Cadillac to start torque-labeling its cars in 2020

Starting next year, car manufacturer Cadillac will alter the way it assigns names to its vehicles. All cars will get a three-digit badge denoting the maximum torque of the engine installed, rounded to the nearest integer number divisible by 50 (e.g., 350, 400, or 450). The company also pointed out that this would not be the case with the high-performance V-series.

Steve Carlyle, CEO of the U.S. carmaker, said in an interview that the company introduces the new badge to give people a clearer idea of the performance of their cars, as well as their acceleration and towing capabilities. He stressed that the engine volume and horsepower numbers alone do not provide enough data for you to conclude how good a car really is.

Other manufacturers have been using similar naming conventions and badges, although those mainly deal with the engine power rather than torque. For instance, Jaguar Land Rover has introduced alphanumeric model numbers where the number corresponds to the engine horsepower rating, and the letter denotes the type of the engine used (D for Diesel, P for Petrol and E for Electric).

For another example, Audi uses numeric indexes to differentiate between various trims of its A8 model. The number “30” denotes cars capable of between 110 and 130 horsepower, “45” means 230 to 250 hp, and “70” stands for 540+ hp.

Photo: carscoops.com