Brendan Hughes

Struck me recently, I think because of the Focus. Not a good example per se, but why was the earlier one the Focus, and not the Escort mk, er, 6? After all, the Escort III was so much different from I and II.

Look at the Cortina evolution, from I (boxy) to III (wavy) to IV (boxy again) - then the Sierra.

Other great ones are from Honda - could you recognise the current Civic from the original, or the current Prelude? - and from Toyota with, say, the Supra. Look at the late 70s versions of them compared to today's!

Is there any sort of criteria that makes a company declare a new name? Or is it just a marketing thing?

gso

Dracoro

There's no rules. Car manufacturers can call their cars what they like. Often, if the brand is strong they'll keep the name (e.g. golf). If the brand is weak or weakening they may change it (escort->focus, cortina->sierra->mondeo). But it's up to the manufacturer and their marketing departments.

JoeyDeacon

Normally if a car maker has too many models named after **** mags they tend to change the names.

brickboy

LOL @ Joey

Why did Ford never launch a Bodacious Babes 1.3 Popular, or a Reader's Wives 1.8D ...?

Edited to add, that should be a 1.8DD

Harry_Boy

Yup.

Stong brand = Golf

Weak brand = Jetta/Vento/Bora

Or Derby/Polo Classic/Polo Saloon.

Manufacturers used to use the principle that a relatively minor facelift was regarded as a 'new version', while a major reworking or re-engineering was called a 'new model'.

'Course, nowadays even changing the lights and applying some minor tweaks qualifies to be called a brand new, totally reworked model.... Bit like the bugeye becoming the "Impreza III" (blobeye to you & me).

CrisPDuk

Ford ditched the Escort name because they finally acknowledged - in the motoring press at the time IIRC - that the general public perceived (correctly) that the FWD Escort was a badly engineered, overpriced bucket of ****e. They wanted to distance their new - potentially class leading - product from it's predecessor as much as possible.

As far as the Toyota Supra is concerned it was not originally a separate model, it was conceived as the prestige sporting model in the Celica line up, it was only when the celica went FWD/4WD & rallying, whilst the Supra stayed RWD & went GT racing that the two became distinct model lines.

CrisPDuk

Probably for the same reason that they never launched the Probe 'deeply'

brickboy

LOL @ ChrisP ..... but it was Gareth Cheeseman that killed the Probe .....

CrisPDuk

INdeed it was But to be fair the Probe was chosen by Coogan as it was already universally acknowledged as the ultimate piece-of-****e w4nkers car

Harry_Boy

And Alan Partridge the Lexus IS 200.....

Coogan has a lot to answer for....

brickboy

Yep, I don't see as many Lexi 200s on the road as I used to