Nameplates in the US

[Teleks]

I felt like writing down my thoughts about the naming of car models here in the US and am curious if others agree. The Mustang Mach-E is quite infamous for being controversial for its nameplate, so most people here probably had a thought or two about it. However, this thread is not supposed to be specifically about the Mach-E.

I'm German, and I'll be the first one to admit that Germans name their car models not in the most creative way? see BMW, Audi, Mercedes. I mean, it's quite to the point, very technical but also very much in lack of any emotions haha. I think it is kind of nice to have an actual name for car models, and am not opposed to what American car companies are doing. The ICE Mustang is a good example of how that can be done in a really good way and how over the course of more than 50 years the Mustang name really meant something. Again, I don't want to open the Mach-E discussion, so let's just leave it at that.

But I do think, 90% of nameplates here in the US are absolutely meaningless. If you look up a typical Wikipedia article about a Ford car model, the paragraph about origin of the name of the model usually kind of reads like this... (I had a lot of fun making this up for a fictional 'Stallion' coupe):
Prior to its use for the current two-seater coupe, Ford used the 'Stallion' nameplate on three different model lines. In the 1940s the nameplate 'Stallion' was used for Fords first tractor model, that was discontinued in 1949. Fords daughter division Edsel then used the nameplate for the Edsel Stallion in 1958 as its lowest-trim sedan. The 'Stallion' nameplate was then reused again as the name for a sports trim package for the Ford Transit family van in the 1990s. In 1998 the 'Stallion' trim line was discontinued for the Ford Transit, in anticipation of the current two-seater coupe that was introduced in 1999. The Stallion two-seater coupe is sold in Europe and Australia with different nameplates (Ford Speedster in Europe, Ford Crossroads in Australia) and as the Mazda Stallion in Asia. In Australia Ford currently uses the Stallion nameplate for a dune buggy that was introduced in 2012.

Like I said, I just made this up lol. But I think it's not too much of an exaggeration! So why even bother with nameplates if they are so meaningless? Is it really that hard to come up with new names and the marketing team is so expensive, that they have to be reused for totally unrelated vehicles? I just feel like it totally renders car model names meaningless. I guess there is one comment about the Mustang name on the Mach-E I could make: Ford has proven over and over again that nameplates don't mean anything to them, so why do people get so upset about the Mustang name?

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[21st Century Pony]

Germans got fairly inventive though with their armor vehicle names... Tiger, King Tiger, Panther, Leopard, Fox... quite emotive and nowhere as boring as their car names. Maybe the romanticism of German culture orients on things other than what the US culture orients on? Just an observation.

 

[Auto Motive]

I felt like writing down my thoughts about the naming of car models here in the US and am curious if others agree. The Mustang Mach-E is quite infamous for being controversial for its nameplate, so most people here probably had a thought or two about it. However, this thread is not supposed to be specifically about the Mach-E.

I'm German, and I'll be the first one to admit that Germans name their car models not in the most creative way? see BMW, Audi, Mercedes. I mean, it's quite to the point, very technical but also very much in lack of any emotions haha. I think it is kind of nice to have an actual name for car models, and am not opposed to what American car companies are doing. The ICE Mustang is a good example of how that can be done in a really good way and how over the course of more than 50 years the Mustang name really meant something. Again, I don't want to open the Mach-E discussion, so let's just leave it at that.

But I do think, 90% of nameplates here in the US are absolutely meaningless. If you look up a typical Wikipedia article about a Ford car model, the paragraph about origin of the name of the model usually kind of reads like this... (I had a lot of fun making this up for a fictional 'Stallion' coupe):
Prior to its use for the current two-seater coupe, Ford used the 'Stallion' nameplate on three different model lines. In the 1940s the nameplate 'Stallion' was used for Fords first tractor model, that was discontinued in 1949. Fords daughter division Edsel then used the nameplate for the Edsel Stallion in 1958 as its lowest-trim sedan. The 'Stallion' nameplate was then reused again as the name for a sports trim package for the Ford Transit family van in the 1990s. In 1998 the 'Stallion' trim line was discontinued for the Ford Transit, in anticipation of the current two-seater coupe that was introduced in 1999. The Stallion two-seater coupe is sold in Europe and Australia with different nameplates (Ford Speedster in Europe, Ford Crossroads in Australia) and as the Mazda Stallion in Asia. In Australia Ford currently uses the Stallion nameplate for a dune buggy that was introduced in 2012.

Like I said, I just made this up lol. But I think it's not too much of an exaggeration! So why even bother with nameplates if they are so meaningless? Is it really that hard to come up with new names and the marketing team is so expensive, that they have to be reused for totally unrelated vehicles? I just feel like it totally renders car model names meaningless. I guess there is one comment about the Mustang name on the Mach-E I could make: Ford has proven over and over again that nameplates don't mean anything to them, so why do people get so upset about the Mustang name?

Never really bought a car because of the nameplare or manufacturer. We refer to the GTPE as mach e. Our Y as tesla and our Jeep as the van or truck.
No Susies or Michael or pet names.
When I owned a corvette its lets take the vette. We bought cars based on needs like our Mercury Lynx diesel for commuting 60 miles a day and a VW diesel when VW had a manfacturing plant in New Stanton Pa. Got one on opening day for 35% off MSRP and it was the most troublesome car I ever owned like a Eagle Premier we bought that I should have burned. We had a Kia referred to as the Optima, Hyundai Elantra as the Hyundai and Mercury Milan Premier as the Milan. All these were new and left overs. The Kia Hyundai Mercury and Jeep I still own were kept for a decade or more each. These were the best cars we owned, trouble free except recalls and over 100k except the Jeep 06 7 seat Commander 50k like new. Mercury was the winner in one lock repair one wheel bearing radiator and several batteries. Sold it in 2021 with 104000 miles. Sorry for the rant!
When we got the GTPE.

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