by Luxury vehicles have never been immune to depreciation, but the latest sale of a nearly new Cadillac Escalade IQ shows just how punishing the first year of ownership can be for high-end EVs. After covering just 13,000 miles, a 2025 Escalade IQ Sport 2 changed hands for $105,000 despite carrying a window sticker of more than $152,000 when new. That’s roughly $47,000 that just went up in smoke over what amounts to barely a year’s worth of driving.
Sold on Bring a Trailer on July 19, the Flare Metallic example attracted 24 bids before the hammer fell at $105,000. While that’s still a six-figure SUV, it’s approximately 31 percent below its original MSRP of $152,365. Put another way, the original buyer, if they paid MSRP, lost $3.64 for every mile that this SUV was on the road. That doesn’t account for electricity, insurance, or maintenance.
Review: Cadillac’s 2026 Escalade IQ Nails The Entrance, Then Spends A Week Undoing It
Photos BaT
The sale highlights a trend that’s become increasingly common across premium electric vehicles. Buyers willing to shop the used market can often save tens of thousands of dollars while getting a vehicle that’s barely broken in. This particular Escalade IQ wasn’t exactly a stripped-down example either. It featured Cadillac’s dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain producing up to 750 hp (559 kW) and 785 lb-ft (1,064 Nm) of torque in Velocity Max mode, fed by a massive 205-kWh battery pack.
It also came loaded with virtually every luxury feature buyers expect from Cadillac’s electric flagship. Highlights included Air Ride Adaptive Suspension, four-wheel steering, Super Cruise, Night Vision, a 36-speaker AKG Studio Reference sound system, heated and ventilated massaging front seats, heated second-row captain’s chairs, a panoramic glass roof, and the massive 55-inch curved dashboard display.
Photos BaT
The seller also fitted custom 24-inch Vivid Racing forged wheels, removed the rear badging, and added gloss-black vinyl accents to the grille surround and C-pillars, though the original appearance could easily be restored. Importantly, the Carfax was clean, showing no reported accidents or damage, although it did note at least one open recall.
Don’t get us wrong. $105,000 is a boatload of money for any vehicle. Nobody needs something this expensive. But having tested one in person, it’s a truly luxurious machine in most of the ways that matter. Letting someone else absorb the depreciation just makes the ownership experience sweeter.
