When it comes to marketing electric cars, many automakers have all gone the same way. They’ve picked funny letters or numerical combinations to make their EVs stand out in their lineups. However, Volkswagen has decided that’s no longer the cool thing to do.
Martin Sander is Volkswagen’s brand Chief of Marketing and Sales. Speaking to German outlet Auto Und Wirtschaft, Sander made it clear that a change is coming. “The cars will get real names again,” he said, translated from German.
Thus far, Volkswagen has set its mainstream electric vehicles apart with the ID. moniker. For example, the German automaker has launched vehicles like the ID.3, ID.4, and ID.7, and even resurrected the famous Volkswagen bus as the ID.Buzz. However, that branding is now on the way out, with real names set to return.
First to receive proper monikers will be the ID.Every1 and ID.2all. These vehicles have been shown as concepts of Volkswagen’s future electric compact cars. However, they will hit the market under different branding. “Neither the ID. 2all nor the ID. EVERY1 will have those names in series production,” stated Sander. “We’ll announce that when the time comes.”
On the one hand, it’s easy to understand this move. Electric cars are no longer only the preserve of dedicated early adopters. Plenty of regular motorists rely on EVs these days for their regular transport. There is a great deal of market awareness now, and automakers aren’t feeling the need to put EVs wholly in their own special category anymore. They have, to a degree, become normalized. [Ed Note: And yet, has any model become fully electric without changing its name? Lewin wrote a few months back “Is The Porsche Macan The First Car To Switch From Gasoline To Electric Without Adding An ‘E’ Or Something To Its Name?” but it seems the electric Macan is the Macan Electric, so EVs have been normalized, yes, but not yet to the point where cars are just keeping their same names while gaining an electric powertrain. As for the topic at hand, I think that, with great names like “Golf” and “Jetta” and Beetle and “Arteon,” the the ID.X naming was a let-down, so I’m a fan of this new move. -DT].
[Other Editor’s Note: Actually, I think DT is underselling the naming history here. There’s a ton of great names beyond those, even! Rabbit, Dasher, Scirocco, Corrado, Thing, Eos, Apollo, Fox, SpaceFox, Up!, Pointer, Derby, Country Buggy, Quantum – those are some names! – JT]
At the same time, it’s a big change in Volkswagen’s marketing tack. It’s especially surprising given that it bestowed the ID. moniker on the ID. Buzz, which has been something of a torchbearer for the company. The bus has always been an icon, and the Buzz is already shipping. It would be difficult and confusing to rename the model now. [Ed Note: I think if VW called it the VW Bus, that’d work great. -DT].
It’s not clear as to whether Volkswagen will only adopt this policy for new launches, or whether it will rename existing EV models, too. The Autopian has reached out to the automaker for comment.
In any case, Volkswagen is taking a very different path than some of its fellow German automakers. BMW is doing quite the opposite, docking the famous “i” from combustion-engined models because it has reserved this for its EV range. Meanwhile, Audi has adopted a structured numbering strategy. Mercedes-Benz is going for a managed transition, intending to potentially reduce the use of the “EQ” branding going forward.
At this point, I’ll invite the Autopian commentariat to weigh in. Do you think electric vehicles should have special names, prefixes, or pretty little hats? Or do you think automakers should go back to real names? Personally, I’m in favor of actual words. Let’s have the Volkswagen Tigerclaw or some other nonsense going forward. We deserve it.
Image credits: Volkswagen
First company to name a vehicle “Star Fox” gets an instant purchase from me. Bonus if the murdered out AMG/M/RS version is called “Star Wolf,” and the dash complains that “Something is wrong with the G-Diffuser!” under heavy acceleration.
even better if we get an option to change the alerts between the original NES gibberish and the N64 remake dialogues.
Maybe a top luxury trim could be called “Crystal”?
I’d totally buy a Lexus Star Wolf.
The thing with this stuff: nobody cares like they care. Not even car nerds care as much.
They’re overthinking the bejeezus out of this.
The best thing they could do (and it would free up some time in everyone’s calendars), is to use the names that have the equity. Those are the longest running names, or the ones with classic appeal that are currently on the shelf.
Instead, they’re going to tie themselves in knots while chewing Euros and pooping cents without making any….sense.
They need to bring back the “winds and currents” names.
Except for the handful of companies with a LONG history of alphanumerics, that needs to not be a thing.
I’ll take one Toyota Windsurfer Current convertible please.
Naming shouldn’t be hard and yet every manufacturer seems to mess it up. G580 with EQ Technology? No, G580e. EQS580? No, SE580 to differentiate from the battery hybrid S580e. idBuzz? No, THE BUS THIS ISN’T HARD MY GOD
The only people doing it right are Cadillac and Hyundai/Kia. I’d have given Chevy a nod but they made ICE and EV versions of both the Equinox and Blazer and they’re extremely different vehicles. Audi messed up by calling their very obviously Q5 based EV the E-Tron, thus sullying every model after. The fact that the E-Tron and E-Tron GT are two completely different Segments is insane. Q5 E-Tron, A9 E-Tron/RS9 E-Tron. AGAIN THIS. IS. NOT. HARD.
I could go on, but why bother? They all suck except the Ioniq Series and EV# series (both of which I also have issues with considering some are sedans and some are crossovers) and Cadillac which, is doing a dumb thing ending everything in IQ. BUT AT LEAST THEY’RE ALL NAMES! Escalade IQ is clunky because it’s not intuitive that all caddy evs end in IQ because they’re all names, Escalade EV it should have been. But I’ll give them a pass for everything else being so much better than the rest.
/rant
I always thought they missed a golden opportunity for names, and a very Germanic one, at that:
id.series: The balls-out crazy performance models. No holds barred.
ego.series: The balanced performance versions, but still comfy enough for a DD
superego.series: Family-oriented, comfortable, efficiency-focused models
Infotainment screen: “Tell me about your mother…”
ID. EVERY1 could be the official vehicle of the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services.
The state owned DABS liquor stores have adopted a 100% carding policy, much to the dismay of 50+ year old tourists in Park City who just want to grab a bottle of vino for dinner, but left their drivers license back at the condo.
Sounds like Target — they have a 100% zero-tolerance, “you may not proceed with purchase without clerk scanning your license” approach.
Apparently there are a LOT of laws when I’m drinking Claws.
This feels like it’s using the model name and designating the powertrain. If I go to Ford’s website and look at an Escape, I can get the Escape, Escape Hybrid, or Escape Plug-in Hybrid. If I go to the Porsche site, I similarly click the Macan and it takes me to a page designating the powertrains. People need to know which powertrain they are buying.
It will be interesting when/if we get to the point that electric or hybrid are the default and the gassers need nomenclature indicating they aren’t electrified.
“Neither the ID. 2all nor the ID. EVERY1 will have those names in series production,” stated Sander.”
How did the most Nazi associated company not see a problem with those?
From the makers of Papieren.Bitte
If the goal is to make electric vehicles mainstream, and fully convert to all-electric lineups over the next decade, than, no, electric vehicles should not get their own special naming schemes or sub-brands. If model range is available in both electric and ICE versions, the electric one should be treated the same as another engine option with some sort of badge on the back, the same way displacement or diesel might be signified. If it comes only as an electric, then it doesn’t need anything special to set it apart, since there’s no combustion model for it to be potentially confused with
This is the best worded version of this opinion I’ve seen. And its one I share. If the VW Squidward is always electric, then they don’t need to specify that on the car specifically. But if the VW Patrick comes in different powertrains, they should badge those. Macan Electric makes sense, but only if Electric is considered a Trim not a part of the Model name. Just like Rams get a Cummins badge or Chevy’s get a Duramax badge. But no one puts a “Diesel” badge on a big rig, cuz they only come in that by default (yes I know there are some electrics, but THOSE get badged).
Buzzbomb? Modell Eins, Modell Zwei, Modell Drei, …
How about VanEgon for the Buzz? The Harold Ramis connection alone makes it for me.
Man, I would love to see a VanEgon with a Ghostbusters livery.
Since VW seems to reserve its more interesting models to Europe these days (though not so much its EVs) I think they need a series called FU America.
As a European I’d say everything VW churn out is boring and generic except for the Buzz.
If you want charmless and expensively broken but don’t have Audi money then VW has you covered. If you don’t have VW money there’s Skoda and SEAT and Cupra.
Well, if you’re in the US, you’re 0-for-3 on those.
VW basically fills the role of ALL of those brands here, just with 1/10 of the market penetration and a reputation for eccentricity and low reliability (well deserved, IMO, nothing since they abandoned air cooling has held up nearly as well as almost any Asian marque, as well as most of the American ones…).
I am semi-proud to say that with a 2001 Passat, I’m not the longest-running owner of a single VW in my entire family history. It still works because it sat mostly parked for almost 10 years. Yet it still found new ways to break 🙂
I can never keep all the alphanumerics straight, mostly because I don’t care, but like Infiniti I have no idea what anyone is talking about other than if it’s a car or SUV type thing. Same with Genesis. I don’t know where the numbers start, so I have no idea what is big, little or in between. While VW going to names does not necessarily make that clear immediately, it’s far easier for me to remember the difference between the VW Up! and Golf vs QX40 and Q60 etc.
I had the idea this morning and was wondering if there ever was a car maker to use human organs for names. VW Stomach, VW Heart, VW Kidney etc.
Lamborghini Urus?
I’d drive a Porsche Penis, if it was a coupe.
Maybe the VW version could be the VW Wang.
I think the visual language of Jag’s history shows that it would be the first to name a car ‘penis’, and probably not even feel bad about it.
I’m glad VW has begun addressing the Internal Dumbassery with their EV naming structure.
Seems to me that the Buzz has significantly tapered off.
The ID. nomenclature would be fine if they used it with real names like they do with the ID.Buzz. The name is easier to remember than if they called it the ID.9 or whatever the numbers correspond to. Keep the ID. to tell you it’s an EV but give it a name to make you remember.
Typical automotive management reaction – something crappy is going on in the company, so we’ll solve it by changing car names!
Think about Ford and its need for a time to have all vehicle names start with an F. Except the Mustang, because consistency? Cadillac dropping its old model names to go with Lyriq, Evoq, MahDiq, Iamsiq. Except for the Escalade. Audi adding and removing letters to names every other generation. Even Toyota getting in on the action with its electric Bzbzbz4.Iq, which is now just the bzbzbz, and will soon become the Buzz, which will trigger lawsuits with VW. So we’re now at the beginning of the article again.
Cadillac dropped its old model names because the new ones with -iq at the end are electric. The Escalade and CT5 are not electric, so they haven’t changed their names.
Dumba$$ naming convention on the electrics, and it’s also a moron move, imo, with the cutesy differentiation from the rest of the lineup.. which went through its own name changes a decade ago as part of a “let’s change names to fix our products” reorg.
There is an electric Escalade, it’s just called the, well, Escalade iQ.
I don’t think Escalade is going away any time soon. There’s too much name recognition on that one.
Ford was always weird, the SUVs are E cars, Explorer, Edge, Expedition, then there was the Flex? Also, I can’t think of a time where all the cars were F. Maybe with the Five hundred, but that was renamed Taurus very quickly, so that was another exception there.
That’s about when it happened, and the Five Hundred was one of the first to get the “F” car treatment. Some executive decided that would change the company’s image. Of course, it did not last longer than a couple years before another executive noticed the dumba$$ery of it and put a stop to it.
Five Hundred, Fusion, Fiesta, Focus and Flex. The Flex was really more a wagon than a SUV.
And don’t forget about the Excursion SUV around that time.
Don’t forget the stupidly named “Freestyle” that was later renamed to “Taurus X”.
I worked at an OEM during a rebranding, and the corporate email insisted that we use the new logo on everything to show a consistent brand to the customer. This was a key part of their justification for changing everything: consistently.
Ha! Went through the same with the little “GM” square sticker that ended up on all Chevy’s Cadillacts etc for a few years. That was also for “corporate consistency”
Don’t remind me . . .urg . . I was there through the HP rebranding to lowercase hp as a Technical Writer.
Looking forward to the Volkswagen Persephone.
Care for a pomegranate?
I mean an electric Beetle called the Lightning Bug seems like a no-brainer.
You are the wind beneath my wings with that comment.
Absolutely!
Or in some markets, the “Firefly” which makes a lot less sense. But if the car is fire and you’re pretty fly, you can make it work.
I said this somewhere elese….VW ID.GAF
VW needs real names, and not made up names like your having a stroke(Cadillac).
I actually think Cadillac is the one who’s the closest to getting this right. All the EV’s should have some sort of naming commonality (maybe all start with the same letter or something?) to make it easy to know it’s an EV version. The -iq names Cadillac chose are garbage, but the concept I think is sound.
Car names should not come out of the same random name generator as drug names.
Ask your doctor if Lyriq is right for you.
“Hey Doc, my Celestiq hasn’t subsided and it has been 5 hours…..”
Give them all real names like the gas version, but for the electric version have one vowel in the word get an accent aigu (á, é, etc) to distinguish between the models. Just to be annoying, but with some French flair.
Eos sounds way more like an EV with 5 screens, no buttons, spaceship lighting, and a AI assistant that wants to be your friend than any ID + number combination could ever dream.
So I can understand why VW did what they did.
I look at Ford misusing the Mach and Lighting name plates.
Or Mitsubishi and the Eclipse name.
These were all bad attempts to capitalize on existing branding and hopefully attract buyers in that fashion.
VW made a whole new naming convention to try to build the connection instead without polluting other names. Also I think they were struggling to get awareness of their electric offerings as the previously released Golf EV didn’t really get any press.
So at the end of the day it was marketing and brand awareness that created this much about nothing.
It just like the i thing when the internet got big. ‘Cool’ marketing types ‘branding’ stuff and selling it it the clueless MBEh class. We don’t need nor want goofball names for our vehicles. VW has a bucketload of names to draw from as do all the other
Manufacturers. They are herding behind Herr Oberblitheringidiot and naming things model + number or some variant. JUST stop right now!
I agree I mean the BMW naming is even more confusing.
Mercedes I think lost it as well.
As a recovering VW fanboi, I still genuinely hate Tiguan (they literally said it was just Tiger + Iguana which is some Dr. Moreau-grade portmanteau. Wait, the Island of Dr. Portmanteau has a nice ring to it.)
EVs do no need special names or unusually weird styling, only to the extent that that platform allows it — flat floors, frunks, etc. I actually have a dream that one day cars will be judged not by the energy stored for their powertrains, but by the content of their performance.
I don’t think it’s a power train issue, all cars deserve real names.