The President Now Has an Off-Road Cadillac Escalade

Not Your Ordinary Escalade

When Cadillac first released the Escalade in 1998, little did GM know that it would become one of its biggest hits. Turns out, many people wanted a Cadillac SUV, and its popularity exploded when the second-generation model came about in 2004. In some way, it’s the modern interpretation of the company’s land yachts from the ’60s and ’70s.

Today, Escalades are pretty much everywhere, even in markets where these aren’t officially sold. It’s huge and hugely desirable, and for those outside the U.S, it’s a big chunk of Americana on wheels. It’s even a presidential car in some countries. Oddly enough, it’s never been transported by the President of the United States, that is, until now.

Meet the Camp Package, and it’s the President’s ride for when The Beast couldn’t get to places with rougher terrain. It actually debuted during the 56th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, but the Secret Service is sharing a little more detail about it now.

The Beast’s Off-Roading Sibling

Or rather, should we say siblings? There are two of these presidential Cadillac SUVs, which comes as no surprise, as there are also a couple of backups for The Beast in service. Now, this isn’t the first presidential limo, as the Secret Service has used Suburbans to shuttle the President around when the going gets a little bumpy.

The Secret Service isn’t telling us how fortified the ‘Camp Package’ Escalades are, but we’re pretty sure it’s armored to the nines. If those reinforced window frames aren’t enough of a clue that it’s no ordinary conversion, then the beefed-up eight-lug wheels would be another indicator. Civilians can’t get heavy-duty versions of the Suburban, let alone other models based on it.

The Tricky Part

In case you haven’t noticed, the new SUVs resemble the previous-generation Escalade and not the current ones. It doesn’t even look like the pre-facelift versions of the present model. So, what gives? In the Secret Service’s own words, this is a ‘full-size sport utility vehicle with Cadillac branding.’

There’s the possibility that these are reskinned Suburbans rather than all-new vehicles. After all, exterior parts are easily swappable since they all ride on the same platform and share the same exterior hard points. The Government agency did say there are also Cadillac emblems inside the Camp Package vehicles, but those, too, could have been changed from Chevrolet badges.

Of course, we could ask the Secret Service, but we probably won’t see the light of day if we do find out the answer.