With its Escape, EXPLORER, AND EXPEDITION, Ford has created clear imagery for its SUV lineup: People are going places, escaping, exploring, etc. (And once upon a time, for a really big trip, you'd take an Excursion.) But Ford's big E isn't the only nomenclatural device out there: Similar threads of commonality also run through other automakers' naming conventions, and not just within individual companies but among them as well. Even cars labeled with letters and numbers rather than words conform to certain patterns. Here, we've created as comprehensive a taxonomy—or, for those who smoked dope through high-school biology, a scientific classification—of vehicle names as you'll find anywhere.
Disclaimer: For companies such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, for which the drivetrain details relate to the model names and are shared across multiple…