Toys4RJill

No, you are incorrect.

Audi, Cadillac , BMW, MB, Infiniti, Lexus and the other luxury makers having been using this nomenclature for the past 10+ years or forever for that matter.

Even Acura has been doing it for at least 15 years. Its not recent.

The only exception is the Escalade because the name has tons of value and special appeal. Lincoln Navigator is the only other extension.

mmarshall

The problem with Infiniti is that they keep changing the WAY they do it. That is probably one thing that contributes to their low sales. The JX35, for example, was barely a couple of years old when the QX-name change came along and confused people. That was different from the way Lincoln, Cadillac, and others did it.

Some of Acura's sales problems, agreed, can be traced to that....though not as much as with the parrot-beak grilles and controversial body-styling.

I'd also include the Navigator.............it appeals to much of the same buyer-base as the Escalade, though with slightly less chrome-bling on it.

FrankReynoldsCPA

The thing is that the Lincoln nomenclature should be relatively easy.

There's no combination of numbers with the letters. There's only one MKZ, one MKT, one MKS, one MKX, and one MKC. You don't see MKZ 35 or MKT 37.

The products just don't stand out.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

doesn't seem too bad

C - Compact utility vehicle / CUV
S - Sedan
T - Tank?
X - Crossover (cross = X)
Z - no idea (update: Zephyr, thanks Sulu )

Toys4RJill

omg. Lol.

Sulu

Z - Zephyr

MKZ was known as Zephyr for one model year (2006) before it was renamed, when the Ford Edge-based MKX was introduced in 2007, and the whole MKn naming scheme started.

SW17LS

I personally like names. I think they should keep names like Zephyr, Continental, Mark VIII. No need to be a follower, names are an American thing...

FrankReynoldsCPA

Yeah, and names can be really classy too.

Toys4RJill

I like names for mainstream models like Toyota, Honda, Chevrolet etc.

But when it comes to a luxury brand, it should be a level or series as you are buying into the brand more than the specific model.

If Buick was to ever become a real luxury brand a naming system like Lexus would work, but the resurgence of the Regal names and the invention of the Verano, Lacrosse, and Encore names have work for a mainstrram/upmarket brand.

mmarshall

Names are more of a tradition at Buick than with other upmarket manufacturers. Except for the GS350/400/GSX muscle-car line of the 60s/70s and the GNX line of the 1980s (which was really an abbreviated form of Grand National, which they also used), Buick, to my memory, has always primarily used regular names instead of letter/number combinations.

As to just EXACTLY where Buick fits in among carmakers (premium, upmarket, luxury, Tier II) depends on who does the ratings, how they interpret it, and and how they publish it. They are definitely not a Tier 1 luxury-manufacturer in the commonly-accepted meaning of the term, but, except for that, have been labelled just about everything else. Same with Acura, Volvo, Lincoln, and Infiniti.

SW17LS

I don't see why it has to be that way though. Through American history the finest luxury cars had grand names, Continental, DeVille, so on and so forth. I don't see anything wrong with bringing that back.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

dream on, it's over.

letters and numbers baby, letters and numbers...

SW17LS

I sound like mmarshall and the small diameter wheels and hood ornaments don't I? LOL

LexBob2

Bring back the Town Car V8 as the TC500!!!

mmarshall

Unlike probably a lot of you guys, I can remember when big 5200-lb. Continentals, with 7.5-liter V8s, had 15-inch wheels, tall-probile rubber.......and rode like magic carpets. They also had the stability......and the handling.....of a battleship.