Just as Cadillac embraces an all-new set of alphanumeric naming schemes, Lincoln is deciding that proper names may be better after all.
Ford President of the Americas Joe Hinrichs told reporters attending an industry breakfast hosted by Detroit law firm Dawda Mann that his company was “very excited about the Continental name and the attention it’s gotten,” Automotive News says. Lincoln had made it known during the Continental Concept’s appearance at the 2015 New York Auto Show this month that the production model — set to replace the outgoing MKS — would also be called Continental.
Hinrichs also had this to say about the MK nomenclature as a whole:
I get it. I know MKX and C and Z and T. I’ve studied them very well. I know them well, but we also understand the issue. It’s, frankly, where the auto industry — the premium industry — has gone, if you look at all the nameplates. But another way Lincoln could distinguish itself is to leverage its heritage. So I’ll leave it at that.
The MK scheme was originally thought of as a tribute to the Continental Mark series, though then-CEO Alan Mulally told the media at the time that he wasn’t enamored with the scheme; he would later come to terms with the change. Now that Lincoln is coming back under the tutelage of current CEO Mark Fields, however, one of the ways it aims to stand apart from other premium brands is to return to using names like Continental, Town Car et al.
Proper names may also help on the showroom floor: while sales of the MK models are down 7.2 percent thus far in 2015, sales of the Navigator — the sole bearer of a proper name in Lincoln’s lineup — have climbed 84 percent over the same period, though part of that could be attributed to lower prices at the pump fueling renewed overall demand for trucks and SUVs, as well.
[Photo credit: Lincoln]
For this reason alone, I hope Lincoln comes storming back and trounces Cadillac.
don’t be surprised.
Death to Alpha Numeric Cars! Join the proper car name JIHAD!
You beat me to it again – not surprising.
Agree 1000%.
Indeed.
Best idea I have heard in a long time. I have a hard time remembering any car with an alphanumeric name.
+1
I think logical alphanumerics work reasonably well, but mishmash letter abbreviations like Lincoln and Acura have been using are overly confusing. A3, A4, A6, Q5, etc. is pretty easy to understand, whereas it’s hard to tell how an RDX relates to an MDX or to a TLX or ILX. Similarly the Lincoln names don’t really seem to follow any discernible logic: MKX is a midsized CUV, but MKZ is a midsize sedan. MKC is a compact CUV, and MKT is a large CUV. The 3rd letter seems to be chosen at random for these vehicles, similarly to the first letter in the Acura monikers.
So I think Cadillac’s new naming system is an improvement over ATS/CTS/XTS/SRX/etc., but the big mistake I think they are making is not shifting the ATS and CTS and SRX over to that naming scheme with the release of the CT6 for 2016. If you want a new naming system, then shift to it completely instead of confusing customers. The fact that CTS and CT6 are different cars is particularly bizarre and confusing, while having CT2, CT4, and CT6 would at least show logical consistency. Instead they’d rather have a mixed and confusing lineup over the next half decade while they develop new models?
This.
Audi, BMW, and M-B (cars) are named in some sort of logical order. Acura, Infiniti, and Lincoln never figured it out. I’m torn on Lexus and Cadillac… Lexus isn’t in order but at least it’s consistent. Cadillac ATS,CTS,DTS,STS made sense, and CT# will work if done right, but Xs on cars and trucks messes it up. And what does SRX even mean?
I am willing to bet that a psychological /mnemonics study would find that most three-letter combinations are more difficult to remember than numbers or number/letter combinations.
More importantly, it’s probably even tougher to expect most people to remember a three-letter combination when it is part of a larger series of other three-letter combinations. It’s probably even harder still to accurately recall how those combinations are ranked. It’s one thing to have a “GTI” or “GTO” as part of a lineup, but quite another to expect someone to understand or remember how an MKT compares to an MKS.
AT&T performed these kinds of studies when they decided how many digits that a phone number should have. I would hope that the automakers did something similar.
derekson – – – –
I have personally always enjoyed cars with names that can provide some drama or create an association with a virtue that the maker may intend. Examples might be: Jaguar, Hellcat, Challenger, Charger, Mustang, Riviera, Gallardo, Impala, Raptor, Fiesta, and so on.
Less happy for me, but still preferable as names, are style or place related, such as Malibu, Continental, Sebring, Intrepid, Veyron, New Yorker, and so on.
Next down for me are simple alphanumerics that make sense, or used to. Examples are BMW 3-series and 5-series subgroups, such as 325i, 330i, 535iX; Mercedes C-lass, E-Calss, and S-class, with their subgroup designations; and the Porsche 911 menagerie with suffixes like “S”, “Turbo”, “GT3”, and so on.
But least desirable for me is the apparently random alphabet soup that looks like someone drew characters out of a cereal box, and that have little or no rhyme or reason to them. Examples might be the way the Cadillac letter-naming system has grown, or the Volvo designations, or the Honda soup.
===============
This – there are very few luxury vehicles where I could hear the alphabet soup names and go – oh that’s a….
3-series, 5 series- have been around forever, as well as C-class, E-Class and S-class. The Lexus ES and RX are also pretty much etched in my brain.
I couldn’t tell you what a Nissan Q anything is, Cadillac’s naming convention is a ball of stupidity, Acura just seems to spin a wheel with 26 letters and add DX or LX to the end of it now. Lincoln’s current *K* naming convention is also utterly confusing.
I read the reason they gave up on Mark (Roman Numeral Here) and Continental – but I disagree with the logic. Even as a kid growing up in the 70s/80s I saw the Mark VII and Mark VIII as very desirable – certainly not as an “old person” car with the headers and more HP and suspension and steering upgrades than its MN platform shared Thunderbird relative.
The only Lincoln product I associated heavily with the nearly dead set was the Continental when it moved over into FWD form, and the livery darling Town Car.
Yaaaaas.
I’m not sure what they will label as a Town Car though. The Conti has to be at the top, and likely everything under will be FWD and based on whatever replaces the Taurus and Fusion, so I don’t see a Town car at all in there.
Unless you wanna make the LWB version and call it the Continental Town Car*.
*I am in favor of this.
+1 from me, especially since the Town Car started as a top-of-the-line trim level for the Continental anyway.
We let’s be honest. The MKS is basically a “Town Car” with the exception of the AWD ecobost beast.
A replacement for the MKT on the new RWD Explorer platform wouldn’t be a horrible use for the name Town Car, even if it were a quasi-SUV/crossover. A LWB Continental with that moniker would be cool too though.
MkT = Aviator
So what becomes of the Flex? Will OAC really build a SUV platform? Why not have Chicago build it since the Taurus is dead?
Oakville may be screwed.
Derek broke the Lincoln strategy almost two years ago, Mark S. Before you know it, I’m going to start siding with DW on his theory of this site turning into a OEM handjob machine. After all, Lincoln is Coming Back™
I originally thought OAC was screwed but Ford just threw a ton of cash at it. The Edge/MKX is a 150k+ unit a year product. The Flex/MkT only add around 25K units/year. So either Ford thinks Edge/MKX volume is going to be great or they are replacing the Flex with something CD4 based.
The plan sounds like the Explorer will stay in Chicago and have the Lincoln built with it. The Continental would go to Flat Rock.
And yes, Derek had good Ford contacts. He was pretty much ahead of everything. Also, some of the other things he’s written about Ford, specifically the F150, seem to be happening. Other outlets dismissed his info, but he’ll be right in the end.
Also, get another plant contract in Louisville. I will meet you up for a beer. I was hoping you’d get some action on the new paint shop at KTP
I would love to have gotten that job. Oh well.
I was in Memphis last week, but I would have rather been in Louisville.
You need to get cozy with DURR. They seem to be the paint contractors as of late.
I should just try to get a job with DURR instead of keeping my ragtag band of alcoholic union masons together. Ha. I run a skeleton crew with almost zero overhead now. If I find a job I want, I can put the Bud Light bat signal in the sky and get the labor that’s needed.
They’re using the Town Car name for a livery package for the MKT now. I suspect they won’t reuse the name other than for fleet purposes.
Yesterday, I was picked up at JFK airport in a fairly new black Lincoln MKT. Along the lower side flank were the words “TOWN CAR” in widely spaced chrome letters. It seems that Lincoln will use that storied name for whatever passes as their of-the-moment livery vehicle. Consequently, I think using old names is a double-edged sword: For some they evoke good nostalgia, but those names have been so mis-used over the years that for others they bring back no impressive memories of greatness. Cadillac and Lincoln are taking different paths here and that’s a good thing. We’ll see which one works better. However, since Lincoln is not getting the same product development dollars as Cadillac, the names on the models may ultimately mean little. Cadillac seems truly committed to a higher level. I, for one, hope they make it.
Bravo! Can you imagine what the conversation between Donnie and “Lefty” would have been like in Donnie Brasco if they drove some alphanumeric gibberish?
The original:
So you like the DeVille? – Forget about it.
Yeah. I got the Fleetwood Brougham.
Is that right? With the velour? – Forget about it.
The modern remake:
So you like the CTS? Forget about it
Yeah. I got the ATS 2.0T
Is that right? with the premium vinyl upholstery? – Forget about it.
Bentley definitely won’t be impressed: http://blog.caranddriver.com/bentley-designer-slams-lincoln-continental-concept-on-facebook/
Virgil Exner Sr is not impressed with Bentley’s fit of pique. It’s possible that someone else did it first, but the Chrysler-Ghia show cars of the 1950s probably originated the big roundish grille. Bentley’s from that era still had classic upright grilles, something they kept until VW ownership.
As a matter of fact, I heard that internally Chrysler referred to the grille on the Chrysler 300 as the “Bentley grille” and I asked Ralph Gilles about that, since he’s seen Exner’s Chrysler Special in the Walter P. Chrysler Museum on the Auburn Hills campus many times. He agreed that the styling feature dates to Exner but more people recognize it from current Bentleys.
http://www.carsindepth.com/?p=3146
In the 1950s when Ford introduced the Continental Mk II, Bentley made a fuss about it because they were selling a Continental model by then. Ford pointed out that Lincoln had been using the Continental nameplate since the late 1930s, predating Bentley’s use.
Wasn’t the Bentley in question, the Flying Spur, a copy of the 1998 Rover 75?
I’m with the VW clowns on this one. Ford is an embarrassing operation.
’bout damn time.
I was gonna say the same thing!
Praise the House of Fields.
I would like the record to show that the TTAC comments section scooped Automotive News by three hours and twelve minutes.
(who’s counting though)
How so?
“bball40dtw
April 21st, 2015 at 11:32 am
Some of it is. The replacement for the MKS is the Continental. The replacement for the MkT is the Aviator.”
Ah.
Now we need all the names back. Cadillac too. Would it kill them to have an Eldorado or Deville?
Stop making sense.
I think it’s an even bigger travesty for Cadillac not to use their historic names. Since the early 60s, the only mainstay names (10+ years or so) with Lincoln are Conintental, Mark, TC, and Navigator. Cadillac has Seville, Deville, Eldorado, Escalade, Fleetwood, Calias, and a bunch of cool names they didn’t use like Ciel, Cien, Elmiraj, etc.
Cadillac’s use of Ciel and Elmiraj brings up the interesting fact that even the German companies that use alphanumerics on their production cars almost always give their concept cars actual names.
But BMW gives their concepts ridiculous names. They are very analytical German names:
Concept 7 Series ActiveHybrid
Active E
Track Trainer
Vision Future Luxury Concept
Vision ConnectedDrive
Here’s some other German highlights:
Mercedes-Benz ConceptFASCINATION
Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA
Mercedes-Benz BlueZERO
Silly Germans.
Audi does give concept cars names like Prolouge, Snook, Avantissimo, and Avus.
I realize I’m alone in this, but I have Zero attachment to any of the Cadillac names. Fleetwoods and Broughams and Eldorados… all giant floaty boat old-man-cars that I could never tell apart. They had some cool tech, and features that impressed, but wow there was no lust or even feigned interest until they started trying to rebuild themselves afer the 90’s. Now? I would totally buy a Cadillac over another me-too BMW or Audi.
Lincoln, on the other hand, I could always recognize a Mark :)
@bball40dtw If they’re resurrecting Aviator, they can probably bring Zephyr back as well.
I’d probably add Cosmopolitan to the list.
Sadly AMC ruined Premier(e) and Ford itself has kind of burnt the bridges on Capri.
And now, I will no longer refer to Mark Fields as MkFields.
Agreed. There’s still a lot of equity in names like Town Car, Continental, etc. I think even MKX, which most non-car people read as Mark Ten is still fairly equatable. But the sedans do need some help. A Town Car based on the Next Gen Taurus should replace the MKS.
I don’t know what the wheelbase on the Continental is, but it’d bet it’s 120″+. A shorter wheelbase version could be the Town Car. They could replace the MKS with two models.
I do think the MKX should named something else, and the MarkX should be the LWB Mustang everyone wants. God I want a Mark X.
Town Car could go back to be a trim of Continental.
If they put “Continental” and “Town Car” badging on the same vehicle, it will make Lincoln the anti-JdN Cadillac.
I can see Town Car being a trim on a couple vehicles.
All the more reason to do it.
While we’re at it, why not a 4 door variant of the Mustang based Lincoln in addition to the 2 door? If it’s stretched, why not offer a couple of extra doors as an option?
If they’re going to re-use names,the Lincoln blinged-out Mustang should be a Cougar
He should actually refer to him as a MKF if you follow rules.
Hooray!
May God bless the Lincoln Motor Company.
Why? They’re not contenders for anything but the scrap yard.
No more than the rest of Detroit and anything from a German marque.
Of note, the 1992 Towncar Executive I sold to a young Airman in 2008, still soldiers on in SC, as part of a fleet of four Towncars owned by his parents and brothers.
The last of the good ones?
The last of the good Town Cars is officially the 1996 Cartier. 1997 saw quite a bit of de-contenting, as they wound down that version in preparation for the 98 boat styling.
There are also some special editions based on the 96 Signature which make it desirable as well.
Cypress*
Spinnaker
Jack Nicklaus
Diamond Anniversary
*Special glorious paint color, sold in FL originally ONLY.
CoreyDL, I never saw those special editions you mentioned but I bet they were really something unique.
We could not afford anything but the heavily-discounted Executive edition but it served my wife long and it served her well.
And it still is someone’s pride and joy today, in SC.
They are! Lots of unique interior trim bits.
Cypress
http://www.carshow-photos.com/lincoln-town-cars-1990s/1996_Cypress_Signature_Edition_Page_Two.htm
Spinnaker**
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3891328/1995-lincoln-town-car/
Jack Nicklaus
http://www.carshow-photos.com/lincoln-town-cars-1990s/1997_Jack_Nicklaus_Signature_Edtiion_Lincoln_Town_Car_Equipment.htm
Diamond Anniversary++
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/851416/1996-lincoln-town-car/
**Spinnaker got real wood on the dash portion.
++ Mark VIII also got a Diamond Anniversary.
God bless fat panthers.
WOW, I didn’t know that.
But I do know that any and all Panthers, even the fat ones, are much in demand.
As they are retired from patrol duty in NM, there is a waiting list of people willing to buy them.
They used to paint them before releasing them to the public, now they don’t any more. So we see a number of White-over-Black former Highway Patrol Cruisers on the roads, with only their LE decals removed.
The last Lincoln I was impressed with was 90s Town Car. I looked and felt like real American luxury car, had a cool factor (in Russia at least). 90s American cars were still considered as true Americana – bigger and plushier and different than any European car. But Lexus started to gain traction and Merc S600 was on the top. Audi has reputation of a Government car, oligarchs were driven in S600s. S600 had a formidable presence on the road not like a caricature they called today S class.
A Lincoln Town Car themed after a golfer, I bet those did pretty well in Florida. Average buyer age was probably in the triple digits.
This is American. This is right.
Correct.
If they want to sell in China, they need to come up with some new vaguely-Engrish names like Gentleman Comfort, Town Ride, and Lucky Star Rodeo.
HAHAHA
Express Town Palace
Jade Continent
Gentle Travel
Gild Emperor
Silence Intrusion
Don’t forget to put your Double Coin, Sunny, or Top Brand tires on your Gentle Travel Coolbear HQE.
Triangle FTW!
I can’t believe I forgot terrible Triangle tires. Triangle FTW indeed.
Me Run You Long Time.
That’s lacist.
The L/R thing is Japanese, not Chinese or Korean.
There are many distinct kinds of engrish, and I hear thew enough that mixing them up is like confusing a Texas accent with a Canadian accent to me, these days… It wasn’t always like that, but once you know you can never go back!
Native Chinise speakers often drop verb tense and plurrel suffixes, because Mandarin handles these things very differently. They often mute and extend their R’s a bit (without confusing them with L’s), which sounds a bit odd until you learn that most of the English teachers in China were actually from England at one time.
Anyway, sorry to ruin a good thread with real information, but the humor gets to be less funny when there at the end, whet you know more about Asian languages and cultures.
The L/R thing is equally as Korean as it is Japanese.
Koreans use one character for the sounds of L and R. To them there is absolutely no difference. The L/R character is a very square “2.”
https://lh4.ggpht.com/-aGsII-_UR5tsm4L0mtMcfkU3BX_U1kYxr1HfUybwfcrZsWe4n65h6Yc5W4nPs9CKiM=h900
That photo says “Han-gul,” which is the word for the “Korean language.” You can see the L/R at the end.
Ford is awesome.
Someone in Detroit has some brains. If this magically turns product and marketing around, I hope this hits DeNysschen’s smug attitude in his NYC office in the face.
Since I’m value-conscious and they will probably not give us a Taurus as the step-down, I guess I had better start saving my quarters.
It was a Europe fail to begin with. A Navi, Conti or Mark have their own persona. Nick names further it, like terms of affection.
Luxury cars should all have proper names. On cheap fleet econo compacts, it should be optional.
What I would like to know is where this trend of nomenclature by letters and numbers came from?
Most people’s memory work more effectively by association so I would expect marketing “gurus” wanting the public to remember and differentiate their products best and what a better way to do this that by using evocative names? But instead they go for trendy “names” that don’t mean anything to any body. I just don’t get it.
I think that Ford, or indeed any car manufacturer, would be able get an advantage here by retaking the old fashion, untrendy way in which memory works…
All the best
It’s an old system really. In the early 1900s, a ton of cars were basically “(Brand) Model (Letter)”. Or “Type” or “Series” instead of “Model”.
For modern usage, it seems to have come mainly from Mercedes and BMW using alphanumerics to denote the model line and engine size of each car.
You used to be able to respect that.
From my favorite – the Olds 88 – combined the middling body of the 70-series (I thought it was specifically the 76) with the powerful V8 engine of the 98.
BMW made complete sense for a while: ABC meant A-body (3, 5, 7) with B.C L displacement, i for gasoline, d for diesel, x for AWD. Then, of course, they had to downsize the engines, and nobody is ever going to believe that they should switch to a lower number, and it all fell apart.
GreenMan, more correctly the “i” was originally used to indicate a fuel-injected engine, back in the day before it became the norm. With BMW’s ridiculous alphabet soup on some of their models now, coinciding with across the board FI, I’ve always wondered why they don’t drop the “i” in order to eliminate even one letter from the mix. (wouldn’t X535 sound so much better than X5 xDrive35i?)
But it works for BMW, because everyone calls it a BMW. Every car they sell builds the BWV brand, rather than the 3’er brand.
That’s my guess as to what Lincoln and Cadillac were trying to emulate. They’re trying to put all of their brand equity into the badge, so as to be able to sell cors on branding rather than quality and the experience of being in and around the vehicle.
But marketing is not just a set of buttons you press. It interacts with the culture and the collective memory of those being marketed to. My guess is that pushing this mutton didn’t work, because Lincoln is selling “one sausage, many lengths”. The different vehicles in their lineup are distinctive, and so customers expect destinctive names.
I believe car name obfuscation is the point as it strengthens the brand association rather than highlighting a particular model, which helps spread the love over the entire range. As long as the marketing studies keep reinforcing that belief the marketers will keep doing it. Look at poor Infiniti they became known for the alphanumeric G and FX so they had to do another round of obfuscation so nobody knows which one is which!
I like the return of the names. I like each model to have its own flavor which is one thing i have always liked about american cars. Don’t want to see caddy and lincoln go down the same sausage different size route.
Beat me to it. By four days. That’ll teach me to stop scrolling!
I also could not understand the alphanumeric names,if I was interested in those cars I suppose I would have figured out which model was what. The same goes for the German cars.
I think this is a good idea.
If you made 2 lists, one list being successful car brands that had actual names and the other list being successful car brands with alpha/numeric names, I think the former would be much longer.
Off the top of my head:
Corolla
Mustang
Corvette
Accord
Explorer
Beetle
Golf
Silverado
Suburban
Miata
F series
911
3 series
S class
Unless you define successful as profitable:
F series – 100% of Ford profit
5 series – biggest chunk of BMW profit
s Class, etc.
Car names are definitely the way to go.
I think Bmw is the absolute worse at their alpha-numeric model names.
(I know because I drive the 328XI, which was renamed 2 years later as the 328I with X-drive, and is currently… the…hang on… I’ll get back to you…)
My problem with x-Drive name/badge:
I should be able to tell from the back of a car whether it’s AWD or not. I should not have to see the front fender area to note this. In the snow, I wanna know if the guy in front of me has an AWD BMW, or if he’s in a RWD one which is much more likely to lose control.
It’s a safety issue.
Whether someone is going to lose control has a lot more to do with their tires than their number of driven wheels. You can’t tell that from inside another car. Just assume that everyone is on bald summer tires and you’ll do fine.
One guy I worked Witt nearly lost it in his X-drive BMW.
He told me that he had to choose between traction control xor stability control but could not engage both.
The 11 year old Prius that I drove that day did both just fine. Cheaper, and better in the snow.
So, yeah, X-drive isn’t any guarantee that the driver in the BMW will have any stability in the snow, unless he’s actually a good driver. A beater Prius will protect the driver from themselves pretty well, though.
Mercedes will loudly proclaim the 4matic status of any of its cars from the trunk. Growing up, I thought that referred to having a 4-speed automatic transmission, back when such things were still worth bragging about.
the B&B have spoken, Lincoln is spot on. I am looking forward to their HUGE success.
Today I drove my T8.
Also known as TORONADO!!
anyone else humming ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ while reading the comments to this post? somehow seems appropriate and right.
What about new names ?
Heritage is also in getting beyond, if I understand the ‘merican thing a bit..
Continential, Navigator, Town Car, and the Mark Series should continue to be staples of Lincoln. If new names fill the rest of the void, fine. It’s better than Mk(X).
“What about new names ?”
That’s what started this whole alphabet soup nonsense in the first place.
Car companies had a hard time finding/trademarking something new and original –yet the new name also couldn’t offend someone somewhere when translated into another language.
Anyway, go Lincoln go!
New names ought to be fine, just so long an they’re distinctive the same way the car is.
I like name Zephyr, which I vaguely recall was used for the MKZ/Fusion at one time. Having ridden the California Zephyr and seen some the old streamliner trains at the Museum of Science And Technology in Chicago, the Zephyr should be luxury machine with an art deco feel. Stainless steel everywhere.
Really, now that Lincoln has moved away from the nonsense names, they just need to make something special that you can’t get cheaper from Ford or Toyota.
I’d suggest unusual door and seat configurations on Ford’s platforms. Why not put suicide doors on this Lincoln Fusion, and Tesla-style gull wing doors on the Lincoln Edge? Cafe seating in a LWB Navigator? Oh, and the four door Mustang. Yeah, it would take some investment, but it seems like it could work on the existing platforms. High prices need to provide more than just high margins for the seller.
I like you’re thinking.
Yeah, people don’t buy our cars because they’re not NAMED correctly.
So if I start calling my turds roses, they’ll start smelling sweet? Got it.
It’s not that people don’t buy cars without names, it’s more that people can’t remember the names .There’s a reason why VW has never replaced ‘Golf’ and Ford has never replaced ‘Mustang’. Once all cars are divided into 1 series 2 series etc. Sticking the model name to the correct brand gets hard. Is an XC70 an infiniti or a Volvo, is an MkX an Acura or a Lincoln? etc.
In the US market, VW replaced Golf with Rabbit twice. Once in the late 70s/early 80s and once in 2006-2009.
Actually, VW replaced Rabbit with Golf twice. The MKI was called the Rabbit from 1975-1984. Then MKII-MKIV were called Golfs. In 2006, they brought back the Rabbit name for the MKV, which used it through 2009. Then the Golf name replaced the Rabbit name again. The funny thing is that they brought back the Rabbit name because they had too much success marketing the Golf as a car for gay men scavenging people’s cast off furniture. No straight people would buy one, so they brought back the Rabbit badges. I guess that didn’t change anything.
Marketing works. If your car names confuse people they will be less inclined to buy them.
Try calling your turds Sonics.
I work in the parts department of a Ford Lincoln dealer, I have for the past 21 years, and let me say I am all in favor of this idea. Even I have to take a second and think about which “MK” vehicle the customer is talking about (I have to remind myself “Z” for “Zephyr” “T” for “truck” even though it’s not really a truck, and “S” for “That car I never See in person”) And don’t even get me started about trying to distinguish an “X” from an “S” or a “T” from a “C” when talking to a customer who’s on his cell phone that you can barely understand in the first place.
As has been pointed out, alphanumerics, or more properly alphabetical model designations date to the earliest days of the auto industry, like the 1903 Ford Model A, FoMoCo’s first car. Some manufacturers used cylinder numbers like Six or Eight.
I wonder, then, what car was the first with a name rather than an alphanumeric. The Jordan Playboy comes to mind but I don’t know if that was the first.
Packard Gray Wolf? But I think that was just a racing version of the Packard Model K.
I found a period 3D photo of the Gray Wolf running at Daytona Beach in 1904:
http://www.carsindepth.com/?p=9126
That’s awesome Ronnie.
Just glancing at Wikipedia, there was the Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later Tatra) “Präsident” in 1897.
It’s a little blurry given that most companies only made one car back at the beginning.
The problem is that Lincoln, as a brand that always had a narrow range, doesn’t have many names to fall back on. Continental, Zephyr, Town Car, Navigator. Other Lincoln names are super-obscure (Premiere?) or tainted by association with crap or downmarket products (Versailles, Aviator, Capri). They’ll need to find a few new names, and new names are HARD these days.
Mercury last used the Capri name in 1994 and Lincoln the Versailles name in 1981, they should be safe to get back in the pool now.
NEVER ANOTHER VERSAILLES.
NEVER.
I, for one, humbly await the return of storied namplates such as the Versailles
they could go with some Mercury names that they own the rights to like Cougar, Marauder, Grand Marquis, and Comet.
Ford has really started to move in the right direction with Fields. 1st Myford touch is gone (I actually do cope with the one in my 13 Fusion) 2nd they actually are making an attempt to show a Lincoln that’s better than a Cadillac (never saw that coming) and now this. Mullaly was great but he ignored Fords heritage and now Fields is bringing it back (in a good way tho)
What if Cadillac brought out a Special Edition….Nicki Minaj Elmiraj.
Top that, Lincoln!
I’ll SHO myself out now.
This NME version of the Cadillac would have standard split velour interior!
I don’t care what they call it, just make me a Mark II retro-styled coupe using the Mustang chassis
Can you imagine how many units the top German cars would sell if they had proper names that would drive the buyers crazy, you know, like Reinemachefrau.
Porsche’s TRANSMISSION alone, not even the whole car is called: Doppelkupplungsgetriebe.
Now imagine how long that name would get if they added wheels or an engine.
It’s best the Germans stick to Algebraic names.
>> It’s best the Germans stick to Algebraic names.
They don’t have to use German names, they could use Spanish – like maybe Carrera or even Javanese like Macan. They could even go for an animal name like Cayman or a pepper like Cayenne. How about deriving a name from a race like the Carrera Panamericana?
IIRC, Acura’s reason for going away from model names was that the names of the models had better recognition than the name of the brand, and they wanted to emphasize the brand. This was there excuse for dumping names that had great equity, like Legend and Integra, for alphabet soup like RL, TL, RSX. I think this was pretty much the reason that other brands followed suit, there was a big move toward brand identity over individual models. Hence the move to SSDL (same sausage different length) for so many more brands now. Personally, I think it ties the designers’ hands having to make every model instantly identifiable as the brand. A Miata doesn’t really need to have Mazda DNA, for example; having to integrate the Mazda grille-du-jour didn’t do the Miata’s looks any favors. Can you imagine if someone at Chevy said “The C7 has to have the Chevy corporate grille”?
Hooray!! Pasting letters on a car trunk lid does not make it a luxury car , nor does it make it a good car. Geez , Maybe there’s hope for the dim wits running Acura……bring back Legend,Integra,& Vigor. Dare to dream….
dumbest comment in this thread. you have a lot to learn about the car biz.
The incredible Continental and the going back to proper names will be a major part of the reason of why Lincoln will destroy Cadillac in the near future.