What's in a Name?

Names of luxury cars sold in America, over the lastAcura, and came with their own model-line and engine
few decades, have made a slow but steady shiftdisplacement name scheme, spawning models such as
from actual names to an alphabet soup of acronymsthe G35, M45 and Q45.
and letter series/engine size codes.It wouldn't take long for the American luxury brands to
It doesn't really have a start point, becausefollow suit. A fresh new image to help American
manufacturers had been doing it since the beginning ofbuyers forget their stodgy old country-club images
automotive time. After all, Cadillac started out withwas just what was needed to get potential buyers in
names like "Model C" and "Series 452."the showrooms.
After World War II, the American automobile industryCadillac retired the legendary Eldorado and Fleetwood
came out with car after car with high style and ain favor of three-letter names such as the CTS, SRX
stylish name to match. The Lincoln Continental and theand XLR. There was some continuity, as the STS and
Cadillac Eldorado the are just a few examples. ThereDTS names had previously been used as trim level
were exceptions, notably the Chrysler 300 series.designations on the Seville and deVille, respectively.
European cars, however, especially the higher-endLincoln has also gone the way of the three-letter
European cars, were already a mix of codes andname with the MKX and MKZ. The MKZ actually
numbers, with early legends such as the Jaguar XKreplaced the resurrected Zephyr name, a moniker
120, BMW 2002 and the Mercedes-Benz 300SL.from Lincoln's storied past that came back...for just one
Ferraris came with both names and numberyear.
designations. Lamborghini was a notable exception,The shift to these types of model names has filtered
however.down to the common car now. Pontiac had toyed with
Thus the stage was set for a dramatic shift. Acroynmnumeric designations back in the 80's with their 1000
and coded names were found on high-line sports andand 6000, and have returned to the alphanumeric with
luxury cars, regular names were found on familythe new G5, G6 and G8. Scion's entire short existence
sedans. It wouldn't take long for American andhas been with the models xA, xB and tC. Â
Japanese car companies to try and freshen theirChevrolet's SSR roadster truck and the retro wagon
lineups' images with letter-and-number names.HHR also join the group.
One of the first to try it was Lexus. Toyota's LexusThe momentum is towards even more
was the second Japanese luxury brand createdletter-and-number names in the future. But all is not lost
(Honda's Acura was the first) to try and sell luxuryfor the automobile name, because just as luxury car
cars to Americans that normally wouldn't pay bignames are evolving, other cars are resurrecting the
money for a Honda or a Toyota. Lexus came withstoried names of the past. While the legendary Ford
models such as the ES250, LS400, GS300. MoreMustang and Chevrolet Corvette have survived the
would follow. These cars all had "normal" names indecades, others from the glory years of American
Japan and elsewhere, but when they were sold asmuscle are making comebacks. Pontiac sold a new
Lexus they shed those names in favor of a code:GTO from 2004-2006, and Dodge brought back the
letters for the model line, numbers designate engineCharger and Magnum. After a short hiatus the Ford
displacement. For example, the Toyota Altezza with aTaurus and Mercury Sable names are back, which
3-liter engine became the Lexus IS300 when shippedshows some recognition of the power names have in
to the United States.selling a vehicle. The Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet
Acura eventually dumped their Vigor and LegendCamaro are next up for resurrection. The Chrysler
names in favor of names like the CL and TL.300C straddles both trends, being both a numbered
Eventually even the Integra became the RSX when itcar and a returning name from one of Chrysler's
was redesigned (it's still the Honda Integra in Japan).all-time best cars.
Infiniti was Nissan's version answer to Lexus and