Best company/model/trim/engine naming/labelling system (ideas)

[DmDdondalla]

Hi guys, I am curious to see how you name/label your car models/trims/engines and company. Feel free to post these details here.

The reason why I made this topic is to get new ideas of labeling what I produce in Automation. I am greatly inspired by Mercedes-Benz labelling system as well as BMW’s and my car company is a mix of them both, however, I seem to never be satisfied enough and I endlessly rename them.

What I usually do is:

1. Put my company’s name first: DMD (Dondalla Motors Design)
2. Followed by a fancy car name: Apache
3. For the trim:
   a. I use the first leter of the car name: A (Apache)
   b. Engine size minus a zero (eg. 3000cc = 300)
   c. Trim year (Y) minus first two numbers (eg. Y1982 = Y82)
4. For the engine name I use, its type, capacity and year: V12-3.0L-Y82
5. For the engine variant I use HP/NM: 400/450

So the full name ends up like this:

DmD Apache - A300 Y82 - V12-3.0L-Y82 - 400/450

For other trims and engine variants I used other numbers accordingly:

DmD Apache - A500 S Y84 - V8-4.0L-Y84 - 600/555

Note that the above “S” stands for sport version

Does this look fancy? Is it too technical? Is it stupid?

What else I tried is to use less numbers (imagining the example above)

DmD Apache - Devil 999 - MONSTER 12 - Speedster Edition

For different trims, I used different names, for different engine variants, I used other different names and so on.

What is your labeling system, guys?

[flop404]

@DmDdondalla

DmD Apache - A300 Y82 - V12-3.0L-Y82 - 400/450

This seems a bit… Too much info. At least from a “marketing/roleplay” standpoint - this seems a good system for an internal reference though.

Looking at real manufacturers, what I see is… A fatal lack of consistency over time with the numbering systems, which always end up being outdated.

I’d simplify the car trim, and just keep the engine size minus a zero - you already have the name and trim year info available, with maybe some suffix to maje it a bit showy, like your “S”

So an Apache 300S, Apache 250i, Apache 250L …

And for the engine, I like to give the Family a name, Though that name can be a technical reference… M20, Cleon Fonte, XU, Kent, Cleveland… something a bit less descriptive helps giving some life to the engine family

And then save the technical for the variant

Perhaps something like Kent I4 max_disp for the engine name if you want it easily identifiable, then the variant could be 1100-eco-55/80 (disp-fuel system-hp/nm)

[MisterL]

For me its this way:

1. JFM is the companie.

2. My models has fantasynames, endet mostly on “ea” and following tha alphabet ( A=small modell, B/C=under midclass, D= midclass, etc) or in some ways there are names like Luxea, stand for high luxury car, Gelea for an offroadcar (german: Geländewagen) and so on.

3. Trims are diferent by the enginesizes: 1200 or 1.2 means ca. 1200ccm
   S after the enginesize means the engine has more power
   E or i after the enginesize means injection
   Combi/Coupe/Cabrio/etc for the bodyvariants

4. the enginename belongs to the development, size, fuel, hp and mixure treatment. For example:

   first generation engines maybe 1946 MGA (german M-otor-G-eneration A)
   cylinder assembly (R or V), capacity for the block (0 = smallblock, 1 = bigblock) and number of cilinders
   
   variants are:
   roundet ccm without two zeros (1195ccm = 12)
   sort of fuel N = normal, S=super, etc
   horsepower        
   last was an letter, E for injection, T for Turbo, L for engine with more power and K for catalyst
   
   MGA R04 12N50 was an first generation 4 in line smallblock with ca 1200ccm, normal fuel and 50hp
   
   MGF R14 20SP240ETKL was an sixth generation 4 in line with ca 2000cm, super plus fuel, 240hp,  
                                                  injection, turbo, catalyst and more power
   
   MGH V08 50U450E was an eight generation V 8 with ca 5000ccm, ultimate fuel, 450hp and injection
   

The car for the market is more simple, name (Allea, Benea, etc) with engine 1200 or 1.2/S/Emaybe with the extra for V6, 16V, etc

for example:
JFM Allea 1200S
JFM Benea 1.6E
JFM Denea 3.2E V6 Combi
JFM Gelea 2.4 Automatic 4x4…

[DmDdondalla]

Hi there,
I am so glad I opened this thread because I get to see new awesome ideas like yours and different opinions.

My plan is to greate a google doc folder in which I have my company presentation and an id car search which sends you to the exact car you want to see. You can see pics of it, maybe the construction timelapse, details and so forth.

You said that my naming system might be good for internal reference, which I agree with, I already got an idea of how and where to use it.

I agree so much with you from the marketing/roleplay standpoint with the names. It looks so much better and with your help I can keep consistency.

thank you so much for your advice !

[DmDdondalla]

This is another awesome idea. I also thought about naming cars normally but adding something from me in front or at the end as in your use of “ea”. I will look more into that idea, i think its really nice and it makes sense.

Thank you very much !

[flop404]

Keeping consistency over the long term is hard… But this is actually what makes the branding interesting.

Renault had a kinda sequential numbers, but with a “higher numbers for bigger cars” naming until the R19, then had to drop it because they ran out of numbers, and having the next small car using a bigger number than their family sedan would have broken it.
BMW is all kinds of lost now that they have turbos in their engines, so the number refers to… Well, actually, nothing, keeping only the “bigger is better” logic.
Peugeot also ran out of numbers, so they just stopped where they were…
Etc…

Also, the predominant habit of designating trim with letters (L, S, GTL, TX… whatever) has gone out of fashion (though I don’t quite know why)

In my lore, I’ve already made the choice of going from names to numbers, knowing fully well that I’ll ran out of significant numbers quite fast

[DmDdondalla]

I see what you mean, but in the same time, if we refer to the game you can have a model name without any numbers say like “Beermen” and the trims you want to do can be named with a number system, for example:

You take the first two numbers of your engine size in cc and write it down. Always round up.

What package your car has: Basic, Standard, Premium, Luxury, Hand Made Luxury
Split them:
Basic and Standard can mean the same, let’s say “0” for both
Premium and Luxury can mean also the same, let’s say “5” for both
Hand Made Luxury is a thing of its own so we can either add “HL” from Hand Made Luxury or another number that we think fits that status, like “7” or “9”

Additionaly you can add letters at the end just to show a special version or whatever it is so in the end u have something looking like:

Beermen 355 or Beermen 455 GT or Beermen 559

What do you think about something like this? Is it too much BMW inspired ? hahaha

Could it work in keeping consistency?

[Hshan]

A bit weird I’d say, maybe too numerical, though could work, it’s an easy and ituitive system at least.

As for what I use (I couldn’t miss such thread, I really like that part of making a brand)… I have a lot of brands, some of them with developed systems:

Zavir - I’m in the process of changing many things in it, so I’ll write about the outgoing system. Old models were named numerically in a slightly chaotic way… 2 digit numbers (and 100 for a late, transition era luxury model), 3x for the small cars, 4x/5x for compacts, 6x/7x for middle class, 8x/9x for executive and luxury cars - two, for some time even three separate lines, with different x values. 4/6/8 for the earlier period, 5/7/9 for the later. In this system the “x” could contain info about… model, generation, body, engine and trim linked with the engine. So for example 65 and 66 have little in common, 96 and 97 are completely different cars, but 55 and 59 are nearly the same thing That’s one of the reasons why I’m changing it. After that, up to the modern times cars have a pretty standard system of [actual name] + [engine] + [trim name], with the exception of special (sporty, luxury or whatever) trims available with one engine only. Luna 2.0 idea Veloce, Espada V8 Lusso, Squalo Sportivo, things like that. As for the engine naming - a letter for block material, if it’s not aluminium, a letter for configuration (usually first letter of an italian word for that number of cylinders - I4 = Q, quattro, V6 = S, sei and so on, but for example 90° V6s are denoted as R and I6s as I), two digits for maximum displacement (36 = 3.6 litre), a letter for valvetrain (O - OHC {DAOHC in game}, S - SOHC (OHC) 2v, T - 4v, D - DOHC 2v, E - 4v, F - 5v, G - 4v + VVL) - family name done. Then a digit for displacement substracted from maximum (S28E 5… = 2.3 V6 from a 2.8 family), a letter for fuel system (didn’t differentiate carbs, only injections), optionally a letter for additional systems (turbo and/or VVT) and a letter for ordering (A - 1st variant of such config, B - 2nd, and so on). This system is extremely flexible and the only problem is when you have two nearly the same engine families that differ only in bore/stroke ratio, but that’s quite rare I think.

Hypera - all cars are named with names from Nordic mythology, with supercars being named after monsters. Higher line of engines - Asgard, lower line - Midgard. Trims denoted by letters - S being the basic, GT the comfy one, R the aggressive one, C for cabrio and so on. Exceptionally crazy trims in addition to a letter get the “Lyn” name, “lightning” in Norwegian. That’s all

Griffa - hello, my no effort brand Names are also no effort type, sometimes real car names (Sirion, Aurion - both by accident, just wanted to use that generic type of name and then someone reminded me, that cars with such names exist), sometimes some normal words that just more or less fit (Rogue) or made up words that sound ok (Triseon) or come from sth that actually has a meaning (Anesion). Trims - engine capacity + two letters, one for engine type (E for economy/basic, S for sport, T for turbo - nothing special) and the other for trim (S, X… only these two used so far). Optionally “4” at the end to denote AWD. Done, one free Griffa Sirion 3.3 TX4 for you.

Orion - hello, my no effort stupid ideas brand For now just two cars - Visios, because it has huge windows and a glass roof, and XMS-1, eXperimental Mass Supercar One. Trim - XCT for example, eXecutive (equipment level) Cruiser (V8) Turbo. As simple as that, as I wrote, no effort

Both Griffa and Orion use the same engine naming system - one letter for config/general type (A - I3, B - I4, C - I6, D - V6, E - V8, F - V12, all universal engines, purely performance oriented get the next 6 or so letters, atypical next - whatever), one for the exact family (that includes cylinder size, but not count - BJ and CJ can be I4s and I6s from the same modular family - and materials, bore/stroke and valvetrain, basically everything in the engine family tab in the designer except the cyl. count), two digits for the variant capacity (33 = 3.3 litre), one letter for a defining trait (turbo, high performance N/A, injection, focus on economy - whatever), optionally one or two for additional traits. That’s a less rigid, less intuitive, but nearly unlimited system. Example - CJ33TSE, some iron DOHC 3.3 I6 with turbo that tries to be sporty and economical in the same time.

[DmDdondalla]

Now this is very very interesting and inspiring, great ideas first of all !

Zavir brand is very complex but logical and beautiful. You are especially right about how little in common have cars from 65 compared to 96s. I sometimes try to look at each car body style and begin with one from the 60s and then decide what car body style can be the next generation in 70s 80s or after 2000s…sometimes it fits sometimes it doesn’t but still.

You thought of everything tbh.

[findRED19]

I use names for my mainstream company with a few numbers for indicating the important details. This changed in company lore through time.

In the 40s/50s an example would be:
1956 AEA Delux D-100 4x4 Hi-Lux
[reads: AEA = American Eagle Automotive; Delux = base chassis; D-100 = Letters & numbers given to the pickup truck variant with 100 signifying a 1/2 ton design; 4x4 Hi-Lux = 4x4 drivetrain and Hi-Lux signifies the “luxury” trim of the truck (which was mostly more chrome and fancy radio)]

and its engine: AEA Gen. 1 SB OHV V8 242ci - 125hp
The named engine family with it’s significant (for the time) design followed by the variant which is classified by the displacement (size in cubic inches, later years changed to liters) and the Rated Power Output.

The rated power output was simply the guaranteed power by AEA that an engine would produce, in the 60s muscle car wars, this became quite understated.

Most cars are labeled through history by main chassis name then trim level. What LX vs LT vs GT means for trim level did change through time, though LT was usually the base trim (think Ford), LX usually was a mid-level luxury trim (think Mercury or Lincoln), and GT was the performance trim. In the late 80s to mid 90s some cars had a GT2 trim that was the highest performance trim when AEA messed with turbos.

In the 60s some cars had a Limited trim. This was a Luxury Sport Convertible (LSC) which had the Special variant of the best engine of the time to power it exclusively.

See This post for the first LSC in AEA’s history.

The 60s engines were labeled slightly different than the first gen V8 was.
AEA Windsor SB V8 = Small block V8 (ohv) designed & initially built at the Windsor location
AEA Cleveland BB V8 = Big Block V8 (ohv) designed & initially built at the Cleveland location.

They are labeled as such:

• Displacement first in cubic inches, later liters
• SD / PD / Hi-Po / HD / HO = SD is standard duty on small blocks (using 91/92RON), with Hi-Po being performance trim (95/98 RON) HO is the High Output performance trim on 91 ron. PD is passenger duty on Big Blocks (91/92 RON), and HD is Heavy Duty or performance (95/98 Ron).
• Number or name = rated HP or special performance variant name
• A P or PU on the end = P indicates an engine suited for “pulling” or towing and usually has a better intake/introduction system (usually 91/92 ron)
• Finally, a -T after the P or PU indicates Turbocharged, when we get the engine revamp, an -S will indicate Supercharged.

I differentiate between small block and big block by the bore size of the max capacity variant on the V8s. If the max bore is less than 4.15" it is considered a small block, if it’s more it’s considered a big block.

An earlier engine AEA built (for non-automobile applications) has a more interesting naming system

The 567 Prime Mover Series

Basically it follows like this: 567 is max displacement, C8 indicates Cast iron all with 8 cylinders, 16V is 16 valves, 80 is the fuel RON Rating and the last letter indicates revision, with a T to indicate turbo.

For My Rapido Motors company, I follow a slightly more composed letter and number scheme.

RM for Rapido Motors, The first 2 letters “CI” for Cast Iron, next 2 for cylinder layout “I4” for one family and “V8” for the bottom family.

On the I4 family, G21 is Gas powered, 2.1L max displacement, with S8 for SOHC head, 8 total valves.
On the V8 family, 35G for 3.5L max disp. and Gas powered again, with V for OHV head.

I don’t recall why the I4 variant is 1700LE of course it’s 1.7L displacement, but I forget what LE was for. Of course the rated HP is 60hp, as stated at the end.

The 3500HD is just as you’d expect, 3.5L “Heavy Duty” but in this case heavy duty is referring to the low-rpm torque of the motor rather than any special components (It’s all cast internals). And LQF simply shows it can run on low quality fuel (80 ron).

[Hshan]

I meant model names, not years 65, 66, 96, 97, 55, 59 - these are all Zavir models. And yeah, Zavir and logic… only sometimes

And thanks for appreciation

[kmBlaine]

Engines:

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#AS[R] - PD[O]

Where:

• # of cylinders
• A rrangement:
  • L (inline), V, and eventually when they add them H (horizontal-opposed)
• S eries:
  • A, B, C, etc. A series is unique to both a cylinder count and arrangement, you can have an A series inline 4, A series inline 6, A series V6, etc and they are all distinct
• [R]:
  • Optional alphabetic revision code for if the engine is logically a continuation of an older engine. So if you revise a family to say have a 4 valve head instead of a 2 valve head but its otherwise the same, you would tack a B, C, D or whatever the current revision is on the end.
• P erformance class:
  • This is basically a moniker for the came profile. E for economy, P for performance, R for sport / racing, and so on. Currently, my company, Fenton Holdings Ltd, only uses the E and P codes prior to about 1980. But around 1980 they start using a deeper designation system as follows: L for low rpm, W for wide range of RPM - your flat torque curve engines, H for high RPM, and S for super-high RPM.
  • If an engine has VVL, then it has two P codes which identify each cam profile, lower one first.
• D isplacement
  • Cubic inches or litres. If it is litres, the decimal is not shown. My company uses cubic inches up to about 1980 (again) and then uses litres.
• [O] ptions
  • Anything really noteworthy / additional on the engine such as J for single point EFI, M for multipoint EFI, D for direct injection. Turbo is naturally T. V for VVT. And so on…

Example:

The code for a C series V8 of 4.5L displacement, which has been revised twice, has multipoint EFI, and has a VVL setup for a luxury car would be:

• 8VCC - LH45M

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Cars

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Cars I am not nearly so formulaic

My luxury brand, Fenton, uses something of a formulaic system though its really loose. Basically, a Fenton car’s name will look something like:

Fenton AA# [trim]

Where:

• AA is a two letter designator of the line like GT, ZL, SE, LE, ST, and so on. Usually short from something like “Grand Touring car” or “Luxury Executive car”
• # is the engine displacement
  • In the pre 1980 years, its just cubic inches.
  • In the post 1980 years, its cubic centimeters divided by 10.

And trim is just some gibberish they put on to make it look special like V8, or GS, GL, etc.

Example:

• Fenton LE 397GS

Or in regular speak, Luxury Executive car, 397 cubic inch displacement, Grand Sport trim.

My pleb brand, Everette, uses the very American scheme of naming the car using a proper noun that sounds cool. And as some of you maybe have suspected – I don’t actually know; no one has said anything – all Everette cars have been named after cities and towns in Washington state, USA, where I grew up (I live in Michigan now). So far the only exception is the Ellston.

After 1971, Everette does have a formulaic trim system though:

• S / GS + vehicle class + cylinder count

So for instance the top of the line station wagon with a V8 would be called a GSE8 – E is for “estate”. Or a base model sedan with a straight 6 would be called an R6 – R being for “road”.

Example:

• Everette Twisp SR6

Or in regular speak, a mid trim Everette Twisp with a 6 cylinder engine.

EDIT: I spaced this but I actually do assign my vehicles chassis codes because geeky reasons

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Chassis Codes

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Up until the 17 digit VIN was standardized and mandated in 1981, FHL uses a very similar 13 / 14 digit code.

PRBT - FYYMM - ####

Where:

Model designator:

• P latform:
  • Pretty self explanatory. FHLuses the first letter (that is not also an existing platform code) of the nameplate of the vehicle that the platform was initially developed for. For instance, the T Body was originally developed for the Everette Twisp, hence T.
• R evision:
  • Numeral for the current revision of the platform where the first production version is 1.
• B rand:
  • Brand the car is sold under. E for Everette. F for Fenton.
• T rim:
  • An alphabetic designator for the trim. Can be anything but there is something of a convention:
    • C for two door (coupe)
    • S for four dour (sedan)
    • W for estate / station wagon
    • G is normally for a top trim sport variant
    • L is normally for a top trim luxury variant

Production Origin / Serial Number / Tracking Code
(however you want to think about it)

• F actory:
  • Alphabetic designator for the factory that conducted final assembly the car.
• YY / Year:
  • Last two digits of the year the car was produced
• MM
  • The month the car was produced. January is 01 and December is 12
• ####
  • Serial number. A serial number is unique to a factory, year, and month. Each factory starts production each month at S/N 0001.
  • High volume vehicles may have a fifth digit in their serial number.

Example:

• S1FG - C6905 - 0001

S body, Initial version, Fenton brand, GS trim designator, Lansing C Plant, 1969, May, S/N #1

This is actually the chassis code for the Fenton LE 397GS that was owned by the company’s founder, Charles Fenton Trunt.

[VicVictory]

This post deals with my main company, Ardent.

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Cars

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1946 - Early 60’s
Trims are a 3-digit number based on the series and position in model, also with a word descriptor after.

Example Model - Starlight
The Starlight is the “200 series” models.
Trims: 200 Special, 210 Custom, 220 Deluxe

Early 60’s to Early 80’s
Trims have a letter designation based on their position in the line. From lowest to highest they are:

Base
L (later DL)
S (later GL)
GT

If a trim has more than one engine available, the model may be designated by a displacement before the letter designator. Ex: Sentinel 247 GT

Early 80’s to 2000-ish
Also sets of letters denoting its level in the trim, but starting to see additional words and/or displacement notes in the model names. From lowest to highest:

SE or Sport
DL
GL (later LS)
GT or Limited

Example: Sentinel Sport

2000-ish onward
As before, but with fewer designators overall. Limited is an appendix rather than a separate trim. A -T appendix means turbocharged. Displacements very rarely used.

SE
LS
GT or Touring

Example: Iroquois LS-T Limited

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Engines

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1946-1978
Engines are designated with the series name, followed by the word type, and the generation name. Variant is simply the CID displacement and any special designators for it.

Ex: Cygnus Type 1, 99 cid Sport
Ex: Taurus Type 1, 329 cid Super T/A

1979 onward
2-3 letter designator for generation, series, and subtype (if applicable), hyphen, 2 digit displacement marker, design detail abbreviations

Details abbreviations:
xC (x = number of barrels in the carb) Carbureted, for standard carburetors.
xDC = (x bbl) Dual Carb
xTC = (x bbl) Triple Carb
xSC = (x number of) Sidedraft (DCOE) carbs
Si = SPFI
MPi = MPFI
Di = Direct Injection
T = Turbo

Ex: 2C-231SC (2nd generation Cygnus, 2.3 liters, single sidedraft carb)
Ex: 2OC-262SC (2nd gen Orion subseries C, 2.6 liters, dual sidedraft carb)

Series created so far (Excluding Toledo engines):
C: Cygnus (4 cylinder)
O: Orion (straight-6, small to medium)
E: Eridani (V6, small to medium)
T: Taurus (V8)
V: Vela (Straight-6, large)

[Fayeding_Spray]

I guess I’ll throw up the Sakura Engine Name Scheme, since that one seems to be the easiest to explain.

I’ll use the most Complex Engine I have in lore as an Explanation.

JNO24MET-Deva

The Start: JN
The JN here denotes cylinder count in Anglicized Japanese Number format, so in this Case Jyuu Ni, or 12 which denotes a 12 Cylinder engine.

Next Set: O
The O here denotes Valvetrain, this one being DAOHC, and uses S or SOHC and D for DOHC (Pushrod/OHV are not used by this company)

Next Set: 24
The Number here Denotes total number of Valves in the engine, here being 24, which means it is a 2 Valve per cylinder DAOHC set up.

Next Set: ME
ME denotes the Intake type, here being Multi-point EFI. Others include nC for Number of Carb Barrels (1 barrel is just C), DCOE is marked as DC.

Next Set: T
This T just denotes whether the engine is Turbocharged or not (Future Supercharged engines would be Denoted with S

Final Set: Deva
This Denotes the Intended place for the engine to go, in this case it is for the Deva super car, but others might be Specific trims, or specific model names.

[abg7]

Since SC already denotes sidedraft carbs, how are you going to indicate that the engine is supercharged, if indeed you plan to use them after superchargers have been introduced?

[Gamer_Cheetah]

This is Westward’s engine naming scheme:

• Engine use type
• • S – Standard
• • H – Heavy Duty
• • P – Performance
• • R – Race
• • X – WRT (Westward Racing Technology) Experimental
• Number of cylinders (1 or 2 digits)
• Number of valves per cylinder (One digit)
• Engine shape
• • V – V-shaped
• • I – Inline
• • B – Boxer
• Camshaft
• • D – DOHC
• • V – VVL
• A dash
• Displacement in deciliters
• Fuel delivery
• • R – Carburetor
• • S – Single Point Injection
• • M – Multi Point Injection
• • D – Direct Injection
• Aspiration
• • N – Naturally Aspirated
• • R – Supercharger
• • T – Turbo
• • TT – Twin Turbo
• Special
• • i – Improved
• • H – High RPM (7500+)
• • M – Race Modified (for families not beginning with R or X)

So the engine that powers the Westward Shark hypercar is the X124VD-65DTTH.

[DmDdondalla]

Very well thought system. The RM system can be quite beautiful tbh

[DmDdondalla]

this is complicated but man i love the brain u put in it, truly inspiring.

[VicVictory]

That bridge will be crossed if I ever come to it.

[stm316]

May I suggest: R, TS and C