The Nautilus is the latest entry in a four-ute, two-sedan lineup for the legendary Ford luxury brand. Rookie Nautilus joins some familiar, trusty\u00a0names that Lincoln has\u00a0dusted off to represent its top-of-the-line sedan (Continental) and large, three-row SUV (the Aviator). The entry-level MKC SUV will reportedly be\u00a0replaced\u00a0by the all-new Corsair, while the brand\u2019s top-of-the-line Navigator never went\u00a0away.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cVehicle names made more sense for us to distinguish ourselves,\u201d said Lincoln Global Director of Sales and Service Robert Parker. \u201cBecause at the end of the day, we get data back, and the data was signaling to us that people were confused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Save for ultra-luxury brands like Rolls Royce and Lamborghini, the only full-line premium brands to name their vehicles are Lincoln, Alfa Romeo (Giulia, Stelvio, for example), Range Rover (Discovery, Evoque), and Maserati (Ghibili, Levante).\u00a0The newest brands in luxury\u00a0\u2014 Tesla (Model 3, Model X) and Genesis (G70, G80) \u2014\u00a0have both chosen alphanumerics.<\/p>\n
Alphanumeric naming convention has\u00a0been driven by German automakers.\u00a0And as their models dominated international markets,\u00a0other automakers followed, seeking the same clean, technical brand identity that alphanumerics convey.<\/p>\n
Concise badges with letters and numbers\u00a0also translate well across different languages and cultures, industry insiders say.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the primary rationales in going alphanumeric is sometimes when you have an organic name you have to figure out what it means in other languages,\u201d says auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid of Navigant\u00a0Research. “There have been instances when it had an unsavory meaning in another language. Like Buick Lacrosse which was a slang term in Canadian\/French.”<\/div>\n
Among mainstream brands, the Chevy Nova, Mazda LaPuta, and\u00a0Kia Stinger also ran into translation issues. Nova means “it doesn’t go” in Spanish. Laputa translated as “whore.” And in Britain, “stinger” can refer to \u2014\u00a0well, ahem, look it up.<\/p>\n
Lincoln began using the alphanumeric MK\u00a0badges \u2014\u00a0short for “Mark” \u2014\u00a0on its vehicles beginning in 2007. But the nomenclature failed to resonate.<\/p>\n
“Lincoln\u00a0was one of the most confusing (nomenclatures) of all the brands. Everything started with MK and then some random third letter that had no rhyme or reason to it,” said Abuelsamid. “People didn\u2019t know the difference between and MKC\u00a0and MKX and MKT. So going back to names will be more memorable to people.”<\/p>\n
Lincoln says the journey-themed\u00a0names also represent the brand\u2019s journey to a new place in luxury \u2014 away from apex-carving, N\u00fcrburgring-tested, German-benchmarked\u00a0athletes and toward an effortless driving experience that pampers passengers.<\/p>\n
Lincoln calls it \u201cquiet luxury.\u201d The Nautilus takes its cues from the iconic, three-row\u00a0Navigator, a majestic land yacht with optional 30-way massaging seats, sumptuous digital displays, and cavernous interior that has everything but third-row Jacuzzi.<\/p>\n
The Navigator \u2014\u00a0like Cadillac\u2019s Escalade \u2014\u00a0never succumbed to the brand\u2019s alphanumeric naming strategy. Now remade for 2018 to rave reviews in the automotive press (and hot sales for its upscale Black Label trim), the Navigator is the perfect patron for a family of cars with fresh names.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of continuity with Navigator,\u201d smiles Parker. \u201cThat was a big opportunity for us in 2012 when we really put together a 10-year strategy. The details (of how you interact with the Navigator and Nautilus) bring continuity in appearance and functionality that it important to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nautlius comes new standard with a 245-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and an optional, 335-horse 2.7-liter V-6 mill. But such specs seem as unimportant to the Lincoln as technical, alphanumeric badges.<\/p>\n
Instead, Lincoln wants the Nautilus judged on different standards like\u00a022-way, massaging front thrones or a vehicle \u201chandshake\u201d that welcomes the driver with a lit, Lincoln logo welcome mat projected on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay attention to details. The knobs, the leather, the detente into the switches is all about creating an environment\u00a0that you look forward to after a hard day\u2019s work,\u201d says Parker. \u201cThat encapsulates what the Lincoln brand stands for. And then the names drill down on it.”<\/p>\n
Picking new names was an extensive process, but at least\u00a0translation challenges were limited.<\/p>\n
“Lincoln is not a brand generally available globally \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s sold in\u00a0North American and China,” said Abuelsamid.\u00a0“With just those two it will be easier to find\u00a0names that don\u2019t have problematic meanings.”<\/p>\n
Once his team settled on a unifying principle of journey and travel, Parker and his team drew inspiration for its naming strategy both internally and from an outside company with success in non-automotive naming strategies.<\/p>\n
“You could a write a book about choosing names,” he said.\u00a0There are names that are important to us \u2014\u00a0that are important to our history. Continental was one of those names that started back in the late \u201830s. We retained it as part of our portfolio. Our theme inspired some of the contrived names like Nautilus.”<\/p>\n
Then Lincoln tried the names out on focus groups. Audiences were told what age range a particular vehicle was meant to appeal to, then given a list of names, and a picture of the vehicle.<\/p>\n
Which names best\u00a0applied\u00a0to the vehicle?<\/p>\n
“For some of us it was that way with our kids,” chuckles Lincoln’s Parker.\u00a0“You had a short list of names but you wanted to see the kid before you picked the name. Cars are the same way \u2014\u00a0you really have to see the car before you land on the name.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Santa Barbara, California\u00a0\u2013 Premium autos these days are an alphabet soup of confusing vehicles names. There\u2019s the QX60, XC90, RX450\u00a0and RDX from Infiniti, Volvo, Lexus and Acura respectively. Cadillac is changing its alphanumeric lineup from ATS, CTS\u00a0and XTS to CT4, CT5\u00a0and CT6. BMW\u2019s compact lineup alone offers a 320i, 330i X-Drive, 440i, M3\u00a0and M4. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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