J
jamiebabineaux
I found this interesting. I would love to know how Volvo's are decoded.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/07/pf/autos/car_name_decoder/
Super-secret car name decoder story
You know what 'Mustang' means. How about 525i, TL, STS, ES300, 9-2X...
September 11, 2004: 12:35 PM EDT
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Remember when cars had names? Evocative,
sometimes powerful, sometimes way off the mark, like Mustang, New
Yorker, Bonneville and Capri. They meant something, or at least were
easy to remember.
Good old fashioned names are still with us, of course, and new ones --
like Cobalt and Freestyle -- are still being introduced. But many
luxury car companies have given up on naming their babies altogether,
preferring alpha-numeric nomenclature systems that take the guesswork
and focus groups out of deciding what to call a new model.
"It's only the luxury brands that have the luxury of using
alphanumerics," said Jim Singer, president of NameBase, a marketing
company that has helped create names for some Kia, Suzuki and Renault
cars. The implication: a flashy car can sell itself.
Acura, starting in 1995, went from using names like Integra and Vigor
for its cars to using combinations of two and three consonants like RL
and TSX.
"We would rather have more emphasis on the Acura brand," said Chris
Naughton, a company spokesman.
Singer is no fan of alphanumerics for car names.
"You're missing a huge opportunity to communicate more about the
vehicle," he said.
Is it fast? Is it rugged? Is it big and comfy? Who knows?
Still, while those serial-number car names may look like someone threw
a spoonful of chrome-plated alphabet soup at a car's deck-lid, they
really do have meaning. Yes, 530i really does have a story to tell.
These are general rules, by the way, and there are some exceptions.
BMW
BMW's numbering system is fairly simple. Numbers, usually odd numbers,
indicate the relative size and expense of cars. Everyone has heard of
BMW's 3-series, 5-series and 7 series cars. In Europe, BMW sells the
bargain-priced 1-series.
The next two digits indicate engine size. The BMW 325i has a 2.5 liter
engine. The BMW 330i has a 3.0 liter engine.
The letter i is a holdover from times when fuel injection was something
to brag about rather than something you would find in even
run-of-the-mill economy cars. In Europe, where BMW sells diesel-powered
cars, one can also see the 325d on the road.
Sometimes two letters appear after the number, as in the 325Ci and
325Xi. The first letter indicates a special type, as with the two-door
325Ci coupe or the all-wheel drive 325Xi.
Lexus
Let's take, for example, the Lexus LS 430. The second letter in any
Lexus car's name indicates the body style. An S is a sedan, an X is a
sport/utility vehicle and a C is a convertible. The 3-digit number is
based on the engine size in liters. So the LS 430 has a 4.3 liter
engine, and a GS 300 has a 3.0 liter engine.
The first letter in a Lexus name indicates the relative size and cost
of the car. The higher in the alphabet the letter is, the higher the
price. For some reason -- a Toyota spokesman wasn't sure why -- the R
SUVs are an exception to this particular rule. They are actually the
least expensive Lexus SUVs.
Saab
Every car Saab makes has a name that starts with the number 9.
The 9 simply means "this is not a military vehicle."
When the company was founded in the 1930s, Saab was an acronym for
Swedish Aircraft, Ab (the Swedish equivalent of Inc.) After World War
II, while Saab was still strictly an airplane company, it was decided
that all civilian projects should be given numbers starting with 9. The
Saab 90 and 91 were civilian aircraft.
Saab's next project was a car. Since it was not a military vehicle, the
car was given the number 92. Since the numbers always had to start with
9 it didn't take too long before Saab was into three-digit, then
four-digit, car names.
In 1998 came the car that would have been the Saab 90,000. At that
point, Saab went back to double digits, but the numbers were now
separated. In ordinary text, the numbers are written with a hyphen in
between, like this: 9-5. On the back of a Saab, the second digit is
offset in a slightly different typeface.
As with BMWs, the second number indicates the relative size and price
of the vehicle. If it's followed by an X, as with the 9-2X, that means
it has all-wheel drive.
Acura
Acura's two- and three-letter combinations mean absolutely nothing.
They're just completely made-up combinations of letters.
One exception that rule -- or lack of one -- predates Acura's overall
move to letters. When the Acura NSX sports car was in development in
the 1980s that name stood for New Sports Experimental.
Cadillac
Cadillac has dispensed with names like Seville and Deville, replacing
them with three-letter combinations like STS and DTS. For those with
fond memories of those old names, the first letter remains. The STS is
the modern descendant of the old Cadillac Seville and the DTS is the
rough equivalent of the Deville.
The C in CTS, Cadillac's entry-level model, has no particular meaning.
(It's Cadillac's naming scheme and they get to decide what things stand
for, so it doesn't stand for Catera, either.) The letters TS stand for
"touring sedan." For the performance version of the CTS, the company
added a V to create the CTS-V.
The XLR, a two-seat convertible, is the "luxury roadster" of the X
series.
Otherwise, an X on a Cadillac stands for "crossover." The RX in the
name of Cadillac's SRX SUV stands for "reconfigurable crossover."
Cadillac is in the process of doing away with the Escalade name on its
SUVs but hasn't quite gone all the way yet. For now, each Escalade
model has a 3-letter addendum on its name: EXV for the crossover
version and ESV for the performance version.
Mercedes
The letters in front of Mercedes car names, like E320, indicate the
"class." Sedans are C, for the least expensive, E or S, for the most
expensive. SUVs are M or the more exclusive G. Convertibles are, in
order of expense, the SLK, CLK and SL.
Like BMW, Mercedes scrapes the bottom of the alphabetical barrel in its
home continent selling the A-class which is not available here.
The three numbers indicate engine size. An E320 has a 3.2 liter engine,
for example.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/07/pf/autos/car_name_decoder/
Super-secret car name decoder story
You know what 'Mustang' means. How about 525i, TL, STS, ES300, 9-2X...
September 11, 2004: 12:35 PM EDT
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Remember when cars had names? Evocative,
sometimes powerful, sometimes way off the mark, like Mustang, New
Yorker, Bonneville and Capri. They meant something, or at least were
easy to remember.
Good old fashioned names are still with us, of course, and new ones --
like Cobalt and Freestyle -- are still being introduced. But many
luxury car companies have given up on naming their babies altogether,
preferring alpha-numeric nomenclature systems that take the guesswork
and focus groups out of deciding what to call a new model.
"It's only the luxury brands that have the luxury of using
alphanumerics," said Jim Singer, president of NameBase, a marketing
company that has helped create names for some Kia, Suzuki and Renault
cars. The implication: a flashy car can sell itself.
Acura, starting in 1995, went from using names like Integra and Vigor
for its cars to using combinations of two and three consonants like RL
and TSX.
"We would rather have more emphasis on the Acura brand," said Chris
Naughton, a company spokesman.
Singer is no fan of alphanumerics for car names.
"You're missing a huge opportunity to communicate more about the
vehicle," he said.
Is it fast? Is it rugged? Is it big and comfy? Who knows?
Still, while those serial-number car names may look like someone threw
a spoonful of chrome-plated alphabet soup at a car's deck-lid, they
really do have meaning. Yes, 530i really does have a story to tell.
These are general rules, by the way, and there are some exceptions.
BMW
BMW's numbering system is fairly simple. Numbers, usually odd numbers,
indicate the relative size and expense of cars. Everyone has heard of
BMW's 3-series, 5-series and 7 series cars. In Europe, BMW sells the
bargain-priced 1-series.
The next two digits indicate engine size. The BMW 325i has a 2.5 liter
engine. The BMW 330i has a 3.0 liter engine.
The letter i is a holdover from times when fuel injection was something
to brag about rather than something you would find in even
run-of-the-mill economy cars. In Europe, where BMW sells diesel-powered
cars, one can also see the 325d on the road.
Sometimes two letters appear after the number, as in the 325Ci and
325Xi. The first letter indicates a special type, as with the two-door
325Ci coupe or the all-wheel drive 325Xi.
Lexus
Let's take, for example, the Lexus LS 430. The second letter in any
Lexus car's name indicates the body style. An S is a sedan, an X is a
sport/utility vehicle and a C is a convertible. The 3-digit number is
based on the engine size in liters. So the LS 430 has a 4.3 liter
engine, and a GS 300 has a 3.0 liter engine.
The first letter in a Lexus name indicates the relative size and cost
of the car. The higher in the alphabet the letter is, the higher the
price. For some reason -- a Toyota spokesman wasn't sure why -- the R
SUVs are an exception to this particular rule. They are actually the
least expensive Lexus SUVs.
Saab
Every car Saab makes has a name that starts with the number 9.
The 9 simply means "this is not a military vehicle."
When the company was founded in the 1930s, Saab was an acronym for
Swedish Aircraft, Ab (the Swedish equivalent of Inc.) After World War
II, while Saab was still strictly an airplane company, it was decided
that all civilian projects should be given numbers starting with 9. The
Saab 90 and 91 were civilian aircraft.
Saab's next project was a car. Since it was not a military vehicle, the
car was given the number 92. Since the numbers always had to start with
9 it didn't take too long before Saab was into three-digit, then
four-digit, car names.
In 1998 came the car that would have been the Saab 90,000. At that
point, Saab went back to double digits, but the numbers were now
separated. In ordinary text, the numbers are written with a hyphen in
between, like this: 9-5. On the back of a Saab, the second digit is
offset in a slightly different typeface.
As with BMWs, the second number indicates the relative size and price
of the vehicle. If it's followed by an X, as with the 9-2X, that means
it has all-wheel drive.
Acura
Acura's two- and three-letter combinations mean absolutely nothing.
They're just completely made-up combinations of letters.
One exception that rule -- or lack of one -- predates Acura's overall
move to letters. When the Acura NSX sports car was in development in
the 1980s that name stood for New Sports Experimental.
Cadillac
Cadillac has dispensed with names like Seville and Deville, replacing
them with three-letter combinations like STS and DTS. For those with
fond memories of those old names, the first letter remains. The STS is
the modern descendant of the old Cadillac Seville and the DTS is the
rough equivalent of the Deville.
The C in CTS, Cadillac's entry-level model, has no particular meaning.
(It's Cadillac's naming scheme and they get to decide what things stand
for, so it doesn't stand for Catera, either.) The letters TS stand for
"touring sedan." For the performance version of the CTS, the company
added a V to create the CTS-V.
The XLR, a two-seat convertible, is the "luxury roadster" of the X
series.
Otherwise, an X on a Cadillac stands for "crossover." The RX in the
name of Cadillac's SRX SUV stands for "reconfigurable crossover."
Cadillac is in the process of doing away with the Escalade name on its
SUVs but hasn't quite gone all the way yet. For now, each Escalade
model has a 3-letter addendum on its name: EXV for the crossover
version and ESV for the performance version.
Mercedes
The letters in front of Mercedes car names, like E320, indicate the
"class." Sedans are C, for the least expensive, E or S, for the most
expensive. SUVs are M or the more exclusive G. Convertibles are, in
order of expense, the SLK, CLK and SL.
Like BMW, Mercedes scrapes the bottom of the alphabetical barrel in its
home continent selling the A-class which is not available here.
The three numbers indicate engine size. An E320 has a 3.2 liter engine,
for example.
