Cadillac Logo History, Meaning and Every Version Since 1902

The Cadillac logo: a crest from a French explorer’s coat of arms

Whether you call it the Cadillac logo, the Cadillac symbol or the Cadillac emblem, it is the same four-quarter shield, and the Cadillac logo meaning comes from heraldry rather than from cars. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Detroit in 1701, and the car company, set up there on August 22, 1902, took his name at the suggestion of Henry M. Leland.

Where the arms came from is less settled. Cadillac says its first emblem was inspired by the family crest of its namesake. Historians are more cautious: born Antoine Laumet, he built a noble identity for himself in New France, and Wikipedia says he took the arms, lightly altered, from the d’Esparbès de Lussan family. MotorTrend adds that the shield combines the symbols of two noble houses he may have had no real claim to. So the heraldry is genuine, but the family link is not proven.

Here is what each part of the crest was, and what is left of it on the Cadillac logo today:

Element	What it was	On today’s logo?
Crown (coronet)	A pearl-topped coronet above the shield on the early badges	No, removed in 2000
Merlettes	Small heraldic birds without feet or beaks, often called ducks	No, removed in 2000
Four-quarter shield	The core of the arms, filled with bands and blocks of color	Yes, as flat black and white blocks
Laurel wreath	Branches framing the crest from the 1960s or 1970s	No, dropped in 2014
V under the crest	A V-shaped wing added in the late 1940s	No, the de Ville’s V ended after 1984
Colors	Black, gold, red, silver or white, and blue	No, the current crest is black and white
Wordmark	The name in script on the first cars, later “Standard of the World” on the badge	Shown beside the crest in branding, not inside it

What does the Cadillac logo mean, then? According to MotorTrend, Cadillac has said the elements stand for purity, charity, virtue and knightly valor. The other meanings you will find for the crown, the pearls or the shield come from dealer blogs and have no official source. The crest also puts Cadillac among the car logos with shields.

Why were the ducks removed from the Cadillac logo?

Cadillac removed the ducks, properly called merlettes, in 2000, when it redrew the crest to look simpler and more modern for its new Art and Science design language. The crown went at the same time. Cadillac has never published a detailed reason, so “simplify and modernize” is the fullest answer on record.

The birds were never meant to be ducks. They are merlettes, a French heraldic bird shown with no feet and no beak, a close relative of the English martlet. On Cadillac badges they were drawn small and round-bodied, so most people read them as ducks, and the nickname stuck.

What you’ll see it called	Where you’ll see it	Accurate?
Ducks	Owner forums, dealer blogs, news headlines	Informal. It describes the look, not the heraldry
Swans	Some logo-history sites	No. The birds are not swans
Merlettes (martlets)	Heraldry references, MotorTrend	Yes, the correct term

In heraldry, merlettes are traditionally linked to knights and the Crusades. Popular accounts say a trio of them nods to the Holy Trinity, and dealer pages add readings such as a drive for excellence or courage. None of these is an official Cadillac meaning.

As for why they went: the 2000 crest had to match the sharp-edged Art and Science look of cars like the original CTS and the XLR. MotorTrend and dealer histories describe the change as removing old-world detail from the shield. The laurel wreath survived that cut and stayed on the Cadillac logo until 2014.

Cadillac logo history: every version since 1902

1. 1902–1904
2. 1905–1907
3. 1908–1913
4. 1920–1925
5. 1933–1940
6. 1941–1942
7. 1945
8. 1946–1955
9. 1952–1953
10. 1956–1962
11. 1963–1999
12. 1970–1972
13. 1995–1999
14. 2000–2013
15. 2014–2020
16. 2020–Present
17. 2021–Present

The Cadillac logo evolution runs from a script nameplate to a flat black-and-white crest. The coat of arms arrived in 1905, wings in the 1930s, a V in the late 1940s and a laurel wreath by the 1960s or 1970s. The merlettes left in 2000, the wreath in 2014 and color in 2021.

Dealer histories put the number of redesigns at nearly 30, and Cadillac counts the crest’s evolution from 1902. Different models often wore different badges in the same years, which is one reason sources disagree on dates. These are the Cadillac logos this page covers:

Period	Version	Main change
1902–1904	Script name	”Cadillac” in script, no crest
1905–1907	Coat of arms	Crowned shield with merlettes in a round badge
1908–1913	Standard of the World	Name above the crown, slogan below
1914–1915	Crown and wreath	Arms replaced by a crown in a leaf wreath (poorly documented)
1920–1925	Crown and tulip ring	Seven-point crown, lettering removed
1926–1931	Shield badge	Round frame replaced by an angular shield
1933–1940	Wings	Crest between two swept-back wings
1941–1942	Late pre-war badge	Tall chrome fin over a small crest
1943–1944	Wartime badge	No detailed description survives in our sources
1945	Victory badge	Crest with flags in front
1946–1955	V and crest	Stylized gold V under the crest
1952–1953	Golden Anniversary	Crest and V on a white medallion
1956–1962	Long, low and wide	Wide gold V, low crest, shrinking crown
1963–1999	Wreath and crest	Crowned crest in laurel branches (start year disputed)
1970–1972	No wings, no border	Crest alone
1995–1999	Script wordmark	Blue cursive name under the crest (one source)
2000–2013	Art and Science	Merlettes and crown removed, wreath kept
2014–2020	Wreathless crest	Wreath dropped, wider color crest
2020–present	Monochrome crest	Black and white, no color
2021–present	CADILLAC lockup	Crest above spaced capital letters

1902–1904: the original Cadillac logo, a script name

The first logo Cadillac put on a car was most likely just the name, written in a flowing script, with no crest. MotorTrend dates the script to 1902–1904. Other histories place the coat of arms on cars from 1902, and Cadillac’s own heritage timeline opens with an image labeled 1902–1905, so the question remains open.

1905–1907: the coat of arms arrives

From 1905 the full coat of arms is documented on Cadillacs, inside a round badge: a crowned four-quarter shield with merlettes, set in a decorative ring. The arms were registered as a trademark in 1906. Descriptions of the early badge mention a coronet studded with pearls and a ring of tulip-shaped flowers. The same year, Cadillac merged with Leland & Faulconer to form the Cadillac Motor Company.

1908–1913: “Standard of the World”

The badge gained a slogan after Cadillac won the 1908 Dewar Trophy, a British award, for showing that its parts were interchangeable. The round double-ring badge set CADILLAC above the crown and “Standard of the World” below the shield. Cadillac’s heritage timeline shows this style in a 1909 image. A second Dewar Trophy followed in 1912, for electric starting and lighting.

1914–1915: a crown and wreath without the arms

Logo histories describe a short-lived 1914 badge that dropped the shield for a large crown inside a leaf wreath, set between wing-like shapes. If that is accurate, it was the only 20th-century Cadillac emblem without the arms. The evidence is thin, and Cadillac’s heritage timeline does not include it.

1920–1925: a seven-point crown and a tulip ring

In the early 1920s, according to logo histories, the lettering disappeared from the badge. A seven-pointed crown sat over the shield, and a ring of tulip-shaped flowers, borrowed from the first emblem, framed it. Only aggregator sites describe this version in detail, and the image here is one such site’s drawing, not a photo of a period badge, which is why it looks so close to the 1905 design.

1926–1931: from a circle to a shield

In 1926 the round frame gave way to a larger, angular shield around the crest, so the badge itself took on the outline of the arms. The crest grew and its corners became sharper. Sources agree on the change but not on how long each variant lasted.

1933–1940: wings spread from the crest

Wings arrived in the early 1930s. The crest sat between two wide, swept-back wings, and the same winged design marked the V-8, V-12 and V-16 badges. Cadillac’s heritage timeline includes a 1933 winged badge. Sources also mention a triangular badge in the mid-1930s and a round one in 1937, but their dates conflict.

1941–1942: a tall chrome badge over the crest

The 1941 image on Cadillac’s heritage timeline looks nothing like the 1933 wings. Instead of spreading sideways, the chrome rises in a tall, upright fin, with a small crowned crest set at its base. Histories still count 1941–1942 as the last years of the winged era, but none of our sources explains the change.

1945: the Victory badge

For 1943–1944 Cadillac used a wartime badge that none of our sources describes in detail. For 1945 it adopted a Victory badge, which MotorTrend describes as the coat of arms with an Army flag and a Navy flag in front of it. Cadillac’s heritage timeline includes a 1945 image.

1946–1955: the V appears under the crest

After the war a stylized V appeared under the crest, dated to 1946 by MotorTrend and 1947 by other histories. The crest, still with its full crown, sat above a gold V, and the V grew wider over the following years. The V is often linked to the V8, which Cadillac introduced in 1915 as the first mass-produced V8, but Cadillac has not confirmed that link.

1952–1953: the Golden Anniversary badge

Cadillac marked its 50th year with a special badge. Its heritage timeline has a 1952 image, and logo histories describe a smaller crest and V on a white round medallion with Golden Anniversary lettering. The regular V-and-crest design ran through 1955.

1956–1962: long, low and wide

From the mid-1950s the badge stretched out: long, low and wide, with a flattened crest above a gold V. The crown kept shrinking, and histories say it had nearly disappeared by 1959. The crest was at its broadest in 1960, merged with the V. The image is a logo-history site’s drawing of a late-1950s badge, which still has a small crown. At that width the birds in the quarters became hard to make out.

1963–1999: the crest in a laurel wreath

This is the old Cadillac logo most people picture: a crowned four-quarter shield between crossed laurel branches, in gold, red, black and white. The shield was simplified into stripes with small birds. Its start date is disputed. Dealer and logo histories say 1963, while MotorTrend lists the laurels from 1973. Wikipedia adds that the crest-and-wreath was a Fleetwood and Eldorado emblem until the de Ville adopted it for 1985, after its last V emblem in 1984. Counting its 2000 update, the wreath framed the crest for roughly four decades, longer than any other Cadillac emblem.

1970–1972: no wings and no border

Cadillac’s heritage timeline includes a 1970 emblem, and MotorTrend describes the 1970–1972 badges as the crest alone, with no wings and no border. That is one reason some histories start the laurel wreath in 1973 rather than 1963: different models wore different badges at the same time.

1995–1999: a script wordmark under the crest

One logo aggregator shows a late-1990s lockup: the wreathed crest above a large blue “Cadillac” in cursive. No other source we checked confirms it. MotorTrend, separately, notes that from 1995 to 1999 the laurels sat inside a circular badge again.

2000–2013: the ducks go, the crest gets sharp

In 2000 Cadillac redrew the crest for its Art and Science design language. The merlettes and the crown were removed, and the shield became wider and sharper, built from crisp stripes and blocks. The laurel wreath stayed, and for many drivers this birdless, wreathed crest is the old Cadillac logo of the 2000s. Dealer histories compare the blocky grid of the quarters to the paintings of Piet Mondrian, though that is a comparison, not a documented source of the design.

2014–2020: the wreath is dropped

For 2014 Cadillac removed the laurel wreath. What remained was a wider, flat-topped crest, still in full color and without a crown. In branding, a cursive Cadillac name often sat beneath it. This was the last Cadillac logo drawn in color.

2020–present: the monochrome crest

The current crest keeps the 2014 outline but drops the color: a black border with black and white blocks, and no wreath or crown. It was first shown, illuminated, on the Lyriq electric show car in 2020 and became Cadillac’s main logo in 2021. The next section covers it in detail.

2021–present: the CADILLAC wordmark lockup

Next to the crest, Cadillac now writes its name in widely spaced capital letters, a clean sans-serif rather than the cursive used with the 2014 crest. Some logo sites say the wordmark also left the primary badge, so the crest appears alone on the cars. This lockup is the version in the PNG download at the top of this page.

The new Cadillac logo: monochrome since 2021

The new Cadillac logo is a flat, black-and-white version of the crest: the same wide shield as in 2014, with the colors replaced by black outlines and black and white blocks. It first appeared on the Lyriq electric show car in 2020 and became the brand’s main crest in late 2021.

Cadillac ties the design to its all-electric future. On EVs such as the Lyriq and the Celestiq, the crest lights up. When the new look spread across Cadillac’s websites and social accounts between late September and early October 2021, the brand called it a “bold and modern interpretation of the Cadillac crest.”

Version	Since	Where it’s used
Wreathless color crest	2014	Gas-powered models, according to reports at the 2021 rollout
Monochrome crest	2020 on the Lyriq show car, brand-wide in 2021	Electric models, websites and brand materials
Crest with CADILLAC wordmark	2021	Branding lockups, as in our PNG

At the 2021 rollout, reports said the color crest would stay on gas models such as the Escalade until each was replaced by an EV. Today finishes vary by model and trim, so check the specific car before assuming which crest it wears.

The monochrome crest is also the answer for anyone searching for the black Cadillac logo or the Cadillac logo in black and white: that is how the current version was drawn, not a special edition.

Cadillac logo colors and what they stand for

The traditional Cadillac logo uses five colors: black, gold, red, silver (sometimes shown as white) and blue. Their meanings are not official. Cadillac has never published a color key, and the dealer and magazine pages that explain the Cadillac emblem meaning color by color each give a slightly different list.

The most common readings, with the variants you will also see:

Color	Popular reading	Other readings
Gold	Riches, prosperity	None common
Red	Boldness	None common
Silver or white	Purity, virtue	Charity
Blue	Valor	Loyalty, knightly valor
Black	Wisdom	Sophistication, superiority

These readings echo the virtues Cadillac is quoted as naming for the crest as a whole, but no Cadillac source assigns them color by color. They also describe the older Cadillac logos only: the 2021 crest has no color at all.

Cadillac logo PNG and black-and-white versions

The PNG download at the top of this page is the current Cadillac logo: the monochrome crest with the CADILLAC wordmark below it, in black on a transparent background, at 1,600 × 654 pixels. Because the current logo is black and white by design, the same file also covers the black-and-white version.

A few practical notes:

• For a white Cadillac logo on a dark background, invert the black in any image editor. The shapes stay the same.
• If you need a Cadillac logo outline for a decal or stencil, start from the current crest: it is already drawn as solid black shapes on white, so it traces cleanly.
• Stock PNG sites often label the 2014 color crest or the 2000 wreath crest as the current logo. Compare any file with the timeline above before you use it.
• The timeline images on this page are 500-pixel previews for reference, not print-quality files.

The crest on the car: Cadillac badges and emblems

On the car, the Cadillac badge is the crest itself, so the Cadillac car logo and the Cadillac symbol in ads and on the website are the same design. It usually sits on the grille and the trunk lid or tailgate, and often on the wheel centers and steering wheel. Only the emblem’s size and finish change from model to model.

On electric models such as the Lyriq and Celestiq, the front crest is illuminated. Model names such as Escalade are separate lettering badges, not part of the crest.

Cadillac has belonged to General Motors since GM bought it on July 29, 1909, and is GM’s second-oldest surviving brand after Buick. It is one of the oldest American car brands still in business, and genuine replacement emblems come through Cadillac dealers.