New Car Definitions Leave Us Lost in Translation
1/22/08
What’s Wrong With the Good Ol’ Wagon?
Detroit is so confusing. While there to cover the Detroit auto show, Kristin and I got lost twice, and of course it wasn’t in the nice part of town (if there is one). There was no safe harbor inside the show, either; it was just as tricky to navigate. You see, traditional car definitions have been changed. The industry is going in new directions, and many new words are being used in lieu of the old ones.
For example, there’s the sport activity coupe (which is now being pronounced coo-PAY in certain circles), an urban adventure vehicle and a grand touring vehicle. Gone are the wagons, sedans and minivans, and gone are some of our old definitions, too. Coo-PAYs, for example, can now have four doors, as seen on the BMW X6 and Volkswagen Passat CC.
Even plain old hybrid, electric and alternative-fuel cars are more complicated now: there’s two-modes, flex cars, ecoboosts, biodiesels and plug-ins. I know, it’s all a matter of putting a finer point on traditional styles and types of cars, but I’m kind of hoping manufacturers (or their marketing departments) will just stop the madness. Please? I just know that as soon as I get caught up and comfortable with these new terms, they’re sure to change again.
When a highway system is under construction, detours are fine because you know eventually you’ll get back to your normal route. Here, I’m not sure the normal route is going to reappear any time soon. They’ll just keep putting shiny new coats of paint on the old terms, making new buzzwords I’m afraid are destined to stick around awhile.
Comments
Remember, stay inside Cobo. There is pretty much nothing to see outside of it. Unless you feel like heading to one of the 3 goofy casinos.
Posted by: J | Jan 22, 2008 9:34:24 PM
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Coupe (coo-PAY) is the correct pronunciation for a French word. There is an accent "grave" over the "e".
Usually, a coupe is a 2-door/4-seat vehicle with a sleek (minimal rear headroom) body style. The Mercedes-Benz CLS was probably the first of the modern 4-door coupes.
Posted by: Shahed Hussain | Jan 22, 2008 3:13:27 PM