Hyundai should have followed Honda, Nissan, and Toyota's lead(s) and created a new nameplate for its new luxury sedan, the Genesis. Hyundais have come a long way, but I don't think quite enough. They should have gone with something that dripped class, like Leganza. Or maybe just use Genesis for the marque. Then they should have given the car itself a cryptic alphanumeric name. Of the "cool" letters, 'K' and 'N' are the only ones that are still unused. 'K' is superior to 'N' not just because I think so, but because of where Hyundai is from. 'K' by itself is a non-starter because of the ill-fated Chrysler K-class from the 1980s. 'N' by itself would be confusing in use; "I just bought an N!" As a South Korean company, they certainly can't do NK, and KN risks sounding like cane. 'K' plus one number would sound too much like Audi's 'A' plus one number scheme. '300' and '500' are out because of Ford and Chrysler respectively. It's got a V8, but 'K' followed by '8' is hard to say: kay ate. That strikes 'K8,' 'K80,' and 'K800' from the list. Letters after numbers imply a trim rather than a model, so something like 'N8K' is out. It can't be 'N8' because then people would call it "nate." 'N80?' I guess that's the best I can do.

¶ 1666 Posted at 11.41 AM ⇒ No Comments ( cars | commentary | names )