Automakers will do anything for a quick buck, and that includes sullying their heritage.
Ferrari has just revealed the SF90 XX in Stradale and Spider forms, and immediately, there's a big problem with the name: it dilutes previous XX creations.
We'll explain how momentarily, but it's not the only nomenclature of recent years that we take issue with. As customers' needs and governments' requirements have changed, many automakers have abandoned or become less focused on low-volume models that appeal to enthusiasts but don't bring in huge profits. That's just business, but in many cases, these nameplates have been resurrected in totally different segments that have little or no relation to their forebears, purely for the sake of tapping the marketing value of nostalgia. In other cases, the original icon is still sold, but its name is also passed onto a lesser vehicle that is not deserving of it.
And in a nutshell, that's what this article is about – cars that are totally inoffensive in every way but their name. Ferrari, notably, is a repeat offender…
Ferrari SF90 XX
To understand why a car's name is offensive, we need to understand what it stands (or stood) for. In the case of the SF90 XX Stradale, the name references Ferrari's private XX customer racing program launched in 2005, in which high-performance Ferrari supercars and hypercars are given the most extreme upgrades possible without having to fret about meeting the technical regulations of governed motorsport series. This resulted in track-only creations that were wilder than even the most extreme production-based Le Mans racers, cars that were too loud and too powerful for organized competition, cars that could only race each other as part of Ferrari's exclusive Corse Clienti program.
These cars were never taken home by the customer. Ferrari would ship them to tracks around the world, but the owner never actually took possession. Selling a car you couldn't keep seemed silly to the proletariat, but wealthy Ferraristi preferred to have Maranello handle all the logistics, maintenance, and setup. Thus, Ferrari's customer elite drove cars that most seasoned Formula 1 drivers never even sat in.
So what's the problem?
XXs are supposed to be the most extreme, most hardcore, most uncompromising supercars on the planet, but the SF90 XX is a road-legal car. That means it's inherently compromised, yet it still has the XX name and, by association, dilutes the essence and impact of past XX vehicles. But there are other problems. Since buyers can take it home, how many of them will bother to bring the car to the circuit? What's a Ferrari XX that never hits the track? Pointless, if you ask me. I sincerely hope Ferrari included a clause setting a minimum number of annual track days.
The SF90 XX is also a limited edition, and that presents problems of its own. As a highly sought-after Ferrari road car made in low numbers, its current and future values will dictate how it spends its life, for fear of damage. That means it likely won't even be driven on the road, never mind the track. Don't even get me started on the existence of the SF90 XX Spider. With the first XX droptop, a bigger part of Ferrari's soul has been sold.
Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
We love the idea of bringing back much-loved nameplates and creating a whole new generation of enthusiasts. The Acura Integra is a great example of that. But we don't like it so much when those nameplates appear on cars that are nothing like those they call to mind, as in the case of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. The original Eclipse (and the first star of The Fast and the Furious) was very far removed from what we have now.
It was produced from 1989-2011 and was a highly tunable Japanese car. It didn't reach the same heights of fame as other unobtainable Japanese cars of the era because it was sold in America, but it still had a coupe or convertible body style and was available with the same 4G63T engine from the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Basically, it was an affordable but sexy two-door with loads of potential for modification. The Eclipse Cross that replaced it was similar only in name.
The Eclipse Cross currently on sale barely wheezes out 152 horsepower from its 1.5-liter turbo-four. The uninspired powertrain is one thing, the fact that the vehicle is a crossover is another, but the decision to equip the crossover with a CVT instead of a regular gearbox illustrates just how far the nameplate has fallen. It no longer represents something fun and stylish, something that your kids might one day want to drive.
In fact, it's not even that good in its new life as a family car. It's not all that ugly, it has a large cargo area, and the ride is comfy. But it feels old, the cabin is bland, the engine struggles, and in a world also populated by the likes of the Honda CR-V and the Mazda CX-50, there's nothing about the Eclipse Cross to tempt you away from the tried and trusted recipes of other Japanese automakers.
Simply put, the Eclipse Cross was a weak attempt to capture some of the excitement of the original, and it shows.
Chevrolet Blazer
This is a less obvious instance of an automaker disappointing its customer base, but it's still worth mentioning. The Chevrolet K5 Blazer was produced from 1969-1995 and was based on the C/K pickup chassis. That made it a proper truck, and even when it was renamed to remove the K5 denomination, it was built on a pickup chassis, namely that of the S-10. All good so far. The Blazer was a capable SUV with real truck DNA.
The new-age Chevrolet Blazer that arrived in 2019 is a far cry from the original. Without a body-on-frame design, it will never be capable of reaching the kinds of places the original versions could, and with similar crossovers already available in the forms of the smaller Equinox and the larger Traverse, it's little more than a niche-filler. And it's going electric too.
The modern Blazer should have been a Ford Bronco rival. It's not, and that made it a disappointing means of reintroducing a legendary name.
BMW XM
I'm not going to say too much here because of two reasons. First, any article I write about the BMW XM lets my (extremely intolerant) feelings about it become very apparent, and second, Roger Biermann, the Editor in Chief here at CarBuzz, has already summed up most of my thoughts rather succinctly. Basically, he said that the XM is a cash grab that has nothing in common with the only other standalone M car in history, the M1 supercar. And you know what? BMW practically admitted as much. But my problem with the XM isn't its existence. Willing buyer, willing seller, and all that.
If people want to spend ludicrous sums of money on a massive SUV that beats none of its rivals, that's their choice. If people want to drive around in something that looks like the automotive equivalent of an Ed Hardy jacket, that's their prerogative. But it was BMW's prerogative to call it an M car, and that's the part that grinds my gears. The name itself is derived from Motorsport, and the XM will never compete in a racing series. Hell, it can't even make it past three corners at Pikes Peak. Worse still, it fails as a supremely luxurious SUV too.
This should have been sharper than the Aston Martin DBX707 or at least as comfy as a Range Rover. It achieves neither brief and is, therefore, one of the worst cases of badge exploitation in automotive history. I was going to use more colorful language to sum it up, but Roger said no.
Ferrari 599 GTO
This is another car whose existence is not irksome – the Ferrari 599 GTO was a bloodthirsty animal that turned a comfortable grand tourer into an apex-hunting beast, one that required full attention at all times. It was made using lessons learned in the development of the 599XX, one of Maranello's most extreme track-only cars ever. And it looked good doing all that.
But it's called GTO. GTO stands for Gran Turismo Omologato. Loosely translated, that means homologated grand tourer, and on the surface, that could apply to any long-distance cruiser federally approved for the road. But the actual meaning, as JD Power notes, is that GTOs are meant to be road cars that have been modified and then homologated for on-track competition. That was the case with the original Ferrari 250 GTO, but not here.
After the 250 GTO, the nameplate appeared again in 1984 on the Ferrari GTO (which is often mistakenly called the 288 GTO since the similarly shaped 308 was what it was based upon). Like its 250 GT-based predecessor, this was built specifically to race, so the name was fitting.
But with the 599 GTO, Ferrari had no racing homologation obligations, and the car was given the GTO badge simply to try to capture extra magic. Look, it's a great car, and it helped Ferrari introduce new technologies to roadgoing cars, but it never raced. Like the Ferrari SF90 XX twins, it's a car that's been given a prominent name without showing much respect for what that name represents.
Either Ferrari should have entered it in competition (even if only for one season), or it should have chosen a more applicable name. Ferrari 599 GTX might have worked.
Notable Mentions
These are just a handful of examples of manufacturers watering down their heritage, but there are many more. Like the Chevrolet Blazer, we can't help but wonder if the Ford Mustang Mach-E would have been better received if it was named differently. It’s not that it’s a bad EV or a bad crossover – it’s actually pretty good – but the problem lies in giving it a name that calls to mind high performance, a low roofline, and the prospect of wasting Cars & Coffee bystanders. None of those things are provided by the electric SUV (unless you intentionally aim for crowds of pedestrians, of course). But at least Ford Performance doesn’t put its branding on unmodified, base model EcoSports. Not everyone has the same integrity.
Mitsubishi is being called back to the headmaster's office because its Ralliart tuning department has been plastering decals all over really crappy cars, including the Mirage and crossovers like the Outlander. There have even been rumors that the Evolution name could return as an EV. Somebody make it stop.
Even the Corvette – which only recently fulfilled its destiny by becoming mid-engine – is rumored to soon find its name adorning the back of an SUV. Nothing is off-limits anymore.
It's a sad state of affairs, but it's only expected to get worse as automakers try to reinvent model lines for the electric age. Just wait for the electric Mazda MX-5 SUV. I just made that up, but you never know…
Keyword: 5 Times Manufacturers Milked Iconic Badges For Sell-Out Cars