The new Escalade together with the various full size SUVs was originally planned to roll out by 2011 but the strategy of the brand was reviewed in 2009 due to the sky rocketing fuel prices. As a result of the study, the production of the Escalade and the Suburban under the Chevrolet brand was frozen.

The designers and automotive engineers are back again on the drawing board and is said to develop the Escalade and the rest of the gang in a matter of three years.

Rick Spina, global line exec from General Motors, disclosed the information recently. He also said that their full size trucks will still RWD truck platform and will not move to the Lambda platform used for large crossover vehicles.

The current version of the Cadillac Escalade is utilizing the GMT800 platform of GM which is also shared by other vehicles like the Yukon from GMC and the Tahoe from Chevrolet. The new generation of the Escalade will also have an EXT variant.

Espina also said that a new gen of full size SUVs are expected as well for other GM brands.

The decision to slash the Cadillac dealerships comes after studying the position of the brand in the market. Checking the luxury segment of the market, rivals like Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW are selling more units with fewer dealerships.

GM plans to adapt the strategy of their competition and increase the sales stats. Lexus dealers sold about 1158 cars on average in 2008 with only 226 franchises. Cadillac, on the other hand, has 1400 dealers but a store sold on average only 110 units.

The figures of Cadillac also have similar ratios compared to the dealerships of Mercedes and BMW. Top executives of the brand admit that Cadillac is out of sync in terms of retail in the luxury segment of the car industry.

Most likely, the car manufacturer will demand higher volume of sales from the large dealerships that they have. They believe that will be the key for the survival of the brand and the only way they can cut their operations cost.

The exact number of dealers that will be severed from the system has not been revealed yet. Basing on available industry figures, it seems that Cadillac will need to axe hundreds of dealers to match the performance figures of their rival foreign rivals.