its available options. Instead of kitting the sedan out with numerous and expensive radar arrays, the GM system uses the camera mounted next to the rearview mirror that is already used for the lane-keeping function. New software lets it detect pedestrians, and when it detects a potential collision with one, it can alert the driver and brake autonomously if the driver doesn't react. Eventually, engineers want to give it the ability to do the same with cyclists. Because it uses existing hardware updated with new code, GM says the application costs "a few hundred dollars." GM demonstrated the Front Pedestrian Braking preventing a crash with a dummy pedestrian at speeds up to 15 miles per hour. Automotive News reports that it will reduce the severity of impact up to 40 miles per hour, but "may not be of much use in collisions at higher speeds." That feature will also join the options list of the Cadillac CT6. The press release below has more on GM's driver tech soon on the way. Related Video: GM Paving Way to Smarter and Safer Driving at All-New Active Safety Test Area 22 crash-avoidance technologies offered on 2016 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models MILFORD, Mich. 2015-07-24 – Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac will offer 22 different active safety technologies across their 2016 model year U.S. lineups, ranging from driver alerts to those that automatically intervene and assist the driver in critical situations. Safety engineers will develop and test these and other safety technologies for products around the world at GM's new, 52-acre Active Safety Test Area at its Milford Proving Ground near Detroit. The $14 million facility officially opened Friday. "Our comprehensive safety strategy of helping customers before, during and after a crash continues," said Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Vehicle Safety.

Next Cadillac Escalade's interior spied for the first time

Update: Now that new spy photos of another large GM SUV have surfaced, we believe these shots show us a GMC Yukon interior, not a Cadillac Escalade. You can see the new spy shots here that depict a much more upscale vehicle interior compared to the fuzzy center stack shown in the shots of the Yukon. The new Cadillac Escalade has a lot of work to do in order to properly compete with Lincoln's wonderfully luxurious Navigator. These interior spy photos are our first look at what Cadillac is working with on the inside of its new luxury truck. We won't make final judgements, as this vehicle is still a prototype and subject to change. However, a few key bits are noticeable from the fuzzy photos. As expected, Cadillac's CUE infotainment and center stack is nowhere to be seen. Replacing it is a new interior design language, with a tablet-like screen that seems to rise out of the sloped stack on top. Below the screen is a strip of stitched leather and a couple prominently placed air vents. To the left of this area is what appears to be a push-button gear shifting system, replacing the column-mounted shifter currently in use. Below all that on a lower level of the center stack are all the climate controls, along with what look like physical buttons for what could be audio-related controls. Does it look as luxurious as the Lincoln? Not with all the coverings and shrouding it doesn't, which means we'll have to wait until we get the full picture. One thing that's clear is that the interior design is definitely going to be wildly different than the current Escalade. That center stack flows downward as one sloping piece into the high and bulky center console area. This design looks like it brings the center console further downward, and also uses a multi-tiered look. It's tough to read what's on the screen, but the software looks like the same stuff we got a preview of on the new Cadillac CT5 and CT4 sedans. As for the exterior shots, there's almost nothing that we haven't already gotten a taste of in previous spy photos. The independent rear suspension is a go, as are what appear to be massive headlight and LED DRL fixtures. If you look through the wrapping, you can make out how far up and down the lighting fixtures stretch ... or perhaps they're separate units altogether. It's tough to tell at this point.