In the late 1990s, General Motors (GM) was facing serious financial difficulties and decided to eliminate certain models and brands from its lineup. In 1996, the GM North American Strategy Board adopted a vehicle market and brand positioning assessment called BrandScape in order to address the issue. According to Smith, a member of the board, BrandScape was necessary to eliminate overlapping between divisions, optimize the use of GM’s resources, and hopefully create more unique and profitable products.

However, as BrandScape reduced GM’s offerings, it also narrowed the company’s overall vision. Luckily, the growing demand for SUVs in the American market provided an opportunity for Smith to create a vehicle that would save the struggling Cadillac brand. Smith, along with his colleague Terry Henline, started their work by using the GMC Yukon as a starting point for the new vehicle’s exterior and interior design. They made a few small changes, such as replacing the GMC logo on the front grille with the Cadillac wreath and crest, but the first Escalade was essentially just a rebranded version of the Yukon.