How Car Companies Decide You’ll Ride a Mustang or Catch a Tiguan
Mr. Pyrah is an outsider in the insider-intensive automotive industry,
but his research, delivered to companies like Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen, is crucial when it comes to naming — and selling — a vehicle.
And when a model doesn’t quite meet expectations, its replacement in the lineup often gets a new moniker: The
Tiguan’s bigger, older sibling — the Touareg — has been replaced in the United States by the new Atlas.
When he worked with the electric-car start-up Atieva, Mr. Placek said, the first sentence in his brief to the client was, “We can’t look or
sound like a car.” Mr. Placek came up with Lucid, an adjective meant to convey intelligence that would also “sound” smooth and simple.
U.V., we want the name to target 30-somethings with two children.’”
Mr. Pyrah and his team will come up with about 30 available names, then meet with the manufacturer’s marketing team
and product planners to trim the list, which will be presented to senior management.
