Detroit is one of the Big Kahunas of the Car Show circuit, and as such there’s typically a lot of important iron dropped each year at the winter extravaganza. That includes a butt-load of debuts which this year encompass both names that are familiar – Ford’s GT, Chevy’s Volt, etc, and some whose names are new to the scene. It’s the latter that have perhaps proven the most confounding as it seems that when it comes to car names, the well has finally run dry.
That of course has led to Chevy’s cheap seats Tesla fighter being unimaginatively named the Bolt, and perhaps more egregiously, the new SUV from Jaguar being anointed the F-Pace. I’d like to table for a moment discussion of the actual need for yet another cross-over, and least of all one from tweedy old Jaguar. Instead, i’d like to focus on that name, which does not seem to derive from either the brand’s providence, nor general common sense.
Now, we’ve been having a little fun with the name, calling it Pee-face and the like, and you know that it will only get worse when the poor car hits the market, as the auto sales landscape is nothing more than 8th grade with new car smell. The question for today however is whether this is just a minor mistep by the Brits, or if this is in fact the worst name ever chosen in the history of automotive name choosing. What do you think?
Image: DigitalTrends
Hooniverse Asks- Is Jaguar F-Pace The Stupidest Name Ever?
By Robert Emslie
Jan 14, 2015
Jeff Glucker
F-Pace is definitely not the stupidest name ever… Not even close!
<img src="http://demotywatory.pl//uploads/201012/1291572667_by_disnej684_600.jpg"><img src="http://www.billigstautos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/daihatsu-naked.jpg" width="600/">
It isn't just for 7-year-old giggles that I keep accidentally calling it the P-FACE. My brain is transmogrifying it and I'm somehow seeing it like that.
And I can't unsee it.
Also, like so many new cars, it looks like an angry made up creature from some anime. This creature is called Peaface. It has a defensive power. You don't want to be on the receiving end of it.
I see it as F* Pace. A slow going, angry blob.
I'm not a fan.
I guess all of the other *-Type names were taken…
It's not a terrible looking SUV (CX-17 concept). They really should have put some effort behind the nomenclature.
I think it's be great if Jag went to an actual naming convention. Such as:
XJ#- Large Sedan
XF#- 'Family' sedan
XK#- Sporting GT
XR#- True sportscar
XS#- SUV
With the # being cylinders, and R can be added for the performance suspension and an S for a supercharger. D for Diesel.
Plus that would make my eBay shopping much easier.
The naming department at Jaguar has had its hiccups. Just taste this mouthful: Jaguar XJ-SC Sport R. When you're done saying this, all the sex appeal is gone.
Well, there's the Madza La Puta, but I don't think it was ever used for taxi service…. As far as I know all the rides you got in a La Puta were free….
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_Laputa
Did Jaguar ask the Chinese to name it? It reminds me of "Prime Well" tires.
Feeling thirsty? Drink some nice, refreshing… <img src="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608008769289850395&pid=15.1&P=0" width=600>
Well, pretty stupid, yes, but it's not any worse than:
CTS
ATS
XTS
CS6 (or whatever the new, non-Fleetwood is going to be)
MKV
MKS
Catera Touring Sedan makes sense though. The DTS and STS worked the same way. Can't really speak for the ATS and XTS though. Also don't know for the Mark Five or Mark Seven(ty?). I think they've used those before.
Yeah, I'll give 'em CTS…though it may as well stand for Cimmarron Touring Sedan.
ETC/STS/DHS/DTS I has no problem with because at least they stood for names.
I owned what I think may have had the longest name, ever.
A 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d'elegance.
Mark V and Mark VII? You mean Ferds, right? I mixed my makes, above.
The Mark I was the first, and each one after was akin to a sequel. I'm good with this, too, because they were Continental Mark-somethings.
When it hits the 25 year mark I hope to own the Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v Evoluzione II.
I always figured Lincoln MKV, MKS, MKX, MKC, MKT and MKZ stood for Mark and then the number in Roman numerals. Apparently just about every letter has an unofficial number, T being 160, S being an abbreviation of Septem.
That's true sometimes in very late Latin, but S as a numerical abbreviation is typically taken as SEMIS, which unsurprisingly means one-half. On Roman coins it stands for SEMISSIS indicating a value one-half that of the coin known as an AS. Feel free to insert your own joke about half-assed etymologies here.
The Mark Half then.
A half-mark is six shillings and eight pence, which is to say one-third of a pound.
I'm beginning to suspect Ford Motor Company did not think this through carefully at all.
The Cadillac system does make sense to me, since the higher up in the model range you go, the bigger the letter tends to be. Though the CT6 is going to throw a wrench into that.
Infiniti will not stand for this blatent infringement. Starting next year all Inifinitis will be called Q(number of doors). This is to be followed by the whole model line being just Q when someone else steps up to the plate.
¿Infiniti….que?
I can just envision some road rage infused commuter stuck behind one of these puttering along, looking at that name on its' rear end and yelling for them to pick up the F**kng Pace!! 🙂
Obligatory Sniff Petrol link.
Though it is better than Lincoln's MKX, because I still can't remember what a MKX is. Is it the big sedan?
Ford Edge
Ah. And now I'll probably forget it tomorrow, the whole weird meaningless jumble of letters thing makes me forget what their entire line is basically all the time. I suspect that the Infiniti Q-Who? line is going to have the same effect.
In F-pace, no one can hear you fream?
I said it yesterday, and I will say it again: Fpace, fe final pfrontier.
These are the voyages of a car rented from Enterprise…
Stupidest name ever? Not by a long shot. Stupidest name ever for a Jaguar? Yup.
I want mine in this color:
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/PACE_flag_(without_text).svg" width="200">
Isn't that a Subaru?
You, Sir, are a master of this game!
Every time I see a Kia Candenza, or whatever it's called, I wonder if the Kia Chesterfield is next.
This isn't a bad name, but the Mazda SUV isn't the greatest SUV in the world, it's just a Tribute.
Oh, or Plymouth Breeze – I mean, someone must've just given up after they came up with Cirrus and Stratus.
RE Plymouth Breeze:
Focus groups were having a difficult time pronouncing Cumulonimbus.
In the process, the suggestion "Plymouth Spitter" was wiped off the white chart.
And then there's the Ford Aspire. Poor little thing, it just wants to be a real car.
Back when all Fords were being renamed to Ex… (Explorer, Expedition), were they going to rename it to Expire?
I foresee a gaggle of soccer moms in these, known to locals as The F-Troop
<img src="http://www.tvacres.com/images/west2_f_troop_comic6.jpg">
"F-Pace" is pretty egregious, but there's another upcoming British brand that wants to stake a claim to the moronic luxury SUV name throne: The Bentley Bentayga.
To me, "Bentayga" sounds like a series of angsty young-adult novels set in an ancient Pacific island civilization. That, or a hilariously low-tech game, a la Jenga.
I just hope it sells well. Otherwise, it will be known as the F-bomb.
Perhaps the P is silent like in Psycho.
Definitley not
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/EdsellogoE.svg/600px-EdsellogoE.svg.png"width="250">
And then the styling didn't help. Edsel, with a name like that how could it succeed?
I haven't seen anyone note that the classic tagline for Jaguar is "Grace, pace, and space".
"Grace, Pace, Space and Pee-Face"?