Audi Is Re-Inventing Its Badging

Model numbers used to indicate a car’s engine displacement. For example, a BMW 328i had a 2.8-liter engine or a Mercedes S500 had a 5.0-liter V8, etc. Then when engine downsizing happened a new car couldn’t have a lower, or inferior, number than its predecessor. So automakers ended up with model numbers that represented basically nothing. It may or may not make a difference to consumers, but Audi recently announced that it’s changing it’s strategy with a new naming and /badging system for the 2018 model year.

AutoBlog reports that current model names like the A4 and Q5 will remain the same, but their engine designations like 2.0T and 3.0T will switch to a two-digit number that represents the car’s horsepower regardless of whether it runs on gasoline, diesel, electricity or a combination. The numbering starts at 30, which Audi explains represents engines making 110 to 131 horsepower. It’s not a consistent system, though. The range of power covered by each number isn’t consistent, and there are some gaps. And even though Audi may not currently have engines in the gap zones, it seems like expanding each group to fill the gaps would be a useful way to future-proof the system for new engines. Despite this, it’s nice Audi’s attempting to bring meaning to badging again. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

This week along with all the tech coming out of our four shops, we roll a MATCO Tools truck into the PowerNation studio for Katie. Well almost, it didn’t fit! So Katie’s guest this week Ben Gambrel, V.P. of Marketing, filled the studio with the latest line of MATCO Tool boxes called Revel.

Ben will also talk about some of the new technology that’s available, plus Josh Kessell will share what the typical day is like for a MATCO Tools franchise owner.