Cadillac will include a new three-digit badge on its vehicles reflecting torque output, thereby denoting the performance differences between its various models.

According to Car and Driver, Cadillac has introduced the new three-digit number badge to give customers

“a clear understanding of the power differences across the lineup.”

The three-digit badge will reflect a vehicle’s torque output in newton meters and rounded to the nearest 50. For example, the Cadillac XT6 will receive a ‘400’ badge, since its 3.6-liter V6 engine makes 373 newton meters of torque (276 pound-feet). Cadillac opted to use newton meters due to the metric system’s widespread use globally, president Steve Carlisle said. This makes the naming scheme more appropriate for use in China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and other crucial global markets for the luxury brand.

“It’s metric, it’s universal, it’s global, we have to think about all the markets that we’re doing business in,” he told CNET in Detroit Wednesday.

In addition, turbocharged models will receive a capital ‘T’ badge (ex. 350T) while the high-performance V-Series line of models will simply retain the ‘V’ badge and will feature no numbered badge (ex. CT5-V). Cadillac is also planning on keeping its other alphanumeric badges, like XT6 and XT4, for example, but said that real names like “Escalade” will continue for “special” models.

This naming strategy also allows Cadillac to denote the performance output of a vehicle whether it has an internal combustion engine or is purely electric.

Look for the new alphanumeric badges to appear on all Cadillacs from the 2020 model year onward. The Cadillac-supplied image seen here is of the 2020 Cadillac XT6 400 with the 3.6-liter engine and is the first vehicle we’ve seen with this badge.

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Source: Car and Driver, CNET