As Cadillac begins its journey toward an all-electric lineup, the luxury marque has altered the way in which it designates the output of its models. As we reported previously, the numbered badge on the back of the vehicle refers to its torque output measured in Newton-meters. That much we already knew. But now, GM Authority has learned that electric Cadillac models will feature the ‘E4‘ nomenclature to designate all-wheel-drive (AWD) traction.
For the sake of disambiguation, the ‘E’ refers to the vehicle’s electric powertrain, while the ‘4’ designates AWD.
To refer to AWD as ‘4’ is an interesting direction for Cadillac, as the luxury marque currently identifies models with AWD with a simple ‘AWD’ badge. However, there is precedent with the E4 convention, as Cadillac designated AWD vehicles with a ‘4’ on the ATS and the third-generation CTS. These models were badged as ATS4 and CTS4, respectively. Around 2020, Cadillac swapped this nomenclature in favor of ‘AWD’.
Cadillac will bring this naming scheme back with the forthcoming Cadillac Lyriq AWD, with the all-electric crossover being badged as 700E4 in the Chinese market. As of now, this is the only model to feature this “new” nomenclature, since it’s currently the only electric Cadillac model on sale. Regardless, the ‘700’ is the torque rating in Nm (the Lyriq AWD is rated at 710 Nm / 524 pound-feet of torque) for the Chinese-market Lyriq AWD, while the ‘E’ is for ‘electric’ and the ‘4’ is for all-wheel-drive.
As a reminder, the three-digit badge reflects a vehicle’s torque output in Newton-meters, and is rounded to the nearest 50.
In explaining the decision to use Newton-meters, ex-Cadillac President Steve Carlisle was quoted as saying, “It’s metric, it’s universal, it’s global, we have to think about all the markets that we’re doing business in.”
Elsewhere in the lineup, the Cadillac CT4 with the turbocharged 2.7L L3B I4 gasoline engine produces 472 Nm of torque (350 pound-feet) of torque. As such, the sedan gets the 500T badge, where the “T” badge designates a turbocharged powerplant, regardless of engine configuration. High-performance and ultra-high-performance models simply wear the ‘V’ badge, with no torque output nomenclature. Meanwhile, the letter ‘D’ – like in 600D – indicates the presence of a diesel engine. If there is no ‘T’, ‘D’ or ‘E’ after the number, this means the vehicle is paired with a naturally aspirated internal combustion engine.
As far as the models themselves, vehicles like the Cadillac Lyriq are setting the standard for how Cadillac will name its models in the future. In fact, upcoming Cadillac electric vehicles will not carry alpha-numeric names to help distinguish the models from their ICE-powered variants. Meanwhile, vehicles that have alpha-numeric names, such as the XT4 or CT5, will retain their names during their respective lifecycles, while models like the Escalade will continue to use “real” names due to their legendary status.
The idea behind this naming strategy is to allow Cadillac to denote the performance output of a vehicle, regardless of whether it has an internal combustion engine or is purely electric. As of the time of this writing, 700E4 represents the highest-numerical badge in use on a Cadillac vehicle currently in production.
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Comments
saw a 1939 GM Cadillac Series 60 Special Sedan pic in sunny day maison entrance,,,, wow that was a cadillac
These people get paid for coming up with this?
Down the road, I’d like to (hopefully) get into a nice Buick or Cadillac sedan EV. If that time comes and if they have this stuff on the back, the first thing I do when I get home will be to remove every one of them except for the name and emblem. If the name is letters, they will come off as well.
Literally every automaker does this. Not sure why this is seemingly controversial for you.
I feel like you’re just looking for anything to be upset over.
I tend to agree with Dan B on this point. Luxury vehicles seem to be gravitating towards obscure references on the back. Strings like “Lyriq E4 350T” are opaque. How is “E4” any better than “AWD”? And why emblazon the back with newton-meters for torque? Just my 2 cents.
Ehdit0r: So then please share why you feel it’s a good thing. Tell me how this makes a Cadillac better? Tell me how anyone outside the most hardcore car people would know what it all means, and better yet explain why those same people would want that? If it’s yet one more way to try and make a Cadillac into an import and that’s what import buyers want, then let those buyers go to BMW or MB or whatever brand does it.
This is just another example of someone at GM coming up with something to try and be relevant and justify a paycheck. They should be fired.
On the fired:
Never gonna happen under Mary’s watch. No one(salaried mgt.) ever gets fired, -for any reason.
Robert: Well that should change. Decisions (not all) are being made that are inept and terrible. Those people need to be fired and let them go stick stupid stuff on the back of the imports.
Instead of GM going back and forth with alphanumerics, just simply call it “E-AWD”.
Any information on what the warranty on the new GM EV will look like, how long it
will last and what it will cover? I have the same interest in other brand EV’s and just
want to start comparing. And please, no snarky comments, loyalty for ICE,
or political comments. I’m only interested in EV info from people in the know.
From my dealer friend, it’ll be 3 year/36,000 miles on everything but the battery pack. The battery pack will go to 10 years/100,000 limited warranty. I can’t say that is exactly what it covers in warranty language for either side of the coverages, but that is what he told me when I inquired about a Lyriq.
E4? Sounds like a SPECIALIST brand to me.
My 2012 2nd generation CTS AWD is badged as a CTS4, so it’s not just 3rd generation models that got the badging.
Add SRX4