bxDroid’s Guide on How To Properly Name Your Fucking Car
(Alternate Title: bxDroid’s Ranting About Shitty Car Names On This Site)
Yeah, I know this might not be the place for this but a good car name matters too. If anyone isn’t happy with this post on a possibly wrong place then I’ll delete it and move it to a dedicated post instead.
Ahem. Back to the topic. Well, it’s probably just me, but I just hate how some people name their cars like somebody got a stroke and went all-out with some shitty naming scheme that made up by like, 5 seconds. Yeah, there’s no way a bad name can match with an excellent design, and if that happens, it’s very, very problematic that will lead it into a joke on the forums and Discord that you don’t want to see.
But yeah, I know, I know. Somebody may just want to name their cars anything, fine, I don’t really care much. But if you actually want to have a shitty guide about fixing your car name, here’s the shitty guide on how to properly name your car so you don’t have a shitty car name attached to your Automation career anymore.
Car names and trim names
Pt. 1: Car names
In the car world there are 2 major ways of naming car names, i.e. the alphanumerical method, or the “real word” method. The method you choose depends on what you want, but most of the time, most European and luxury-oriented (and some sport-oriented) vehicles use the alphanumerical method, while most budget-oriented makes, as well as most Asian and American makes typically use the “real word” method.
The Alphanumerical Way
Basically the easiest way on naming cars, as you just only need to think a string of letters and numbers and jumble them up into a string as names. (eg. C-Class, 3 Series, XJ, NSX…), Most of the time, the words don’t have a specific meaning but there are some cases the words may have meanings embedded in it. For example, Aston Martin’s DB series of vehicles actually was named after David Brown, an English businessman who bought Aston Martin in 1947 and Lagonda in 1948.
The “Real Word” Way
The “real word” way is basically using real words from a dictionary, names of anything or sometimes creating a whole new word for a car. (eg. Civic, Camaro, Skyline, Phantom…) Most of the time only one word is used, but there are cases where 2 words or more are used (eg. Crown Victoria, Gran Turismo…)
Often, these are the common ways where “real words” is used on cars:
- Names of people
- Places
- Animals
- Plants
- Mythical beasts
- Activities
- Maybe something else…
Sometimes, there’s also some outliers that have a mix of two methods of naming, or simply just blurred the line between these two methods, eg. 458 Italia, Model S, Type 1, GT, etc.
But no matter how do you name your car, there’s some small guidelines on proper car naming:
- Be consistent. If using a alphanumeric naming scheme, try using a string of words that are consistent to the rest of your lineup. If using a “real word” try use a specific theme to make anything consistent. (Look for Volkswagen’s wind-based naming scheme on some cars or Toyota’s variants of “crown” naming scheme as an example)
- If using an alphanumeric scheme, try to use a string of words that is short, concise and have a method of naming so you won’t name a car like a fucking mess.
- If you have a “real” name for a car, use a name that gives the owner positive annotation and thinking. Nobody wants to buy a car or look for a car in a thread that is named “Idiot” or “Horrible”.
- Proper placement and logic matters on a car name as well. No one is going to believe you when your luxury sedan is called “Baja” for some reason anyway.
Pt. 2: Trim names
The trim name determines what the specific trim of car should be, whether it’s the base model or the top-spec model. A proper trim naming scheme can make people easily which models are the base and which are on the top.
Really there are several ways to make a trim name for a car, either it’s numbers, words, letters, both of either choice or all three of them. It depends on how you name your trims. But be sure to follow this things:
- The larger the number is usually the better version of a car.
- Use concise naming schemes. There is no way anyone wants a car with a trim name like “3.0 V6 Turbo Super Sport GT RS 3000SE” (Unless it’s a special edition model, but depends on anything I guess.)
- Hierarchy matters. It’s pretty hard to explain with words, honestly. But try to check how the trims work on each car IRL to give an idea on how to name your trims.
Car Branding
A brand is just the identifier of a company, but for a buyer it evokes some meaning before they buy anything. People associates brands with their own qualities. For example, when anyone mentions Toyota, the first thing (for most people at least) associates with dependable, durable, sometimes boring motors. A good brand will make positive connections with the person who is connecting with it.
Pt. 1: Brand names
Basically, before you name your brand, there’s 2 things in mind: Nationality and Segment. You need a company name that is working for your country the company that is made of and reflects the company’s target market.
The easiest way is to create the company based on surnames of people of the country your car maker is from (Ford, Toyota, Lamborghini are some examples.) A quick and handy way to do is to search on Google/Bing/DuckDuckGo with the search term “(people from a certain country) surnames”.
If you have a company name that is too long, try using an acronym of the company’s full name. It isn’t a good idea to say the whole “Bayerische Motoren Werke” when BMW works really well (most of the time).
Otherwise, refer to the sections above for more naming ideas, since most of the time they works the same.
Pt.2: Logos
You have your brand name set…now you just need a logo for your car. But how? Here’s some small tips on how to create a good logo.
A brand logo must be:
- Recognizable. The logo must be somewhat related to your car. If you see a car with the 3-pointed star on a circle on the front of the car normally people will know it’s probably a Mercedes-Benz*,
- Clear. The logo on the car should be correctly placed and be visible (in most cases).
- Reflects with your company ideals: The logo should reflect to what the company should be.
* unless it’s a fake one
Placement
Now, you got your names ready and your badges fitted, how do you put your logos and other stuff on your creation then? For the sake of showing people on how badges are fitted, here’s a generic late 2000s - early 2010s hot hatch as an example for how logos typically locate:
(Disclaimer: Treat this pictures as a suggestion, not a guide. You may put your shit like whatever you want but don’t overdo it.)
Some small notes for badge placements:
- Size matter. Too large and it would be very obnoxious. Too small and nobody will know what the hell is that.
- Less is more. Don’t put too much badges on your car. Two logo badges, one on the front and back with a model/trim badge on the rear is enough for most cases.
So, here marks the end of my (shitty) guide on how to fucking name your car right. Really, now you know how to name your cars well. With this guide, you can stop naming cars like shit and putting badges everywhere.
And before I end this guide, here’s a gift from me, which is that hot hatch I mentioned on the guide as the badging example:
G2_-_150T_GTi-R.car (35.1 KB) (For UE4.24 only)
Droid’s out. mic drop