President Donald Trump climbed into a heavily armored Cadillac Escalade presidential limo after arriving in Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum this morning. This may be the first time Trump has ridden in one of these SUVs, at least at such a high-profile event. The Escalade configuration limos also look to be a new addition to the U.S. Secret Service’s fleet of highly specialized cars and other vehicles.
Trump had initially left Washington, D.C., for Davos last night on board a VC-25A Air Force One jet, which had to turn around “out of an abundance of caution” due to a “minor electrical issue,” according to the White House. The President, as well as other officials and members of the press, ultimately flew to Zurich aboard a smaller C-32A aircraft. A U.S. Marine Corps VH-60N Marine One helicopter then took Trump from Zurich to Davos, where a motorcade, which included at least two Escalades, as well as several Chevy Suburban SUVs, was waiting.
From what can be seen in pictures from Davos, the Escalades have very heavy armoring, especially around the front windshield and doors. They also have an array of antennas at the rear of the roof, as well as one at the front right above the driver’s seat. This is not surprising given that Secret Service vehicles used in the presidential motorcade typically have extensive secure communications suites that can connect with the White House communications vehicle, better known as the Roadrunner.
Details about the Secret Service Escalade are otherwise limited, though it is safe to assume it has a host of additional defensive and other features we cannot readily see. It is also unclear whether Trump has made use of a Secret Service Escalade before elsewhere. Based on the limited motorcade imagery we have reviewed taken over the last few months, we have not seen it. TWZ has reached out to the Secret Service and the White House for more information.
The Secret Service has certainly shuttled Trump (and other Presidents and Vice Presidents) around in the past in up-armored Chevy Suburbans, including during previous trips to Davos. Since the early 2000s, Suburbans have been used increasingly interchangeably with more eye-catching custom-built presidential limousines for presidential movements. The latter vehicles, nicknamed “Beasts,” externally resemble stretched Cadillac sedans, but are actually now built on a modified truck chassis. The Secret Service has disclosed in the past that the newest version incorporates internal design elements taken directly from the Escalade line. You can read more about the Beasts here.
The video below shows President Trump’s motorcade, full of Chevy Suburbans, in Davos in 2018.
25.01.2018 – Donald Trump arriva al WEF di Davos
There is a question of how new the Escalades may actually be. Though elements of their bodies are outwardly different, underneath, Suburbans and Escalades have shared the same core platform for decades. The Secret Service has already been using armored Suburbans of the same generation as the Escalades seen in Davos to move Trump for some time.
So are the Escalades really just the Secret Service’s existing armored Suburban base configuration that we have seen in the past, but given an Escalade facelift, including a new front fascia and chrome accents, among other features? They could also be Escalades of this generation customized identically to their Suburban counterparts for the role. It’s unclear at this time, but adapting the already custom-armored Suburban configuration that currently carries the President with a more grand look certainly would make sense, especially for Trump. Also, the latest Escalade model based on the newest generation of Suburban is now itself over half a decade old, making use of an even older generation of Escalade like this to develop an entirely new limo configuration questionable.
The Chevy Suburban family has been the SUV of choice for the Secret Service, as well as many other U.S. government agencies, for decades now. GM has separately developed a factory-standard up-armored Suburban configuration for the U.S. State Department in recent years.
However, last March, the Secret Service shared that Director Sean Curran had “met with GM executives to discuss advancements that could benefit the next generation of armored SUVs” in a post on X.
An accompanying picture from Curran’s visit with GM, seen below, showed an image on display at the GM site featuring a newer generation Escalade flanked by seals of the office of the President of the United States. The presence of the seals pointed to a configuration intended for use as a presidential limo role.
Reuters also reported last March that GM had received a new contract from the Homeland Security Department and the Secret Service for the development of a next-generation presidential limousine. Though that story mentioned Director Curran’s trip to GM, it did not explicitly say what vehicle the new limo might be based on or when it might enter service.
“We are too far out to speak to any specific costs or dates,” a Secret Service spokesperson had told Reuters last year. “Our engineering, protective operations and technical security teams work for years to develop the state-of-the-art framework that is used to produce these highly advanced vehicles.”
It is also worth noting that the most recent version of the Beast made its public debut in 2018 during President Trump’s first term when he visited New York City for that year’s U.N. General Assembly meeting, as seen below. The Secret Service has said in the past that the custom vehicles have a typical life span of around eight years. With this timeline in mind, a new version could be on the cusp of entering service, if it hasn’t already.
(READ FULL DESCRIPTION) – PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP & MOTORCADE, USING BRAND NEW BEAST LIMOUSINES.
Regardless, the Secret Service has a clear imperative to keep its fleets as capable and otherwise up-to-date as possible to help in protecting the president, as well as other senior U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries. In the past, TWZ has highlighted the ever-growing threats posed by drones, including weaponized commercial types, as something the Secret Service also now has to factor into its vehicle requirements.
“Countering evolving threats require [sic] us to constantly explore new innovations and improvements to our armored fleet of protective vehicles,” the Secret Service wrote in the post on X last year regarding Director Curran’s meeting with GM.
If President Trump begins making more use of Secret Service Escalades, more details about those vehicles may begin to emerge.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com