As car companies continue to navigate the ever-changing landscape of electric vehicles, one aspect that seems to be causing some confusion is the naming of these cars. From Toyota’s bZ series to Volkswagen’s ID lineup, automakers have been struggling to find the perfect names for their electric offerings. Let’s take a look at some of the naming schemes that have been phased out so far.
Toyota’s decision to name its first U.S.-market EV the bZ4X left many scratching their heads. The “bZ” stood for “beyond zero,” but it seems like even Toyota realized it was a bit of a miss. The company has already dropped the “4X” part of the name in a recent facelift, and it looks like they’ll be moving away from the “bZ” entirely in the future. Maybe they should stick to names that people are already familiar with.
Volkswagen also fell into the naming trap with its ID series of electric vehicles. While the ID 4, ID Buzz, and other models may have seemed like a good idea at the time, the company has now decided to switch to more traditional names for its electric cars. It’s probably for the best – trying to remember all those stylized dots and spaces in the names was giving us a headache.