QOTD: The Best Model Names of Them All?

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Last month we featured a Question of the Day about the worst model names ever glued onto the back of a vehicle. Everyone had fun trashing corny, little-known nameplates from here and abroad, as well as the various and oft-nonsensical letters applied to the back of many North American offerings today.

Today we flip this question and talk about the best model names. What’s your selection for the best vehicle names out there?

I’d like to think the best names evoke an emotional response, or at the very least a strong mental image. Hearing the name, one need not consult their phone for a Google Image search — they already know the vehicle in question from memory. Their brain automatically selects their preferred version, in the color of their choosing, and with wheels they like most. (I can’t be alone in doing this, several times a day.) Let’s try one: Testarossa.

What color was the one that instantly came to mind? I’m not sure why it’s always white for me, but there it is. Just like if someone says “Suburban,” I see the following resplendent and shiny vision of two-tone.

Names like these stood (and stand) the test of time, making them good candidates for best of the best. Whether via sheer longevity or a stand-out vehicle unique in its time, a great car and name combination sticks in the mind like glue. This rings true even if the name uses the maligned formula of jumbling letters and numbers. One more time — Ninety-Eight.

Which names mean the most to you, and qualify as great examples of drawing emotion or vivid imagery with just a single mention? A quick scan of a model name on a written page can transport us to a different time and place, or a world of unique design, metallic paint, and sweeping fenders. Give us your best.

[Images: General Motors, Hemmings, BangShift, eBay]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Frylock350 Frylock350 on Oct 12, 2017

    The best name has to be Denali. It's perfect and attached to the perfect vehicle(s). IMO the most clever name ever used on a vehicle is the Volkswagen Touareg. The Tuareg berbers are a formerly nomadic people that lived in the Sahara. What a fitting name for an SUV.

    • Dukeisduke Dukeisduke on Oct 12, 2017

      But then Volkswagen wants people to pronounce it "Tour-egg" instead of "Twah-regg", and even made a lame attempt at humor in the launch commercial, with people trying to pronounce the name (one guy even correctly pronounces "Twah-regg").

  • Twinsonic65 Twinsonic65 on Oct 30, 2017

    Chrysler - Newport, New Yorker, Town & Country, Fifth Avenue. Imperial Crown, LeBaron. Dodge Polara, Monaco, Royal Monaco, and Brougham. Plymouth - Fury I,II,III, Gran Coupe, Sport Fury, GT, Gran Fury. Pontiac Bonneville /Grandville. Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Regency Brougham. Cadillac Fleetwood Talisman.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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