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The Cadillac logo consisting of the familiar crest surrounded by a laurel wreath has officially been put to rest following the introduction of the 2014 Cadillac ATS Coupe. The new ATS Coupe will be the first production spec Cadillac to roll off the assembly line wearing an officially revised badge that still contains the crest but abandons the laurel wreath. All Cadillac’s to follow will also bear the new design emblem, a move that puts an end to any speculation about whether the appearance of the new badge on the ATS Coupe was a temporary change or permanent official revision. First seen last summer on the Elmiraj concept/show car, the new logo is a permanent revision and it will be installed on every new Cadillac sold after mid-year of 2014.
Cadillac logo changes are not new however, as the automaker has changed its’ logo some 38 times during the company’s 112 year run, with the last revision occurring 15 years ago in 1999. The crest portion of the Caddy logo was originally borrowed from the coat of arms of the 18th-century explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the man who is credited with founding the city of Detroit in 1701. The latest changes to the Cadillac logo have resulted in a lower and wider crest that stands alone and is no longer surrounded by a laurel wreath. Recent Cadillac press releases tout the new logo as “”Sleek and streamlined,” and an official statement released by Cadillac’s executive design director, Andrew Smith, quoted him as saying “The crest remains a consistent symbol of Cadillac and our core values. This new crest matches the lower, longer, leaner mantra of our current car designs, and reflects the evolution of our art and science philosophy.” Smith also added that “Our goal was to evolve the emblem design to integrate with the new vehicle form while maintaining the core graphic elements that preserve its strong brand recognition, this resulted in retaining the iconic ‘crest’ shape and color palette with geometric grid from the original Cadillac family ‘coat of arms.’”
General Motors has made great progress since emerging from near bankruptcy and sales volumes have been rising, especially at Cadillac. The GM luxury brand posted a 38% growth in sales in 2013, a number that was good enough to push Cadillac into the fourth overall top slot of all luxury car brands worldwide for the year. Whether die-hard Cadillac fans like the revised stripped-down logo or not, it appears the new emblem is here to stay, at least for the time being anyway.
