General Motors filed new trademarks for potential names of potential vehicles recently. If Cadillac fans loved Celestiq and Lyriq, they’re going to be very, very happy. However, anyone hoping for an Escaliq will be disappointed.
GM’s Crystal Windham talks about Cadillac’s latest product, the Celestiq, during CES 2021. Is it getting a few new siblings?
The filings often portend what’s coming in the product pipeline for a brand, and in this case, it appears Cadillac is going to be offering three new electric vehicles, reports British auto website CarBuzz.
The company filed three new names: Vistiq, Lumistiq and Escalade IQL. So close, yet … so far away.
Cadillac will be an all-electric division by 2030 with the first few models, the Lyriq and Celestiq, set to begin arriving next year. The other names were filed under the classification of “Motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles.”
The filings don’t offer much more than that so what kind of “motor land vehicle” it will be applied to is unknown — at least to the general public. However, it does suggest the end is near for another round of alphanumeric monikers used by an automaker that never seemed to curry favor with buyers.
What’s in a name?
Often a name is a real, tangible person, place or thing like Escalade, Sierra or a Bronco. Other times, it’s a completely made-up name.
The IQ is strong with Cadillac, including the Lyriq.
However, a ginned-up name for a potential future vehicle offering doesn’t mean it didn’t have a “meaning” or wasn’t used by another business, especially in the case of the Vistiq. Prior to GM’s filing, the trademark was held by Alliance Data Systems Corp., a Texas-based financial services firm, from 2007 to 2008.
Since abandoned, it was the name applied to the company’s “Application service provider (ASP) featuring software for use in database management, tracking customers for marketing purposes, spreadsheets, word processing, creation of direct mail and electronic mail promotions and associated creative services, generating customer lists for direct mail campaigns, and electronic mail communications,” according to the filing. It also had other “duties” assigned to it.
Conversely, Lumistiq’s trademark is entirely new.
Preventing problems
Automakers regularly renew and file new trademarks on names to make sure they don’t have to share with others or get prevented from using a name, for example, the Model E.
GM’s filed a new trademark for the Escalade IQL.
Looking to have a bit of fun, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was hoping to have a Model E rather than a Model 3. Had it happened, the Tesla line-up would have been SEXY. However, it’s just S3XY — close but no cigar. Ford held the trademark for the Model E and refused to allow Tesla to use the name.
Ford never built a Model E, however, in previous lawsuits to protect the name, it’s contended it sounds too much like Model T, the vehicle that essentially created the company the public sees today.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker spent some time earlier this year submitting a few filings of its own, specifically renewing its claim to the name Thunderbird. The trademark application filed on Jan. 13, 2021 states that the Detroit automaker continues to reserve the registration for use on “Motor vehicles, namely, concept motor vehicles, four-wheeled motor vehicles.”
Did it mean that we can expect a new Thunderbird to grace the company’s line-up soon? Not necessarily.
“We renewed the trademark. It doesn’t mean anything is coming back,” Ford product spokesman Michael Levine told TheDetroitBureau.com, following up by e-mail with a prepared statement noting that this is not “necessarily an indication of new business or product plans.”
Keyword: Cadillac Locks Down Interesting New Names