- by Christopher A. Olliff, Senior Editor
Names….we all have one, some of us have more than others. Good names, bad names, happy names, sad names….all objects and feelings, places and such also are blessed with a name. Famous people have things named after them, and couples are wont to wage battles over the naming of a child. I think we can all agree that 1) Names are important, and 2) Names tell a lot about who created them….I’ll bet that you have even given your car a name……
Car names can be numbers or actual names. If you are BMW or Mercedes, it’s quite simple:
- First letter or number is the class or series
- Second set of numbers denote engine size…so a Mercedes S430 is a large S class sedan with a 4.3 litre v8 engine.
Naming other cars is not so simple, and car companies spend thousands of dollars to name a car. This can be done through on-line surveys or elaborate brand attribute studies. There is, but one problem…..
Like cats chasing their tales, automotive marketing executives at GM and Ford were running in circles in the 1990s over brand management. I’ll spare you the lecture, but I will tell you that they basically wanted each car to be its own brand and therein lies the folly….
A car is not a brand, but a car company is. Marketing executives want us to believe that a car is a brand, as they want to get as much “mileage” as they can from the name. This can cause a lot of confusion at the basic level….is Ford the brand, or F150? This is not to say that a car name does not have equity in the brand that it is under…look at the Toyota Camry. For years there has been a Camry, and nothing else has been or ever will be named anything else…..which brings me now to the sad story at Ford…
Like a ship that has lost its way, Ford has had car naming issues of late. Their latest insurrection is the naming of the Ford Fivehundred the Taurus. Oh the Horror! Ask a marketing man at Ford, and he will tell you that the Taurus brand will be good for this vehicle, and that its “all new for 2008” (new front end and some interior trim bits) Ask me and I will say: RUBBISH! Just like Sadam Hussein, the Taurus is DEAD and Ford is the killer. That’s it, unless you want to have an entirely new car developed with the Taurus name in mind again….Don’t just slap an old, known name on a vehicle that you need more sales from next year….the public will know that it is a Fivehundred with the Taurus name…
Ford is not the only company suffering from this sickness. Just as they were sitting at the port waiting for their new owners, someone at Volkswagen decided to change the name of the Golf to the Rabbit! Yes….as many of you can remember the Rabbit….there is nothing like the feeling of car parts falling off during vehicle ownership! A door handle here, a loose armrest there…..The Rabbit was an OK vehicle, but not one to be known for its quality. If you know the current affairs at Volkswagen, the last thing they need as they attempt to re-build their quality reputation is fond memories of the Ghost of Rabbit Past…I know if, or when, I buy a new Golf….I will not allow it to have a Rabbit on the rear flanks…
What does this say about Ford and Volkswagen? With Ford, I think that they are in crisis mode and are looking at all of their options. At Volkswagen, I think it was a way for a new marketing manager to put her stamp on her new brand, and she has already left the company….
Names are important, and they can not be bantered about like silly jokes…….
But... who am I? and... What's in a name?
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