If Ford wants to get the upper hand, can General Motors stay far behind? The launch of the Lincoln Navigator in 1998 by Ford set the alarm ringing for General Motors, and the company promptly made an attempt to counter the Ford onslaught with the Cadillac Escalade for the 1999 model year.

In the initial years, the Escalade bore a striking resemblance with vehicles like the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Yukon Denali. That didn't go over well among the buyers and automobile experts. General Motors took three long years to bring some sort of originality into the car design. The carmaker spruced up the Escalade by incorporating Cadillac's latest design theme for the 2002 model year.

In the 1999 model, this full-size luxury sport utility vehicle from General Motors featured 5.7-liter all-wheel drive VTEC 5700 V8 engine capable of generating 255 horsepower. During the 2002 model year, the vehicle was based on a 5.3-liter V8 engine with four-wheel drive. There was also an option for a 6.0-liter V8 engine. The 2005 edition came with even stronger power train specifications; a 6.0-liter engine that was phenomenal in producing 345 horsepower. Want to know what runs the sport utility vehicle in 2007? It's a dynamic 6.2-liter V8 pushrod engine capable of churning out 403 horsepower. Fuel economy is quite reasonable as well. The Escalade delivers 14 miles per gallon in the city and 19 miles per gallon on the highway.

Cadillac started losing its customer base during '90s. Therefore GM badly needed a car like the Escalade to make a comeback. Escalade with its "Art and Science" design philosophy helped GM to revive its dwindling sales. However, the Cadillac Escalade SUV has a bigger task ahead, to continue to throw up challenges to vehicles like the Lincoln Navigator, Mercedes-Benz GL-Class, Lexus LX series and Infiniti QX56.