Automotive homophones are a fascinating thing. These are vehicles that share a name, even when they might not have anything to do with one another. Sometimes, different vehicles from different brands share the same name, but sometimes, you even get one nameplate from one brand being applied to a crazy variety of different vehicles. What nameplate has been used on the largest variety of vehicles?
Just in case this question sounds a bit convoluted, I’ll expand on what we’re talking about here. Two years ago, Jason wrote about the wildly different vehicles to have been called a Clipper. The list is rather hilarious:
Volkswagen Clipper (Type 2)
Volkswagen Golf Cabrio Clipper
Packard Clipper
Allard Clipper
Nissan Prince Clipper
Trident Clipper
Clipper Steam Automobile
That list is wonderful because each of those vehicles is different. The Volkswagen Clipper is a Type 2 van while the Trident Clipper is nominally a GT car and the Nissan Prince Clipper is a truck. Jason also left out one big Clipper and that’s the Flxible Clipper bus!
Here’s a Nissan Prince Clipper:
Take a gander at the Packard Clipper:
We’re sure that other Clippers are out there, but this means that the name Clipper has been applied to everything from compact convertibles to sizeable buses.
Personally Victimized by [MILK] brought up another example of this on the Autopian Discord. Today, the Ford Maverick is a pickup truck. However, in the 1970s the Maverick nameplate was slapped on a two-door and four-door compact.
But wait, there’s more! The Maverick nameplate is also applied to Chinese and European versions of the Ford Escape as well as two different Ford-badged Nissan SUVs sold in Australia and Europe.
So, the name “Ford Maverick” could have wildly different meanings depending on where you live in the world. Here’s where I turn it to you. What nameplate do you think has been used on the largest variety of vehicles?
Boeing Clipper, too.
Pontiac had three different cars with names based on some combination of fire, sun, and bird. Pontiac loved sunny days and birds that were on fire.
Edit- They should have called the Solstice the BirdFireSun. Come on GM, that was the logical conclusion and you blew it.
GM and Calais: Cadillac, Oldsmobile, or Holden?
Subaru Justy: from their own design, to a Suzuki (Cultus aka Swift), to Suzuki Ignis, to Daihatsu-based. But at least always a small car.
Capri: used by every Ford brand globally as both a trim/variant then a standalone model, with Mercury seeing 3 different ‘bases.’ And returning to Europe as an EV.
Cougar is probably close too, going from a Mustang variant to even offering a station wagon 10 years later, and then a couple decades later a small FWD 2-door coupe.
Does Shelby count?
I’ll throw Hornet out there. Hudson in the 50’s, AMC in the 70’s, and now the rebadged Alfa that Dodge is hawking
Add in the Wolseley Hornet – an “upmarket”, 3-box, tail-finned early BMC Mini.
Town and Country
Started off as a woodie station wagon, then a sedan, coupe and convertible, then back to wagons, but as a trim level, then as a model of wagon, then back to a trim package, then back to a wagon, then back to a trim package, then finally as a minivan
Also a pub in Australia, made famous in song, where Slim Dusty would have a beer with Duncan and a variety of his mates.
I hear that the atmosphere is great there.
Town and Country was also an option package (code A77) on some Australian Valiant utes, which included a stripe/blackout paint package, sports steering wheel and fuel cap, special carpet, hubcaps and trim rings and a vinyl roof!
what about 240? There’s been a nissan / datsun, volvo, honda, and probably many others
alphanumeric shit is cheating 😛
E350 could be either a Mercedes luxury car, or a shitty Ford van
S550 could be a Mercedes or a Mustang
Mercedes S600 or Honda S660
Both Toyota Corolla and BMW 3-Series have had an E90 generation.
You mean E350 can be a shitty Mercedes, or a highly useful Ford van
Sierra
Dodge Sierra from the 50s (classic American wagon)_
Ford Sierra from the 80s and 90s (small German car)
GMC Sierra (modern pickup)
If phonetic counts, the Cutlass Ciera from the 80s and 90s, the timeless design cheap FWD shit
“ Ford Sierra from the 80s and 90s (small German car)” -> The Sierras was not a small car.
And I’m not sure if it was ever German. I know it was built in the UK and Belgium, but not certain about Germany.
the Merkur version we got over here was made in Germany by Karmann, and of course Ford Europe is headquartered in Germany
And Dutton Sierra, an early 80s fake off-roader kit car based on the mechanicals of the Mk1 or Mk2 Ford Escort.
Not a “nameplate”, but gm has used SS on 2 door coupes, 4 door sedans, trucks…..
Hmm… since there is the Chevy SS as a model, I guess it is a “nameplate”
Let’s not forget whatever one would classify the HHR as
I mean, I just think of that a bit like a “trim”. Okay, it’s indicating it’s a bit “sportier” than otherwise…
The separate “Chevy SS” does make that a bit murkier, I admit.
But to me, including “SS” is like including “Limited” in general, or “TRD” for Toyotas.
Overheard two kids in the grocery store parking lot arguing over the pronunciation of TRD and what the missing vowel sound should be.
In much of Europe, the “Très Riche” trim level of the Citroën BX when combined with the 1.9-litre diesel engine was the BX 19 TRD, but in English-speaking countries it was the BX 19 DTR.
How can anything think it isn’t pronounced “TuRD” ???
Yeah…a choice between a slur, 3 words that all sound like poop, and a word which sounds too much like Ford. Definitely a “say every letter, every time” acronym.
Logically it should be tord but it will always be turd to me.
Also SS is what Jaguar was before the Second World War kind of made SS an off-putting brand in Britain at least, apparently for GM not so much
Well, then you could add GT and GTi and so on…
Chevy Blazer, its been some sort of SUV but way different purposes or background. The first gen (K5) came from the full size chevy trucks, the second gen from a S10, third gen shares platform with a GMC Acadia and the new one (EV) doesnt share nothing with the previous one and shares platform with a Cadillac.
Trailblazer even more so. Successor to those Blazers, then in some global markets a Holden or Chevy SUV that we didn’t get, shared with Isuzu like a Colorado SUV, but then more recently used for a Chevy subcompact crossover.
The poor blazer the K5’s and the S10’s as they were actually capable off road SUV’s. I mean at least the K5 became the Tahoe but not like those are really off road oriented anymore though.
Spider/Spyder comes to mind, though this is really more of a body style convention than a model specific name, people tend to think of it as the name.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E.
It is not a Mustang.
Depends if you’re a linguistic prescriptivist or descriptivist.
Aurora. I guess those Danes at Zenvo didn’t realize their hypercar was named after an Oldsmobile that looks like it’d be on the cover of a Journey album.
Do boats count? Because Corvette.
And Supra
Wow Corvette has two different boats, a car and a business jet. Unsure if Star Wars counts.
Aérospatiale Corvette, a business jetChevrolet Corvette, a sports carCorellian Corvette, a small ship from Star WarsCorvette (bicycle), a model produced from 1954 until 1964Corvette (pinball), a 1994 arcade machineCorvette (video game), a racing video gameCorvette 31, a 1966 Canadian sailboat designCorvette (computer), a Soviet computer from the 1980s
I don’t have any of my own suggestions, but I’m interested to see what people come up with. That “Clipper” example is going to be hard to beat, though.
Chevy Corvair as you had a coupe, sedan, wagon, van and a truck. Also the Dodge Ram as you had the ramcharger, ram truck and ram van.
Allegedly, GM was thinking of separating Corvair off as it’s own marque at one point in the development process, like Chrysler briefly did with Valiant and Ford briefly did with Comet and Frontenac. One of the rare cases where GM decided against introducing a superfluous brand
Did not know that glad they didn’t as there were so many dumb brands these companies have made looking at you SRT hah.
I was not aware of the Ford Frontenac. I knew about the Chevrolet brothers Frontenac racing car company that won Indianapolis twice and had a couple of attempts at a road car company plus their overhead vslve high-performance head for model Ts
Then there was an unrelated Durant backed car company of that name.
While going from using the Honda Passport name on a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo to a stubby Honda Pilot isn’t that big of a stretch, they also used it on the Honda Super Cub after Piper’s lawyers intervened (which, Honda and Piper Super Cubs are also a pretty big gulf).
Pilot, Passport, and Odyssey (which can be two different vans) all being used on Honda’s powersports offerings at one time too. I thought the TrailSport trim was too but I could be confusing that with those others.
Now we need an article about all the baby animal vehicular names.
Cub, P’Up, Cygnet, Pony, Colt, Stag, there must have been a ute called a Joey, and of course, Kit cars of all sorts…
Reliant Kitten!
The Thunderbird nameplate had a long and diverse product run over roughly 50 years. It even had a 4 door briefly, rear suicide doors.
That 4 door variant is why, if Ford insisted on not giving it a new one, Thunderbird would have made a better name for the Mach-E.
Or they could have hit it out of the park and called it an E-Bird.
So much missed opportunity with the Thunderbird and the Lightning.
You make me think that Chris D’s E-bird (genius) badge could be awesome, electrical-looking thunderbolts and all.
Came here to read this… so many completed different shapes over the years.
…completely different shapes (damn autocorrect!)
GM kind of whored around the Chevrolet Lumina name – could be a midsize entry priced FWD sedan, a dustbuster shaped 3-row minivan, a RWD full-size sedan, a RWD sports coupe, or a FWD entry luxury sedan.
Oldsmobile Cutlass was probably crazier though – FWD midsize car, RWD personal luxury coupe, FWD entry luxury sedan & coupe, FWD compact car, much of them overlapping in the same market.
That is a great example, Cutlass may as well have been shorthand for Oldsmobile.
Correct answer! After the PLC successes of the 70’s, Olds slapped the Cutlass label on almost everything. Cutlass Ciera was an A-body that lasted 15 model years. Cutlass Calais was an N-body (think Grand Am) that was eventually renamed Achieva. And Cutlass Supreme was the old, RWD G-body that the Buick Grand National was built from.
All of this and the truth is that the Cutlass (the sword) was a crude, clumsy weapon used by sailors. No Gentleman would ever wield one, which makes it odd that Oldsmobile would choose the name to promote a product in the Brougham era.
IIRC they used Cutlass Salon for some 4 door sedans on the same G-body. Should have named the division Cutlass.
There was also the later, new Cutlass Supreme on the W-body platform and the even later P90 Cutlass that was just a straight rebadge of the Malibu
That last one was a very sad end to the nameplate. As bland as a piece of white toast with nothing on it.
Well there is a museum with about 150 cars in it that are all called “Land Cruiser”, not to mention the Studebakers with the same name. They are all the same kind of vehicle I guess so maybe, maybe not. Not quite sure I get the question.
I think the Clipper example is fairly demonstrative…one nameplate, but many brands have used it and it’s appeared on very different body styles.
If all Land Cruisers are…well, off-road crawlers for the most part, with small variations…I wouldn’t count that. But that’s just my take.
Aspen: A malaise era Dodge sedan/wagon or Cerberus era Chrysler luxury? SUV .
Honestly not sure which is worse.
I think Aspen was also trim-level name for a limited edition of Ford Mondeo in the UK for a while (can’t remember if it was Mk1 or Mk2 Mondeo).
Just saw pics of the new Aston Martin Valiant. Compare and contrast with the Plymouth Valiant.
A billion people will probably bring up the Cougar or the Charger, but I’ll try to zig instead of zag here and go with “Pacifica.”
I know for sure it was a trim level of the Dodge Daytona in the late 80’s, then it was a small crossover SUV as a Chrysler, and now it’s a minivan.
I’m going to cheat just a little because the one that was funny (until the joke quickly became stale) was all the cheap Pontiac sedan owners thinking the “Like a G6” song was about their shitboxes.
Even though I don’t believe Gulfstream has actually ever marketed a “G6”, just a G600 and G650.
Per Wikipedia:
“They settled on “G6”, meant to be a reference to the private airplane model Gulfstream IV, referred to as a “G4”. The G4 had been name-checked in songs such as Drake’s 2009 “Forever”. A G6, they decided, was “flyer than a G4”, according to Far East Movement member Kev Nish.[5] The song has been incorrectly speculated to be about other things, including the Pontiac G6[6][7] and the Suunto G6 watch. When the song came out, the Gulfstream G650 model already existed, although the song’s writers were not aware of this at the time.”
Per Wikipedia:
The “G6” in the song came about when the Cataracs were looking for a rhyme for the line “Sippin’ sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6”, a reference to the 2000 song “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” by rap group Three 6 Mafia. They settled on “G6”, meant to be a reference to the private airplane model Gulfstream IV, referred to as a “G4”. The G4 had been name-checked in songs such as Drake’s 2009 “Forever”. A G6, they decided, was “flyer than a G4”, according to Far East Movement member Kev Nish. The song has been incorrectly speculated to be about other things, including the Pontiac G6 and the Suunto G6 watch. When the song came out, the Gulfstream G650 model already existed, although the song’s writers were not aware of this at the time.
Old me thought the word was “cheesesteak” for the longest time.
Eclipse comes immediately to mind