Known for unmitigated excess to some, the Cadillac Escalade embodies over-the-top transportation for oil barons and high-rolling hip-hop stars. The Detroit Bureau quotes an unknown senior Cadillac official saying, “We were finding that for everyone turned on by that image there were four (potential luxury buyers) who were [turned off].” Add in national gas prices flirting with $5 a gallon, and the Escalade seemed destined to join the flamboyant fins of the 1959 Eldorado. Funk Flex