It’s not really my concern how a company operates, all things being equal. If an automotive manufacturer wants to do something a certain way, who am I to argue? Perhaps I’m not the target market, or maybe I simply can decide what meets my needs as a consumer—it ain’t personal. Change the logo? Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
However, when it comes to car names and naming conventions, I start to get prickly. Want to improve Cadillac’s image? Naming models in a Euro-inspired manner sure sounds like a distinctly American solution! When that doesn’t seem to work, have a foreigner of a CEO (one who also wreaked havoc on Infiniti) create a new naming structure instead of giving models “real” names like Evoq. Today, it seems we have almost come full circle, though I am having trouble remembering Cadillac’s latest models.
The Europeans are not without criticism. Audi had planned to change its naming structure, making even-numbered cars powered by electricity and odd-numbered cars powered by gasoline. However, common sense prevailed earlier this year when the company announced it was cancelling that strategy. Smart move!
This is not quite the same, but it somewhat annoyed me when BMW switched things up a bit. We once had a BMW M3 coupe, a huge image vehicle for the company, but then BMW decided to give its sedans odd numbers and its coupes even numbers. Now, the car with the strongest image in its portfolio is called M4 despite the equity developed with M3. Want a sedan? Then you probably don’t mind bragging about your four-door M3.
Luckily, Volkswagen’s pendulum is also swinging back. After several years of EVs with ID. prefixes and number suffixes, VW has decided to maintain the prefix and use a proper model name as the suffix. In other words, the upcoming ID.2 (initially previewed as the ID. 2all show car) will now be named ID. Polo, which includes that awkward pause after the period. Of course, the Polo is a long-running success story for VW around the world (at least for those outside the U.S. and Canada), so if it appears that VW will produce two cars in the same class yet with different methods of propulsion, you are not wrong. That’s nothing unusual these days.
“Our model names are firmly anchored in people’s minds. They stand for a strong brand and embody characteristics such as quality, timeless design and technologies for all,” says Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen brand and the bearer of several other job titles that are simply too long to type. “That’s why we’re moving our well-known names into the future. The ID. Polo is just the beginning.”
Well, duh.
There’s more coming through the pipeline. “We are bringing one of our strongest brands, the GTI, into the electric world,” adds Martin Sander, another big guy at Volkswagen. “Also launching in 2026, the ID. GTI Concept model will go into production as the ID. Polo GTI. It will offer outstanding dynamics and plenty of driving pleasure.”
Now, if Volkswagen could come up with a name better than Tiguan, we’d be all set.
