QOTD: Long May You Run?

There are occasions when human beings need a bit of time to get used to something, such as when your teenager suddenly dyes their hair purple or you are suddenly forced to buy new work boots because your old ones have completely collapsed. I have experienced 50 percent of these examples in the past week and will leave it to your speculation as to which one it is.

Something else your author needs time to assimilate? New car names slapped on machines introduced to replace an outgoing model. It’s the automotive equivalent of daytime soaps suddenly hiring a new actor to play the same character. It’s jarring.

Here’s today’s question: should OEMs introduce new names with their new cars? Or should they hang on to the tried-and-true? As you’d expect, I have a couple of opinions.

The rig atop is Exhibit A. Why in the name of Alfred P. Sloan top brass decided to bin the Blazer name in the mid-90s in favor of Tahoe remains a great mystery to your author. Sure, the smaller Blazer was still in production and was in the process of dropping its “S10” prefix, but given the name’s history, it would’ve made more sense for Blazer to be stuck on the larger truck.

There are times when it makes sense for a nameplate to go away, such as when Ford was trying to move their compact car game a bit further up the charts with its new-for-2000 effort twenty years ago. Focus worked because the Escort name had arguably earned a connotation for economy and cheapness, plus the Blue Oval wanted to align its model names from across the pond, at least to a point.

What nameplate to you think should have stuck around after a major revamp? Or are there any that did remain that needed to be relegated to the dustbin of automotive history?