The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Feb 25, 2011 | by LARRY PRINTZ
THERE WAS a time when the letters and numbers in a car name had some meaning.
Take the BMW 3 Series . It's smaller than the 5 Series , but larger than the 1 Series .
Older car names also made sense. The Oldsmobile 442 meant that the car had a four-barrel carburetor, four-speed manual transmission and dual exhaust. Similarly, the Pontiac GTO , a high-performance variant of the Ponitac LeMans , took its letters from the Italian term "Grand Turismo Omologato ," meaning that it was a production car certified for racing . It reality, it wasn't. But it made for great marketing.
At one time, many GM cars had numbers for names.
Consider Buick's 1935 line. There was the Buick Series 40, 50, 80 and 90 . That changed the following year, with the introduction of the Special (40), Century (60), Roadmaster (80) and Limited (90) . Sales jumped from 48,256 in 1935 to 157,623 in 1936 , proving that names gave a car an image that numbers couldn't.
But there's a catch.
Many people know how Chevrolet was mystified when its compact wasn't selling in Spanish-speaking countries. The reason? The car's name, "Nova ," translated as "doesn't go." More recently, Buick changed the name of the LaCrosse in Canada to the Allure , when it became apparent that LaCrosse was a naughty bit of French-Canadian slang . And let's not forget that Edsel is a name now synonymous with failure.
So it's easy to understand why auto executives find letter names so appealing. And some are easy to remember.
Cadillac's CTS most likely stands for Compact Touring Sedan, while the full-size DTS , once known as the DeVille , probably stands for Deville Touring Sedan, while the smaller STS could mean Seville Touring Sedan. Both the DTS and STS are about to be replaced by a model called the XTS . What the X stands for is anyone's guess.
Lincoln also has abandoned names for letters. Not only are the letter designations hard to keep straight, many sound alike. This adds to the confusion of buyers who don't know an MKX from an MKS , nor the MKT from MKZ .
Consider Acura, which traded some wonderful model names, like the Integra and Legend , for a random list of letters: RL, TL, TSX, MDX and RDX .
Recently, Hyundai and Kia have had great success. What's the secret? Aside from great styling, maybe, just maybe, part of it is that their products have real names. Consider the Hyundai Sonata, a car with lines that flow like the music it's named for. It's easy to remember, right?
Names evoke feelings. Letters evoke confusion. And it's getting worse.
The Ford Fiesta I recently drove had the letters "SFE " on the trunk lid. I suppose it could mean "Super Fuel Efficient." But it also could mean Stinky Flatulent Emissions. Who's to say what's correct?
When it comes to letter and number names, few car makers succeed with a TKO of a name like GTO or 442. Instead, the names seem like a bunch of - oh wait - I can't use those two letters in print.
Copyright 2011
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
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