Unlike the Chevrolet bowtie, which has lived through the past century virtually unchanged, Cadillac’s logo has gone through multiple iterations — nearly 40 in the brand’s 111-year history. Where at one point the emblem featured ducks and a crown, the logo been streamlined to a more modern-looking wreath and crest. It seems that it may be time once again for Caddy to change its logo, as the emblem will apparently lose its signature laurel wreath as a result — marking the first time in over a decade that the logo will see any changes.
According to Automotive News, the new emblem will most likely appear on the concept vehicle that Cadillac plans to show next month at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California. The redesigned badge would appear on production cars no earlier than the 2015 model year, but nothing seems to be set in stone at the moment.
“The wreath is seen as outdated and obsolete,” according to an Automotive News’ source, as the old-fashioned wreath seems to go against Cadillac’s cutting-edge image it has been building over the years. What’s more, a single-piece emblem is seen to provide designers more flexibility when positioning it on the vehicle. The arrival of a new logo would call for changes in marketing materials as well as the branding of dealerships, requiring new signage, among other items.
The new wreath-less logo will be a far departure from the original Cadillac emblem, which was inspired by the historic family coat of arms of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit. But seeing as Detroit is going through chapter 9 bankruptcy, maybe it’s time for Caddy to change again.
Comments
I think it’s a mistake. Though it does limit them on grille design, which is a pretty substantial and defining feature on Cadillacs, so if they have their reason, and not just change for change, then let’s see how it looks.
There have been times throughout Cadillac’s history when there was no wreath around the crest of the Emblem. I remember seeing hood ornaments of just the wreath with no crest. It seems to be a cyclical thing for Cadillac.
Bring back the merlettes.
Yes, I demand the merlettes come back.
Oh boy are we going to hear it now buy the diehards.
While they may be right I will with hold judgment till I see what they plan to do.
I do agree it is outdated and is a emblem that would be difficult to update. They have tried a lot with it the last couple years and it has not really changed in general appearance.
I will be interested to see if what they have cooked up will be something I like or I feel is weak. The cars themselves will be the key to the future but a strong symbol is one thing that is not easy to create. Olds tried it and I feel they failed. They too needed a new emblem but the new one was weak.
So lets all sit back and just see what they have planned and then pass an informed judgment. Who knows they may just surprise us.
I hardly ever notice the wreath; my eyes are drawn to the colours of the Cadillac emblem which make the shield that much more expressive.
The wreath is a virtually invisible. If the new shield or emblem is as vibrant and as detailed as it is now, I won’t miss the wreaths.
Personally, I like the wreath and would hate to see it go. However, I won’t pass final judgement until I see the new logo. Cadillacs design team has been doing a great job and I’d love to see what they do with the logo.
hmm this could be good for the brand but i think they need to show the public and get there opinion first.
on a side note weren’t they thinking of changing the buick emblem as well ?
I hate change, I’ll have to see the final product before I make up my mind, but getting rid of the wreath is just unnecessary.
Big mistake keep the crest and maybe get rid of the wreath
This artical is about keeping the crest and discarding the wreath. So whats the mistake?
Bring back the V under the crest instead of the wreath. Put the merlettes back but don’t lose the colors like Buick did.
They did away with the original Hood Ornament years ago and people were in a tizzy. But they got over it. Just as they did when they lost the running boards etc.
Some never take change well but generally they get over it.
I just hope they have a good solution to this issue.
Uh, no they don’t get over it…these things all add up over time. This is why many of Caddy’s customers are have been buying German. And remember one thing, I am a 80s kid who remembers my family having Caddies with the wreath and other features that made the brand great. When they started watering down their designs in the 90s and early 2000s, many of us who were now adults felt Caddy lost its soul and moved on to brands that exuded a higher and unfiltered luxury ethic…this is why Caddy has finally gotten it and changed to suit our tastes now. So don’t think little things like the Cadillac logo don’t mean anything in the larger scheme of things.
No matter what the emblem looks like it won’t keep people from buying the car! If that’s what people are worried about in terms of the car then caddy is in good shape
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w w w w t f
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I don’t care either way. As stated in the article Cadillac has never had a standard emblem anyway, just a variation of the same overall crest with some type of accenting flare.
That said, this is a good example of the percieved low quality of GM and american automakers overall. Too gimmicky, no tradition, nothing is sacred, and nothing is ever refined and nurtured to perfection. The attitude is always a schizophrenic pursuit of whats new, gimmicky, or even irrelevant.
This is not too big a deal with lower more common brands, but it’s a complete sign of incompetence for a luxury mark. Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, and others have had the same badge since inception. It’s no wonder they also found what they do best and have stuck with it; refining and perfecting as time goes by. They [generally] have no problem remaining relevent. GM, and by extension Cadillac; seems to always be in need of a reboot.
Now we hear there is an issue with the Crest and wreath? Really? Like I said; pure schizophrenia! How about instead of worrying about something NO ONE was complaining about, GM gets busy on building a true world class Sedan and Coupe for Cadillac. Then let it’s obvious “Standard of the World” superioity trickle down over the rest of the line up.
For a 111 year old company, Cadillac sure does operate like an upstart amatuer.
Excellent post. It’s like re-arranging the deck chairs.
I thought gm was past it’s tricks and gimics stage. There is nothing wrong with the logo so don’t fix it. Continue to build good cars and the perception will improve.
A good logo is one which is not easily recognizeable, but also easily reproducible.
In that sense, the Cadillac logo is awful. Could you, without looking at it, describe the composition of the shield in the logo, or even reproduce it with a pencil on a piece of paper?
Good logos are the star of Daimler-Benz, the lighting in the ring of Opel (the lightning is inherited from the Opel Blitz truck), see Wikipedia. Also, the four rings of Audi, the VW sign is still easily to reproduce.
That has got to be one of the silliest statements ever. the Cadillac logo draws from the seal of the founder of Detroit, the very same guy that Cadillac was named after. Tradition and meaning is what counts not how easily it is reproduced with a pencil Volkswagen’s VW doesn’t mean anything it’s just a circle with the letters v and w in it Mercedes Benz wasn’t looking for simplicity the tri star means that they conquer air land and sea
Now is everyone here understanding the WREATH is all that they are removing not the shield?
They are just getting the Cesar thing off the emblem. Many think they are removing the entire thing when they are not.
You mean the ring which is going around the logo? Is that really part of the logo?
I say take the wreath off, and put the ”V” just like on the seats. BUT keep the coulors on the crest…
What matters is not a logo but the cars wearing it. As it is right now, all Cadillacs are distinguishable from each other mainly by size instead of designs. It is actually very difficult to untrained eye to distinguish ATS from CTS from XTS and this is not good at all. Even if some of the Cadillacs do have good performance, they lack the visual distinction. Is GM being lazy or unimaginative to change this?
This approach may work for Porsche but considering the Cadillac typical clientele, it will be a kiss of death to any attempt by GM to change the status quo. When CTS became somewhat popular, it was cloned into two other models, instead of separating it, apparently this continues and it will take considerably more than simple emblem change to shed the stale reputation Cadillac still carries.
Show me the Merc, Lexus, BMW, Audi, etc that have defining styling differences on a model by model basis that separates each car in their line up. It is a brand design language, you can’t have a blender of designs.
If you cannot tell C Class from E Class, you are visually impaired, same goes for Lexus and other brands you mentioned. Cadillac is the only one I can think of that CLONES the same exact design through its entire line up. There is a difference between styling similarity and carbon copy (using different scale).
Nope…have you seen an Audi, or BMW and Lexus for that matter? More or less, same sausage different lengths until you get their higher end trims. This is a discussion the top men at Audi have been discussing lately because customers who buy an A6 do not want their car to be a larger A4….Cadillac is not the only one, because they are basically following The Germans, and lately the Japanese, in that respect…
Dude I understand the ats and xts look very similar however, it’s very easy to distinguish an ats from a cts, if you can’t tell them apart then I’m afraid that you sir might be blind what you are seeing is a similar design language not the exact same car only stretched to a different length with a different engine lineup
It is easy? I do not think at all, maybe it is easier when they are side by side due to size differences but otherwise, they look exactly the same. Visit Cadillac website, they have all three on the main page, they look exactly the same. I walk my dogs everyday by a Caddy dealer everyday, it is a clone city.
“but otherwise, they look exactly the same.”
Rear-quarter windows. The XTS has them fixed to the C pillar; the ATS has them attached to the rear door.
That, and the ATS is considerably smaller.
Brilliant. Thanks for validating my statement. Certainly obvious detail to AN UNTRAINED EYE, with doors closed. LOL
Well it can’t help you any. You’re not bothering with more obvious differnces like the distance ratio of the A pillar to the front wheels; so I can only assume you’re too lazy to even give more than a passing glance.
Serves you right for being so willfully ignorant.
I will respect this forum and not use inappropriate language but this is one of the dumbest statements I’ve seen in a while on here. Before I make a fool of you please tell me what makes BMW 3-5-7 very distinguishable to the “untrained” eye? Then clearly explain what is so extremely distinguishable about the Benz C-E-S to the “untrained” eye? Also the Audi 4-6-8.. Now back to Cadillac. I can tell its an XTS coming from a MILE away.. #1 the GRILLE is was bigger than on an ATS #2 the Stance is completely taller than an ATS. Also you can tell its one of any of these new Cadillacs from a mile away due to the vertical LED DRLs
Leave it alone; brands need a consistent and recognizable emblem…love the wreath on my Cadillac; elegance and style….
I think the wreath was removed in 1964 for a time. On second thought, I think they should remove the wreath. My POS 95 Seville STS (owned around 1999) had a cheap plastic grille with a cheap plastic wreath that broke off when a drying rag hooked it. I remember seeing about half the STS’s on the road with the same condition. Since they build cars with cheap plastic grilles with quality lower than a Happy Meal plastic toy, they should remove it. The cheap grille continued with the first gen CTS and the 03 RWD SRX.
I wonder if Holden will stop having the wreath on the Caprice. It was a Cadillac wreath imported and stuck on under the lion badge. Looked a bit tacky but did make it obvious it was a Statesman/Caprice not a Commodore.
Mercedes has had the same logo since 1909. No need to change for the sake of change. Bring back the Cadillac crown, merlettes and keep the wreath. The 60’s and 70’s logo had class, bring it back. The Cadillacs without their early logo looks like a Chevrolet.
I find the wreath is a little unnecessary for the logo. Having said that though I would like to see the Merlettes come back, it almost looks like an Alfa Romeo logo, which I like. Either way I think this is in the step in the right direction, to brand Cadillac as a true competitor to the Germans.
Yes look at the 60’s Cadillac and they used a V under the crest.
The crest today would work and look much more in tune with todays Arts and Science styling with the lines and edges it uses.
I suspect this may be were they will be going . Right now they have to fit a round emblem in a square grill. and where something like the crest and V could be used with the real shape of the grill.
Anyone who is upset about the wreath and it’s history needs to take the time to look and the wreath was not there half the time.
Google the history of the emblem and see how many years they used wings and a v in place of the wreath among other things.
I love the 1933 emblem with the art deco wings.
If you think the emblem is going to make or break this car your dead wrong