Sorting out the automotive alphanumeric name-game
Quick: Is an RX a Lexus, or a Mercedes-Benz? It's a Lexus. What about an XG?* And is the "M"
an Acura, BMW, Lincoln, or Nissan? Well, that depends on whom you ask (as explained here, Acura squares off with
Lincoln, and here, BMW suing
Nissan).
Kim Seung-hyun of the JoongAng Daily tries to clear which alphanumeric name belongs
to which brand and how each company arrived at their respective nomenclature schemes. The Hyundai Grandeur L330, for
example, refers to its engine capacity of 3300 cubic centimeters. Peugeot use a three-digit naming scheme where the
first number indicates the vehicle's make like a compact, mid-sized sedan, etc., while the third number tells what
generation it is. Details on the naming scheme for BMW, Renault, and others can be found at the link. Bonus points to
anyone that can recall what Merkur's XR4Ti nameplate stands for.
For everyone else who is still confused, be sure to check out our own Chris Paukert's Alphanumeric Soup rant over at TheTruthAboutCars.com for a moment of clarity.
*The XG's, as in XG 30, XG 300, and XG 350, used to be Hyundai's flagship. The Azera has replaced
it.
[Sources: JoongAng Daily, TheTruthAboutCars.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
djbango 2:40PM (4/16/2006)
can't wait till some marketing company persuades autoexecs that names which people have emotional ties to are what consumers want...names like Mustang, Legend, or Continental. Everything that we suggest about Alphanumeric names no longer apply...by the way, make our check out to....
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karxprt 2:42PM (4/16/2006)
Respondents to recent VehicleVoice (http://www.vehiclevoice.com) and commenters on the VehicleVoice Blog (http://blog.vehiclevoice.com) agree that this wholesale move to alphanumeric naming is folly.
How can a brand with strong names like Lincoln abandon their heritage and go for alphabet soup? When Acura replaced the Legend name with the RL nomenclature, the car line collapsed and has never recovered.
Interesting, though, that Lincoln has defended its alphanumeric naming for everything but the Navigator. And it probably isn't coincidental that this duplicates Cadillac's naming strategy. Navigator = Escalade. Now, if they had been true to their colors, they would have renamed Navigator MKN this fall when it gets its major change.
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Ted K 2:44PM (4/16/2006)
Hah, Nissan should know a thing or two about stupid name lawsuits. Buncha jerks still trying to crap on Nissan Computer, what a joke.
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James 2:56PM (4/16/2006)
The letter-naming-game is becoming more of an issue as more manufacturers are moving to them. I often see people thinking a Z4 is a Nissan vehicle.
James
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pedantic 3:46PM (4/16/2006)
Shouldn't Mazda sue Toyota/Lexus for RX? They've had the RX-7 for a long time.
Also Peugeot's trademark on three digit model numbers with a zero in the middle is what caused the Porsche 901 to become the 911.
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w 4:43PM (4/16/2006)
when only a few companies use the alphanumeric naming scheme I can handle it (BMW, mercedes). I could even handle it if different companies used different letters, but when every company needs to have the letters R, X, M, S, and K in there names, it is really quite stupid. theres 26 letters int he alphabet, and I personally do not have a preference of one letter over another so I dont know why every automaker needs to use the same letters ( i know sometimes it designates an AWD or sports model but in every othercase i dont understand it).
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TJ 4:57PM (4/16/2006)
"XR4Ti" = "Experimental Racing 4cyl Turbocharged Injected(Fuel)"
Who dosen't know that?
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Dr. Woo 5:30PM (4/16/2006)
Audi's had it right for about a decade now...make them all "A" with a one-digit number indicating its class. Leave the other stuff to the trim level.
'course, they screwed it all up by introducing the Q7. Dummies.
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Michael Karesh 5:38PM (4/16/2006)
I believe that alphanumeric only work if you've got a handful of models and you use the same ones for at least a decade. In other words, I'm not sure they work for anyone anymore. BMW at most. Even Mercedes, where these things started, only has success with a few. Everyone knows, C, E, S, and SL. Beyond that recognition gets iffy.
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starlightmica 6:00PM (4/16/2006)
Heard someone thought "XR4Ti" was a word to be pronounced, rhyming with Maserati.
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the chad 6:51PM (4/16/2006)
I fully agree w/ Chris' rantings. A name for a car needs to convey its characteristics, and bear strong emotions. While I can forgive corps like MB and BMW who have always had these schemes, and are simple (3-5-7, etc.) Of course, like Chris said, even these are beginning to get muddied, and I'm sure the average customer gets lost. Also, Lexus' is obvios and easy to follow: two letters relating to the car and 3 numbers related to displacement:(i.e. LS430 is L-denoting place in line up, S for Sedan, and 430 for 4.3L engine. When they redesigned the RX300, it had a 3L engine, thus when they gave it a 3.3, the name change to RX330.
Now, as for Cadillac, that was just, well, stupid.
I hear that the sedans-CTS, STS, DTS are short for Catera Touring Sedan, Seville and Deville Touring Sedans, but I don't know about the SRX or XLR.
Just give it a real name already!
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Mike G 7:38PM (4/16/2006)
I agree that the alphanumeric names are trite, confusing and worst of all profoundly lacking in creativity. Hey Car Execs, give the cars strong evocative names that a marketing campaign can get behind and that people will remember easily. How about this, for example:
Cadillac CTS becomes Cadillac Valkyrie
Cadillac STS becomes Cadillac Conquistador
Cadillac DTS becomes Cadillac Kaiser
Cadillac SLR becomes Cadillac Rajah
Cadillac Escalade stays Escalade because people know and recognize it, since it's not called an EDS or whatever.
Isn't this common sense?
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doug 8:09PM (4/16/2006)
While the Germans have had numerical designations all along, even they are now bending the rules. The new 325 really has a 3.0, it just has less hp.
Other makers ditched real names for mumbojumbo because they didn't like that customers identified with the name of their car more than the brand - the Acura Legend comes to mind. Owners would say they had a Legend, not that they had an Acura. For some reason that's bad. For Cadillac and Lincoln, the alphanumerics make no particular sense, the brands are just trying to identify with the German brands by copying. the alphnumerics are really just names for them.
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Joshi 8:16PM (4/16/2006)
Valkyrie? Conquistador? Sorry, Mike, I think Cadillac is better off with the alphabetic names. :D
But I agree that many car companies bungle alphanumeric names. Lincoln is the most recent example. "MKX"? "MKS"? "MKZ"? Not only do those names sound similair to other cars, they don't roll off the tongue very well...at all. Why not just name the "X-over" the "Mark X," the sedan the "Mark S," and the Zephyr the "Mark Z"? Everybody knows that's what the "MK" stands for anyway. And they wouldn't have to worry about renaming the Mark LT (although I'm not sure if they are going to rename that, anyway, which is where it gets REALLY confusing. "MKLT"?)
Audi's is great - possibly the simplest of them all. The "TTS" and "TTRS" sound a bit awkward, but I'm not sure what else I'd name them. The Allroad doesn't have an alphanumeric designation, but that's better than being named "X-whatever," like everybody else names their crossovers.
I only take issue with BMW because they were going to split the 3-Series into the a 3-Series (sedans) and a 4-Series (coupes and convertibles), but they decided the 3-Series name was too valuable. Fair enough, but they already split the 5-Series into a 5-Series and a 6-Series in the same way! They even renamed the Z3 to match the 4-Series! So we have a 1-, 3-, 5-, 6-, and 7-Series, but no 2-Series or 4-Series (except the Z4). Ack.
I hate Pontiac's naming scheme most of all. Sure, it's simple (like Audi's), but Pontiac really shouldn't have a BMW/Audi-style numbering scheme, since it isn't really competitive with BMW or Audi. Bob Lutz has gone on record saying he has BMW as a goal for Pontiac, but Pontiac just isn't in BMW's market (one could argue they should have their sights on Mazda instead). The Pontiac G6 is not competitive with the Audi A6 or BMW 5-Series, so why name it like it is?
But the dishonor for worst alphanumeric name goes to Subaru for the B9 Tribeca. Styling issues aside, who would want to call their SUV "benign"?
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iQuack 10:26PM (4/16/2006)
Note that some of the most enduring and currently popular cars have names, not alpha numerics: Corolla, Camry, Civic, Accord, Explorer, Malibu, Impala, etc. Just about everybody knows what these vehicles are and most are known to be good choices.
When only a few cars had alpha numeric names related to engine size, it made some sense until engines were enlarged and the numbers either had to be changed or were inaccurate.
It's not a great idea to confuse buyers by making frequent name changes, especially if a car model has earned a good reputation.
Can anyone imagine Toyota changing the Camry name to ANYTHING else? Would Honda change the Accord or Civic name? Of course not. The cars whose names are dropped are usually the cars their manufacturers want buyers to forget.
Good cars deserve good names that will be around for a long time. Resorting to forgettable alpha numerics is 2 much B.S. IMO;-).
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Son of Dat 11:04PM (4/16/2006)
Why do they use numbers and letters? Because its a lot cheaper than spending a pile of cash on research for a new vehicle name.
That new MKX looks like it has braces
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Christian J 11:13PM (4/16/2006)
Good point with giving them real names. Audi and Mercedes should name their models after famous German generals, or personalities. The Germans love doing that with their ships. This would also be inline with their wartime contributions. Call it the Nazi Commemerative Line. A4=Audi Goebbels A6=Audi Borman A8=Audi Goering (the fattest) TT (pronounced 'Titty') could be Adolf Hitler. R8 could be Gestapo chief Himmler. Oh that sounds Cool. "I love the R8 Himmler"
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Mal Fuller 12:01AM (4/17/2006)
Sooner or later someone at one of these car companies will learn how to spell SEX.
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Paqza 1:24AM (4/17/2006)
Uh, Mal Fuller, check out the Chevy/Daewoo S3X
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Jackson 2:50AM (4/17/2006)
I'd like for someone to explain why Mercedes-Benz has blundered with its alphanumeric nameplates recently.
What exactly do R and B class stand for?
Also, the C230 Kompressor has seen so much changes in its engine size without being properly acknowledged. It first started as a 2.3L, understandable, but was changed to a 1.8L, but the name stayed as C230. Then it was lated change to a 2.5L 6 cylinder, and it stayed 230 still. sigh. If a car has a 1.8cc engine, then they should not be trying to sell it as a C230, and selling it as a C180, but i guess they can grab more for their money with a bigger number.
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