Giving a automobile mannequin a reputation was one thing of an artwork type. However for a while at Audi, the secret has been to quantity its fashions following a letter. And now, the jumble is about to grow to be extra complicated.
Based on revealed studies popping out of Germany in The Reality Abour Automobiles, the Bavarian model plans to provide all fashions outfitted with fuel and diesel motors odd numbered “names” and label all-electric or “battery electrical” autos with even numbers.
Obtained that?
In plain English, it means — in all probability — that the next-generation A3 (now fuel) will grow to be electrical, and be referred to as the A4; the A4 as we all know it turns into the A5, and so forth. Extrapolating as finest we will, the present A5 Sportback and gas-powered A7 grow to be…historical past. Until these fashions sprout electrical powertrains.
In January, we reported that Mercedes-Benz was set to drop the EQ product model for battery-electric automobiles as quickly as the subsequent technology of compact automobiles, set to be available on the market from the top of 2024. It could be the results of a choice by Chief Govt Ola Kaellenius to focus the model on electrical automobiles solely. And BMW is alleged to be contemplating the same transfer.
Naming a automobile is a tough course of.
“You attempt to create a language and a reputation that faucets into the psychology and sells the product,” Robert Pyrah, who was head of technique on the London-based inventive company Brandwidth, advised The New York Occasions in 2018. “There’s an entire set of strategic issues that are available in,” he mentioned. “It’s pondering how the model ought to be positioned within the market, establish the automobile’s essence.” Some purchasers have particular targets: “They’ll say, ‘Now we have a brand new SUV, and we wish the identify to focus on 30-somethings with two kids.’”
There’s additionally the problem of discovering a reputation that’s nonetheless free to be trademarked. If an individual on the model’s advertising crew, charged with approving the brand new identify, is offered with recommendations “which can be coinages, or made up, or futuristic,” Pyrah mentioned, “they’re going to go, ‘Nicely, why can’t I’ve Explorer?’”
David Placek, founding father of Lexicon Branding, has named merchandise like Sonos, Swiffer, the Subaru Outback and the Rogue. He believes a reputation ought to be “surprisingly acquainted” and he’s no fan of alphanumeric names … as with these utilized by Audi. He calls that “alphabet soup. There’s no memorability, and so they’re onerous to course of.”