In 2019, Cadillac made one of its stranger decisions when it added new three-digit badges to the back of everything it built. Now, the company has decided that it really was silly after all, and so it is taking away its trunk-mount torque badges It's now the second automaker to do so. What Are We Torquing About? Cadillac The torque badge came to Cadillac back when we expected that everything would be electric by now. At the time, Cadillac's president said as much, with the justification that consumers would care more about actual vehicle output and not engine displacement. Not that displacement has been an indicator of power in quite some time, either.If that wasn't strange enough, the new badges weren't even American. Cadillac used the vehicle's engine/motor torque rating in Newton-meters, which is the metric measure versus pound-feet. Even then, the number was rounded to the nearest 50. For example, the Cadillac Escalade with its 460 lb-ft from a 6.2-liter V8 got a 600 badge, because that's 624 Nm. Yes, Cadillac would even round down.Turbocharged models got a "T" at the end of the number, and EVs got an E. V models got nothing, which we were originally told was because they made so much twist. But the Escalade IQ is the torquiest Caddy that ever torqued, and it got a great big 1000 badge on the back because it makes 785 lb-ft. Which is 1,064 Nm. Which is really closer to 1100, but maybe 1000 is a nice round number? If you're wholly confused right now, don't sweat it. Cadillac is done with all this. GM Authority reported Cadillac was getting rid of the badges, and Cadillac confirmed that to CarBuzz in the following statement:"Starting in model year 2027, all Cadillac vehicles will remove Nm badging, beginning with VISTIQ. This change is being made to help streamline the appearance on the rear of our vehicles." Our Take On 'Streamlined Appearance' CarBuzz/Jared Rosenholtz/ValnetCadillac calling this a streamlined solution seems a little weak to us. The torque badge actually helps balance out the name badge on the other side. If there's just an E4 there, it's going to look strange. Plus, dealers are going to tack on their giant logos anyway, which we're sure is the bane of automotive designers... along with states that require front license plates.We think the real reason is that nobody knows what the badges mean. We don't think the average person in the US or Canada, Cadillac's biggest markets, knows what a Newton-meter is. Even if they do, those markets are pound-feet first, so there isn't a reference point. In other words, it was confusing shoppers and sales staff got tired of trying to explain it. CarBuzz asked Cadillac about this, but the aforementioned statement was the extent of the response.Cadillac wasn't the first to try this idea, with Audi doing something similar in 2017. It started adding two-figure power output badges instead of engine displacement indicators.Audi's didn't relate directly to a rounded figure either, but instead each one covered a range. An A4 50 made 278hp to 304hp, and a 70 made above 529 hp, for example, and performance S and RS cars didn't get one. Even in the original kilowatts, the ranges didn't work out to round numbers, and Audi got rid of them in 2024.It might soon be time to hit up your Cadillac parts store and see if it is clearing out old stock. Then you can give your car as many zeroes on the back as you want.
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