The Name Game | Decoding Car Acronyms

 
Ok, so if you are like me and just go through life sometimes pretending what the letters on the back of cars stand for I am about to give you some clarity.
 
Lets start off with the basics:
 
EV – Electric Vehicle
SS – Super Sport
 
These are pretty straightforward and can be found across different brands.

SUBARU:
Now with Subaru we find some very exclusive acronyms, and here I thought these were universal but long and behold these are specific to Subaru.
 
WRX (Subaru) – World Rally eXperimental OR World Rally Cross
STI – Subaru Tecnica international
 

CADILLAC
This is where things get complicated. In true Cadillac mysterious fashion I was not able to confirm if these findings are accurate, so let me know if you have any better answers! I have provided a list of the ones that I found made the most sense in the meantime.
 
First we have the Sedans:
 
STS = S-Series Touring Sedan (Seville)
CTS = C-Series Touring Sedan (Cadillac)
DTS = D-series Touring Sedan (Dville)
ATS – Allatnte Touring Sedan/ Alpha Touring Sedan
XTS – Extended Touring Sedan/Experimental Touring Sedan/Excellent Touring Sedan
 
With these vehicles it is clear that they are all just different sizes models of a touring sedan. From reading online I have gathered that these are the new and improved version of some past Cadillacs (etc the Catera), but Cadillac wanted to change their image so they ditched the old names and just used the letters? (I cant be the only one that finds this confusing)
 
Next we have the roadster, the crossover and the SUV’s decoded.
 
XLR = X-Series Luxury Roadster
SRX = S-Series Reconfigurable Crossover/ Sport Recreational Crossover
ELR – Electric Luxury revolution
ESV – Extended Stretch Vehicle
 
These all seem pretty legit, but like I said before it seems that Cadillac is very mysterious about it all so it is hard to confirm.
 
I also was confronted by the mystery of the infamous V series. I asked my self what does the V mean?
 
V = ?
Some said that the “V” was the Roman numeral V which is the number 5, as in “0-60 in 5 seconds”. Others say that its all in Cadillac’s history, that the “V” was chosen to denote Cadillac’s High Performance line. The history is, that Cadillac was the first to start producing the first V8 and V16 engines in a production automobile. The phrase “V for Velocity” was later used in factory advertising campaigns, and although catchy, is not what the V actually stands for.
 
So there you have it! Cadillac decoded!
 

MAZDA
Next we have Mazda, which following Cadillac’s maze of names seems simple…at first. Mazda’s unique acronyms almost make us second-guess them, well maybe only one.
 
CX – Crossover
GLC – Great Little Car
MX 5 – Motoring eXperiment
 
The meaning of the GLC, I have to admit made me laugh a little. I said to my self “They actually named a car that?”. Oh Mazda you are full of surprises, it’s a bit loaded to say they don’t made the GLC anymore.
 
This brings us to the MX 5 Miata. The MX in the MX 5 Miata was a little bit more challenging to decode. If I am going by a similar formal as Cadillac is come across the term “Motoring eXperiment”, but I also came across the idea that “MX-5” is the international name for the “Miata”, while “Miata” is only used in the North American market. Who knows?
 
Now if you think you have some better answers or some suggestions! I would love to hear them!