By Kamil Kaluski
Last week I reviewed the F-250 Tremor and said it was good. Today, Ford announced the Ranger Tremor. Don’t for a second think that this is a coincidence. But in all this I have a question that’s been on my mind for a while – is “Tremor” a good name for a vehicle?
Dictionary dot com defines Tremor as:
noun
1 – involuntary shaking of the body or limbs, as from disease, fear, weakness, or excitement; a fit of trembling.2 – any tremulous or vibratory movement; vibration:tremors following an earthquake.3 – a trembling or quivering effect, as of light.4 – a quavering sound, as of the voice.
Several people I spoke to about the truck were puzzled by its name. The theory was that the truck was supposed to give people tremors, but is that something that we want to do? In the human body, a tremor is an involuntary muscle contraction that is often a symptom of a neurological disorder. Or is this truck so bad-ass that it will shake the earth? Again, earthquakes are not ideal, either.
Owners of older modified Jeeps may get a kick out of the Tremor name. It’s likely that the Jeep death wobble may have given them tremors. But generally, Jeep sticks to model names based on geographical location or historic (with a patriotic twist) references. Chevy called its most capable Colorado pickup truck the Bison, a big strong descendant of a Yak that’s actually pretty quick when it attacks, often for no reason at all.
So, today we ask – is “Tremor” a good name for a vehicle?
Jeff Glucker
I reacted to the odd naming in your original post, too, and I think it’s a strange choice for all the reasons mentioned. It’s short and simple though, which is good. With more humor, they could have gone for glamor, or go all the way in with the tremor-route, and land on tumor.
Considering Ford also uses Raptor as a trim name, this is the first place I go with Tremor, which is probably fine. T-Rex might have made more sense, but I suspect FCA’s held onto that trademark for a while.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GlisteningWiltedHammerkop-size_restricted.gif
I reacted to the odd naming in your original post, too, and I think it’s a strange choice for all the reasons mentioned. It’s short and simple though, which is good. With more humor, they could have gone for glamor, or go all the way in with the tremor-route, and land on tumor.
Ford wanted to name it the Dildo, but realized a lot of their marketing would be filtered out as NSFW.
https://media.tenor.com/images/f5620f3f73862c4087e21c6c81c5ab9f/tenor.gif
I’m not a fan, but it’s honestly better than Raptor. “Raptor” has been waaaaay over-used in the past couple of decades, and has become pretty stale. I liked the word much more when it described a bird of prey rather than being short for “velociraptor”.
“Tremor” is ok if you think about it geologically, given that it suggests massive forces. Given that it also describes a negative medical disorder, though, seriously detracts from the powerful imagery. I think “Bison” was a better choice by GM.
Marketing fluff such as this generally annoys me.
Well, Chevy is famous for being “Like A Rock”.
Ford, on the other hand…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4e7898c3d40657866add724b8c0803dd3a5552cce5316d3f1bb5d8585f21319.gif
For those not fans of forty-five year old Mel Brooks movies
“A joke is like a frog. After you dissect the frog you know everything there is to know about the frog, but the frog is dead.” -variously attributed
Those who aren’t fans of forty-five year old Mel Brooks movies need to go back to Jalopnik.
I think it’s pretty great. So does Kevin Bacon.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3004d12310b38f257ad780cf4a395c239411ca0463fe7352b1b4e3405889dff1.jpg
How can you trust Kevin Bacon? He liked the Ford Quicksilver, too!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5caed26cc392e9996ff715910bc3abaafd3fd782bf27ceee99407a45e7fc9ae3.jpg
(More movie jokes from the Reagan Era, I know.)
They used it back in ~2012 on F150’s putting the 3.5L ecoboost V6 in to a regular cab 6.5′ bed F150. I loved it, until I saw the price and low volume that enabled dealers to pile on a markup. It was the Lightning all over again. Great accessible performance screwed over by marketing.
I give it an eh, ok, not great, not terrible.
I suppose it would be a pretty good name for a vibroseis truck.
http://pages.geo.wvu.edu/~jtoro/Petroleum/petroleum_figs/review3/seismic/vibro.jpg
You’re taking me back to my youth, when these were a common sight.
I quiver in anticipation of the Tremor. Oh, I’m sure it will have a few faults at introduction, including a plasticky ‘fissure-price’ interior, and bad after-shocks, but no problems of any magnitude. I am confident The Tremor can carry the mantle of Ford proudly and will be a success of seismic proportions.
other carmakers should be quaking in their boots
The Tremor name seems more appropriate to a sub woofer than a pickup truck, I vaguely recall something having a “tremor” audio system.