Audi is in a quandary. Just Auto [sub] reports that the German automaker has reached their quota of SUV names starting with "Q." Nissan quarreled over Ingolstadt's use of Q7 for their Toureg/Cayenne-based SUV, claiming it impinged on the quintessence of their Infiniti "Q" model names. Then Nissan quickly reached an agreement to let Audi use Q5 and Q7. But Nissan now wants to quell Audi's plans to add Q3 to their model queue, saying it's time for them to remain quiescent. Audi has no qualms about pressing on, saying they've had quiet discussions about achieving their quest for the Q. Only one question remains unasked: when it comes to increasing the world's quantity of SUV's, why doesn't Audi just quench their plans and call it "Quits?"
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Right, because BMW wasn’t pissed about the (Infiniti) M35 and M45.
Obviously the power of “H” has nothing on the power of “Q”
Jonny, my thoughts exactly. Dang hypocrites!
From the linked article:
Claims to names and numbers are an endemic problem for car makers and Peugeot’s grip on numbers with zeros in the middle prevented Porsche from calling what became the classic 911 the 901, although some of its racing cars carried the central zero.
Audi, meanwhile, stopped Volvo from numbering its S40 compact sedan the S4, and the Swedish automaker’s badging of the wagon counterpart as the F40 was ruled out by Ferrari, while V4 would have invoked (not so good) memories of the 1960s Ford Corsair and Transit powerplant and 1970s Saab 96 engines.
Not to mention the Volvo/BMW 740 and 850. BMW started with 850, and then Volvo made an 850. Volvo already had a 740, then BMW called one of their cars 740. I wonder how much fun they all had on their boardmeetings?
I would think that Audi couldn’t care less about the problem, since their cars are named Q-x, and Nissans are named Q-xy. Theres’s a huge difference between Audi Q5 and Infiniti Q45. I don’t really see a problem here, actually.
Reminds me about the story of the Marx Brothers being sued over Casablanca infringements, and Groucho Marx responded with a letter asserting that he and his siblings had use of the word “brothers” prior to the establishment of Warner Brothers (and many others had before that), and often the story is told that Groucho threatened a counter-suit based on this assertion. He also mentioned that he would consider further legal action by pointing out to Warners that the title of their current hit film Night and Day infringed on the titles of two Marx Brothers films; A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races.
I hate alphanumeric names, especially when there’s no rhyme or reason to them–see Acura and, more recently, Mercedes. Lincoln has made a mistake in following this crowd. To me actual names are far more memorable, unless the car is truly iconic like a Porsche 911.
It’s actually something of an urban myth that Peugeot required Porsche to rename the 901 the 911. All that Peugeot “owned” was the right to market in France cars with a three-digit designation with a zero in the middle. Porsche could call the car whatever they wanted in the rest of the world, but they decided to make nice because France was an important–though not overwhelmingly so–market for them.
Interestingly, most 911 part numbers are still “901 dash something.”
So what about the 904, which was essentially a production racecar? Peugeot had failed to register a complaint about it, so they had to concede that Porsche could continue to use that nomenclature, and Porsche built on that concession to name a number of other production racers with middle-zeros.
Dontcha hate trivia nerds?
Boo to alphanumeric names. Yay to Canyonero!
Does anyone remember when Toyota objected to Lincoln calling the LS-series the “LS6” and “LS8” based on their engines, due to their proximity to “LS400?”
Then, when Toyota launched the Tundre mere months later, wanting to put the “T150” badge on it, their bitching came back to haunt them.
Turnabout’s fair play, I suppose.
Oh, and Infiniti trademarked the Q45 name in 1986. Audi started using the Q-designation for their SUVs a whole model year ago.
I think it’s plain who has rights to it and who doesn’t.
They’ve been at this for a long time. What a joke. Yes, I’ll definitely bother to take that into account when next considering a car – and Nissan should be pleased, I don’t think it’s their brand charisma that suffers.
I guess I should be the last person to diss the letter X in car names, but that’s a joke, too.
Two observations about the alphanumeric Suzuki SX4:
1. At least the designation supposedly means something (“Sport X-over [crossover] for 4 seasons”). How this carries over for the FWD SX4 sedan is left as an exercise for the student.
2. I rather doubt that AMC will be suing Suzuki anytime soon….
And of course the Volvo numbers had “deep meaning” as well…the 240 was a two-door four-cylinder, the 460 a four-door six-cylinder, etc.
Mercedes invented this whole system of meaning in the alphanumerics in the 1920s and ’30s–various SSes, 540K, 300SL–and should sue everybody who has piggybacked off it.
It’s time to give up on the letter-number and number-letter names. More tourags and uh, crap. Maybe just name them like hurricanes? Adam, Betty, charles…
The Oldsmobile 442 — what was it, 4-hundred something cubes, 4-barrel, 2 exhaust pipes?
Maybe Ford should get the ball rolling by taking a cue from their one of their partners.
i.e.: Fusion, Fusion SP1, Fusion SP2, etc.
SP = Service Pack
Edit: Oh, regarding the article: Quaint.
Originally it meant four speeds, four barrels, dual exhausts.
Later, it came to mean 400 cubic inches, four barrels, and dual exhausts.
Finally, when the Quad-4-powered Cutlass Calais-based 442 was introduced in 1990, it came to signify 4 cylinders, 4 valves (per cylinder), and dual (overhead) camshafts.