The presidential motorcade has a new star, and it is not the familiar slab-sided limousine that has long carried the nickname “Beast.” President Donald Trump is now riding in a hulking armored Cadillac Escalade SUV that looks more like a luxury tank than a family hauler, signaling a striking evolution in how the United States moves its commander in chief. The shift from traditional sedans to this towering SUV platform is about more than optics, it reflects changing security calculations, technology and even the politics of presidential image.
What has emerged on the streets and at high-profile summits is a vehicle that blends the mythos of The Beast with the presence of a full-size sport utility, wrapped in layers of armor and electronics that turn a Cadillac into a rolling fortress. I see this Escalade as the latest chapter in a decades long experiment in how far the presidency can push the limits of automotive engineering while still looking, at least from a distance, like something you might see in a dealership.
From The Beast to an Escalade era
For years, the symbol of presidential protection has been a bespoke limousine known simply as the Beast, a Cadillac based tank in disguise built for The US President by General Motors. That car, with its thick armor, specialized glass and heavily reinforced structure, set the template for a state vehicle that functions less like a limousine and more like a mobile bunker. Over successive generations, the Beast has grown heavier and more complex, with each redesign adding new layers of ballistic protection, communications gear and life support systems that are tightly guarded secrets.
What has changed now is not the underlying mission but the silhouette. After decades of relying on Chevrolet Suburbans as the workhorse SUVs around the presidential limo, the motorcade has begun to feature an Escalade based armored vehicle that appears to take the Beast concept and stretch it into SUV form. It is still unclear, according to reporting on the presidential state car, whether this new vehicle is meant to replace the existing Beast sedans outright or serve alongside them for specific duties such as travel in challenging terrain or at particular events, but its very presence signals that the Secret Service is willing to rethink the traditional limousine profile.
What we can actually see on the new SUV
The most revealing look at the new machine came in Davos, Switzerland, where the U.S. Secret Service began transporting Trump in what appeared to be newly delivered Cadillac SUVs. Photographs from the scene show Heavy armoring around the front windshields and side windows, with the glass noticeably thicker and more recessed than on a standard Escalade. The doors and pillars appear swollen by additional steel and composite plating, giving the SUV a slightly distorted, almost cartoonishly robust stance that betrays how much material has been added in the name of survival.
On the roof, Photographs capture arrays of antennas that hint at the communications and defensive systems packed inside, turning the SUV into a node in a much larger security network that includes the communications car known as the Roadrunner. A closer look at a pair of Secret Service Escalades shows how the designers have tried to keep the basic Cadillac styling cues intact while subtly enlarging and squaring off body panels to accommodate armor, a balancing act between blending in and projecting unmistakable authority.
Inside the rolling fortress
While the Secret Service will not detail the interior, the Escalade SUV almost certainly borrows heavily from the existing Beast playbook. The US President’s car, known as the Beast, has been described as a sophisticated mobile protection operation that functions like a bunker and costs $1.5 million per vehicle, with features that include 8 inch thick, 700 lb doors that seal like a bank vault. Another detailed look at the presidential limousine has highlighted how the cabin is isolated from the outside environment, with its own air supply, secure communications and medical equipment, including a fridge of presidential blood type, all of which are likely to migrate into any new SUV based platform.
In a rare on camera tour, Jay Leno explored a presidential Cadillac built by General Motors and emphasized just how far from a normal production car it really is, describing an enormous vehicle that shares little more than a badge with showroom models. A separate deep dive into what is happening inside the presidential limo underscored that The US president’s limousine, known as The US president’s “the beast,” is both extremely protected and surprisingly luxurious, a combination that the Escalade’s taller cabin and more flexible interior layout can only enhance, especially for longer trips where staff, security and the President must work in close quarters.
Why the Secret Service is betting on an Escalade
The decision to field an Escalade based armored SUV is not just a styling exercise, it reflects how the Secret Service thinks about threats and logistics in 2026. Earlier this year in Davos, Switzerland, the Secret Service began transporting Trump in Cadillac SUVs that appeared to be heavily modified Escalades, a move that immediately raised questions about whether the agency was testing a new platform in a controlled but high visibility environment. The vehicles appear to be modified Cadillac Escalades, but the agency did not confirm that, and Secret Service Director Sean Curran has kept the focus on the broader mission of adapting to evolving risks rather than the specifics of any one model.
There is also a practical dimension. The Secret Service in March posted a photo from a visit that included a Cadillac Escalade SUV outfitted with the presidential flag, signaling that this was not a one off experiment but part of a broader fleet strategy. After decades of Chevrolet Suburbans, the emergence of the Escalades in Trump’s motorcade suggests the agency sees advantages in a Cadillac branded SUV that can carry more equipment, offer better ingress and egress for a President under pressure, and visually align with the premium image that has long surrounded the presidential limousine.
The politics and symbolism of a taller Beast
Presidential vehicles are never just about safety, they are rolling symbols of power, technology and national identity. The Beast has been described in enthusiast circles as designed to protect the The Beast President with bulletproof glass, a steel body, blast proof doors and state of the art communications, all wrapped in a shape that still nods to classic American luxury sedans. Moving that formula onto an Escalade platform amplifies the visual message, the President now sits higher than surrounding traffic, in a body style that has become shorthand for American excess and capability, from suburban driveways to celebrity convoys.
For Trump, whose political brand has long intertwined with conspicuous displays of wealth and status, the arrival of a towering armored Jan Escalade fits neatly into that narrative, even if the underlying decisions are driven by the Secret Service rather than the Oval Office. The new SUV does not erase the legacy of the original Beast, which remains a core part of the presidential fleet, but it does suggest that the next generation of presidential transport will be more flexible, mixing sedans and SUVs as needed while keeping the same uncompromising approach to armor, communications and survivability that has defined the Jul Beast era.
More from Morning Overview