How each make designates its vehicle models.

Many automakers simply name each car and stick with a name for generations, but there are numerous exceptions. If a car is particularly unsuccessful, the brand will likely drop the name. There are many instances where companies simply change the name with the (somewhat absurd) belief a new name will improve the success of a vehicle. The market has time and time again disproved that notion. After all, some of the strangest names, when applied to good cars, have become phenomenally successful. For example, in 1984, the word "Camry" was introduced to America. It seemed such aa weird name at the time, but is now known as the top selling passenger car in America.

Meanwhile, the idea has come about that luxury vehicles shouldn't have names, but letters, numbers or a combination of both. Although the numbers sometimes actually provide information such as engine displacement, that is rarely the case these days. What might have meant something years ago is now frequently meaningless. It's almost as though some brands are challenging buyers to try to figure out the system.

Honestly, many systems go beyond reason and change year-to-year as a new marketing manager attempts to prove some cockeyed concept. If this seems a harsh analysis, it comes from decades of trying to keep track with some companies seemingly intent on frustrating the effort! However, in the effort to help you understand at least what's going on this year, here's a brand-by-brand summary of the naming systems in the automotive industry.

 

Brands
Acura RL	Acura The brand began with such great names as the Legend. But now it just uses letters and it's up to you to remember which two- or three-letter designation applies to which car. The TL is different from the RL and the TSX has no relationship to the RDX.
Audi RS4	Audi Audi groups most cars by number-such as 4, 6 or 8-with a variety of body and engine configurations. Other designations may also be used for specialty cars, such as the TT. For example, the A4 is essentially the same vehicle as the S4 and the RS4. The "A" designation is used for the basic car, "S" for a high-performance version and "RS" for a super high-performance version. There are engine, standard equipment and sometimes suspension differences. Each version may also be available in sedan, station wagon (which Audi calls "Avant") and convertible (which Audi calls "Cabriolet"). There are also some occasional special cars, such as the R8, that isn't related to the A8.
Bentley Continental GT	Bentley Names still rule and good names stick around.
BMW 335XI	BMW The first number indicates the basic body. The 3 Series is the compact, the 5 is larger and 7 larger still. The other numbers no longer indicated displacement, but the higher the number, the more powerful the engine. The 328 has a 3.0-liter engine and so does the 335. However, the latter is turbocharged and more powerful. If there's an "X" in the name, it has all-wheel drive, unless it precedes the numbers, which indicates an SUV. A "C" means it's a convertible. An "S" means it's a sportier version, perhaps a coupe while an "M" preceding the numbers means it comes from the Motorsport Division and is particularly sporty.
Buick LaCross	Buick Buick in recent years gave up all its old names and started with new ones. Perhaps they don't want old customers to know what the cars are, even though some have changed very little except for the badge.
Cadillac CTS	Cadillac In recent years, Cadillac has also ditched all the names and now just uses letters. They keep comparing themselves to European brands, although few others ever do.
Chevrolet Impala	Chevrolet Here live some of the oldest names of the industry in continual use. As a result, we all know what a Corvette is and what to expect of an Impala. In the future when the Camaro returns, no one is going to wonder what sort of car that is.
Chrysler 300C	Chrysler This company generally sticks with a good name, although it can recover old names from related brands. For example, the Aspen was a pretty bad 1970s sedan, but now it's a full-size Chrysler SUV.
Dodge Caliber	Dodge As part of the Chrysler family, Dodge keeps names around and sometimes brings back a good one from the past, such as the recently revitalized Charger.
Ford Freestyle	Ford In recent times, Ford decided to change its name system. For awhile all vehicles had to start with "F" except the really good names, like Mustang. Things are in flux and we're not sure what they'll do next year.
GMC Acadia	GMC Truck The don't really use the "Truck" part of the brand any more, but since this is a sub-brand of General Motors Corp., we'll keep it there for now. They have been pretty consistent with names over the years, sometimes trying out a new one along with a redesigned vehicle. Although almost all its vehicles are shared with Chevrolet, none of the names have been since GMC changed the Suburban into the Yukon XL.
Honda Fit	Honda Among the most consistent of brands. The Civic and Accord have been around with the same names for decades and only when a new type of vehicle is introduced do we generally see a new moniker.
Hyundai Sonata	Hyundai After dropping its first failure of a vehicle (Excel), the company has stuck with the name it starts with and tries to upgrade the name image by improving the vehicle.
Infiniti G35 sedan	Infiniti One letter followed by two numbers is the way it's always been. The numbers accurately describe engine displacement. So the M35 and M45 are essentially the same car with different engine sizes, 3.5 and 4.5 liters, respectively. You can group the models by referring to the Infiniti M.
Jaguar XK	Jaguar Among the most consistent of brands. The Civic and Accord have been around with the same names for decades and only when a new type of vehicle is introduced do we generally see a new moniker.
Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Ultimate	Jeep Names stick around for decades at Jeep. When a larger one comes out, it gets a second name: A Grand Cherokee is bigger than the Cherokee and the Wrangler Ultimate is longer than a Wrangler.
Kia Spectra	Kia Except for dropping the name of its first subcompact car (Sephia), Kia has kept the name of each of its vehicles around since it began doing business in the U.S., including its very first, the Sportage.
Land Rover LR2	Land Rover People tend to confuse the Land Rover with Range Rover. The Range Rover is one model from Land Rover, not the brand. However, Range Rover is the only name the brand has kept around, reverting to numbers and letters for its other products. Gone are cool names like the Defender and Discovery. Instead, we now have the LR2 and LR3. It's up to you to remember which is which.
Lexus GS350	Lexus Always two letters and then numbers. The first letter is the size class, E is the current smallest. The second letter is "S" for a sedan, "C" for a coupe and "X" for an SUV. The number reflects engine displacement, so a GS350 has a 3.5-liter engine and a GS430 goes 0.8 liters larger. A lower case "h" at the end means it is a gas-electric hybrid.
Lincoln MKZ	Lincoln This brand recently became the clown of car naming after spending a reported $800 million to launch the Zephyr (a name brought out of many decades of retirement) only to change it to the MKZ a year later. And for a while, Lincoln had an internal argument about whether to pronounce it "Mark Z" or M K Z. Ouch. Now we've got the MKX (It's a crossover SUV.) and the Navigator. No telling what they'll do in the future, but just in case, be ready to laugh.
Mazda CX-7	Mazda As new cars show up, they get just a number. There's the 3, 5 and 6. The only really silly step was to stop calling the Miata the Miata and have it be the MX-5. An "X" indicated sports car and an "R" means rotary engine, giving us the RX-8. But now SUVs also get an "X" which results in the CX-7 and CX-9, except there is still the Tribute, the last vehicle in the fleet to still have just a name. If you don't get it, just remember Mazda is controlled by the same outfit that owns Lincoln.
Mercedes-Benz E350	Mercedes-Benz A letter designates the class of the car with some inconsistency. If the second letter is "L" it has two doors, except for the four-door CLS. If it's an SUV, however, the "L" doesn't seem to have an obvious meaning since a GL is a stretched version of the ML. A "K" means its smaller than the same designation without the "K," such as the tiny SLK and larger SL. The number at the end indicates relative engine size. A higher number is bigger, but not necessarily a reflection of the actual displacement.
Mercury Milan	Mercury Mercury has been the most consistent Ford Division with its car names. However, there seems a strong possibility in a few years from now the Mercury name itself could disappear.
Mini Cooper	Mini This one is easy. One car, the Cooper.
Mitsubishi Lancer	Mitsubishi For the most part, names are consistent. The one odd one is the Raider, a version of the Dodge Dakota sold by Mitsubishi. In the late 1980s, the Raider was built by Mitsubishi but sold as a Dodge.
Nissan Rogue	Nissan This brand has been quite consistent with the names of its vehicles, keeping most of them for years ever since it changed the entire corporate name from Datsun. Only one vehicle, the 350Z sports car, gets numerals and a letter instead of a name.
Pontiac G6 coupe	Pontiac This is a mixed bag. They recently tossed out some of the brands top selling names and replaced them with a letter/number combination. But other cars have names, some new, some old. It seems a new chief of marketing arrives with changes in mind annually.
Porsche 911	Porsche While its original 911 has kept that number since the beginning, other numbers (928, 924) haven't lasted and now the idea is to give each new vehicle a name, such as Boxster or Cayman.
Saab 9-3	Saab Every Saab is a 9 with a hyphen. After the hyphen, the larger the number, the larger the vehicle. The 9-7 is so big it gets an "X" because it's really a truck-platform SUV.
Saturn Sky	Saturn Once giving letter designations (S- and L-Series, for example) to its vehicles, Saturn now finds names more to its liking.
Subaru Legacy	Subaru Names have been largely consistent with exceptions. What was once a Legacy Outback became just an Outback and the B9 Tribeca lost its weird vitamin prefix after two years.
Suzuki Grand Vitara	Suzuki Largely sticking to names, the company seems to be changing its mind. The Grand Vitara XL-7 was too unwieldy, becoming the XL-7 then losing even the hyphen. The SX4 is the newest moniker, so we may start seeing more letters and numbers than names in the future.
Toyota Corolla	Toyota Inventing new words for names and sticking with it, Toyota has found great success. One tactic is to add an addendum to a name then spin it off on its own. Years ago the Celica Supra became the Supra and more recently the Camry Solara has become the Solara.
Volkswagen Touareg	Volkswagen Although it may come up with weird names like Touareg, it sticks with them. It even brings them back. The Beetle is the New Beetle and the Rabbit became Golf and then back to Rabbit. The rare spinoff was when the Golf GTi became GTI all on its own.
Volvo S80	Volvo Once just numbers, Volvo has been largely consistent with a letter prefix. A "C" means coupe (or convertible), "S" is sedan and "V" is station wagon. The only odd case is XC which either means crossover SUV or SUV-like station wagon. The number indicates the size of the car, a larger number simply meaning a bigger vehicle.