Toyota looks to the past to name its new models

What’s in a name? Quite a lot according to Toyota bosses, who’ll look to the past when naming its new models.

The decision was made in the run-up to the launch of the new Toyota Urban Cruiser, which was widely expected to be called bZ2X, reflecting its position as a smaller electric SUV, sitting below the bZ4X in the firm’s range.

Speaking to What Car?, Toyota’s European product and marketing boss, Andrea Carlucci, said that “the reshuffle [of the name to Urban Cruiser] to a name that was working quite well, according to research in the UK, so I was very happy to use it.”

But despite the Toyota bZ4X in line for a raft of revisions including new battery options, improved range and new looks inside and out, Carlucci confirmed its current name would remain. Such a move “would have been a mistake and would generate additional confusion with this vehicle if we changed the name now,” he said.

“It [the bZ4X] was the first born, and we learned a lot from that. The future I cannot predict, because it’s so far, far away, but it will probably remain something standalone.”

The new, larger, electric version of the Toyota C-HR will be called C-HR+. Carlucci said it is very much a member of the C-HR family. The naming convention has precedent, because Toyota employed it with its Prius+ in 2011; that car was a seven-seat MPV based on the contemporary Prius hybrid. 

Carlucci’s comments follow the resurrection of the Corolla name, following the brief adoption of Auris, along with Supra which returned in 2019.

Toyota is not alone in this approach, either. The Alfa Romeo Junior, Fiat 500, Ford Capri and Vauxhall Frontera are all names from the past applied to new and mostly-unrelated models. The Renault 5 is far closer to the original in terms of concept and styling.

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