Well, one change for sure I think was down to BMW - the change from hundreds to fives!

200->25, 400->45 etc.. because the naming system clashed with BMW's.

 

Unfortunately the changes to the fives, mirrored Ford's method of naming vans.... e.g. Ford Escort 75 is actually the Ford Escort van:err: Also pretty sure that 55 was used at one stage too.

John

 

Of what is it symptomatic? And how come they keep doing it?

If they think it's good marketing, perhaps they should think about the track record of how it's worked in the past.

It's symptomatic of the relative failure, or poor image, of each successive model. It also mirrors the practice of renaming the company each time it fails, or needs to shed a poor image.

E.g. the Rover 75 should by logic have been named the Rover 700, but BMW wanted to disassociate it from the 800 which had a terrible image. Having done that the other two models had to have a change of name too, otherwise they would have continued to be called 200 and 400.

I hope that is the end of it and they stick with the current naming system for the next couple of generations of models...but what's the betting they don't?

 

It's all down to poor management. Once upon a time BL was in control of the following Marques

MG
Rover
Freight Rover
Austin Rover
Land Rover
Range Rover
Wolsely
Riley
Triumph
Austin
Austin Healey
Standard
Jaguar
Daimler
Leyland
Morris
BRM

Yes this many brand was dificult to manage but they should haveweed the brands sown to:

Rover - Exectutive car (Bit like Merc's, Audi's, BMW's)
Land Rover/ Range Rover - The ultimate 4x4's
Leyland - Trucks and Vans
MG - Produce Midged, MG B and another bigger Sports Car
BRM - The Equivalent of Cosworth
Triumph - Alfa Romeo destroyer
Austin Healey - Porsche Destroyer
Jaguar - A sportier Exec car
Daimler - Luxury Car (baby Roller)
Riley - Sporty luxury car (baby Bentley)
Morris Minor - Entry level cars?

I would have killed all the rest off. What a shame if onlyI could build a time machine

 

On a related theme, and carrying on from a discussion about which names BMW owns, a few questions/observations/thoughts.

Does BMW really own the name Metro?

If so, for how much of the world?

Probably not the USA. Remember the Chevrolet Metro? Here's one:

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pag...ke_type_query=make=Chevrolet&model_brand_query=model=Metro&tree=Chevrolet Metro

Did Seat have to pay ARG, Rover or whatever it was called at the time to call a car Toledo, after Triumph used it?

What about numbers? Renault 25. Rover 25. Are numbers fair game?

Austin 7, Lotus 7, Caterham 7.

It'd be a laugh if we got a Rover 7-series.

Honda Legend, Subaru Legend (in some markets, I think, unless it was Legacy that was duplicated).

 

Numbers can't be registered as stand alone trademarks e.g. 25. However a sequence of numbers can be e.g. 206, 306, 406 etc.

And yes - throughout the European Union, B*W owns the Metro name

For reference, the BRM brand was never owned or controlled by MGR.

Regards

John

 

Yes, that reminds me. Porsche wanted to call the 911 the 901, didn't it? But Peugeot said it couldn't.

But why is 25 a number and 901 a sequence?

 

Yes, that reminds me. Porsche wanted to call the 911 the 901, didn't it? But Peugeot said it couldn't.

But why is 25 a number and 901 a sequence?

25 is twenty-five but 901 is 9-0-1 (nine-o-one). I think it is down to the pronounciation.
Same for Saab 9-5, also a sequence.

 

Thanks.

Do the French say Trois - Zéro - Sept, I wonder?

I'm going to refer to it as the "Peugeot Three hundred and seven" henceforth, just to worry PAS's copyright lawyers.

So Saab would have to let Rover have a 95 then? It would make an interesting case.

 

Don't know about the French, but the Italians certainly say the number as a complete number and not individual digits eg. Peugeot trecento sette. I think every language uses the easiest option. For us, to say Peugeot three hundred and seven is too much of a mouthful!

Also, I think 901 is part of a series, because Peugeot have the rights on 3 digit numbers with a zero in the middle.

 

Thanks.

Do the French say Trois - Zéro - Sept, I wonder?

I'm going to refer to it as the "Peugeot Three hundred and seven" henceforth, just to worry PAS's copyright lawyers.

So Saab would have to let Rover have a 95 then? It would make an interesting case.

Well, Alfa Romeo didn't say anything about the 75....

 

And Ford have thes Escort 75 panel van. I don't think you could confuse the two.