New Alphanumerics making sense?

[Mule Bakersdozen LS]

I was on the U.S. Patent and Trademark website earlier ( http://www.uspto.gov ) and after Search Trademarks----->Advanced Search-----> and "GENERAL and MOTORS and CORPORATION and AUTOMOBILES", I saw AT1, BT3, CT6, DT7, and the like newly trademarked. I'm starting to think about the number portions here, being that these tentative new Caddys look like they'll finally be readjusted to take BMW head-on, and my theory is as follows:

AT1-1-Series rival, thus the smallest (possibly most hated, at least among diehard traditionalists) Standard of the World!

BT3-3-Series rival, probably sized more accordingly than CTS, which would be....

CT5-Current CTS and gang, already nearly 5-Series sized now, but a more effective competitor.

CT6-Coupe and convertible of above CT5.

STS dies.

DT7-7-Series rival big Caddy, stretched from CT5/6.

Also add BTX, CTX, DTX, likely for crossovers. I don't remember if STX or XTX were dead trademarks.

Any thoughts on this?

[Dsuupr]

It seems like GM is trademarking new things all the time.

Using Mercedes / BMW like markings does make sense. In theory Cadillac has the C & S series now. The other companies change the designation after the the first letter / number often without issue. Cadillac should be able to do the same fairly easily.

Edited November 30, 2007 by Dsuupr

[ZL-1]

ZR-1's status is LIVE

[Northstar]

Those names are dumb, but if the product is good it won't matter.

[Drew Dowdell]

Makes me think of airliners.

CT5

DT7

DC9

747

A380*

* A-class Cadillac with a 3800 series IV

[pow]

I think it's weird, because usually its either a letter (C/E/S, IS/GS/LS, G/M/Q) or a number (3/5/7, 4/5/8) that signifies the model, with additional numbers signifying engine size. This appears to be a combination of both letters and numbers for just the model. AT1 2.8D? BT3 3.6DI? CT5 4.6? DT7 4.4TT?

[Oracle of Delphi]

FBI, CIA, NSA, NRO!

[tmp]

I think big companies routinely place-hold names.

[Sixty8panther]

ATF, IBM, UPS, LED, VHS, H2O, ABS, WTF

No stupid acronym will EVER sound as elegant, stately & luxurious as:

Cadillac V-16 Dual Cowl Phaeton by Fisher

Cadillac Coupe deVille

Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d'Elegance

Cadillac Eldorado Biaritz

Edited November 30, 2007 by Sixty8panther

[Drew Dowdell]

I think it's weird, because usually its either a letter (C/E/S, IS/GS/LS, G/M/Q) or a number (3/5/7, 4/5/8) that signifies the model, with additional numbers signifying engine size. This appears to be a combination of both letters and numbers for just the model. AT1 2.8D? BT3 3.6DI? CT5 4.6? DT7 4.4TT?

A3, A4, A5, A6, A8

[Windy-57]

Those names are dumb, but if the product is good it won't matter.

Thank you!!!

The only time a name really matters is when it becomes an icon like Corvette or if it becomes synonymous with something bad like the Yugo did. In fact, it should have to be a pretty extreme situation to change a name because it screws with the buyer. So, don't rename the CTS to CT5 because the CTS has a pretty strong following and is getting a lot of press lately and they'll lose a portion of that momentum by renaming it.

[Mule Bakersdozen LS]

Actually I was just thinking....maybe that's just the collective series, you know like Biscayne/Bel-Air/Impala/Caprice/Impala SS back in the 1960's-70's were referred to as the "Chevrolet" line-like there's still DTS, CTS, BTS, etc., but that could encompass many or few body styles....make sense?

[Northstar]

Perhaps it could refer to the number of doors. CT5 would be a wagon, but what would CT6 be? CT2 would be a coupe...