Executives hope Grand Touring can do something similar to Ford's EcoBoost engines, popularize something consumers haven't fully gotten on board yet with.
The upcoming Lincoln Aviator will be offering a very potent plug-in hybrid powertrain offering 450 horsepower and a whopping 600 pound-feet of torque. But what will Lincoln call this Aviator model? Most competitors use something like E-Hybrid, PHEV, or a 'e' to the end of the model. According to Automotive News, Lincoln will be using the Grand Touring (GT) to designate electrified variants.
"Quite simply, it came down to, what does it do? And what it does is that it makes the vehicle more exciting to drive. It's the purest definition of Grand Touring," said Robert Parker, Lincoln's marketing chief.
Lincoln went through various names, "including variations of the letter E," in internal discussions and focus groups before landing on Grand Touring.
"Consumers may have liked the word but didn't know what it meant. If I have to go spend money to describe to customers what a new word means, I've taken money away from promoting Aviator," explained Parker.
"You can talk yourself into these letters and conventions, but when you go out into the consumer space, they're very confused. EcoBoost wasn't new; direct-injection technology was around in the late '80s, but nobody seemed to find the magic until EcoBoost."
We'll see if this works out for Lincoln when the Aviator begins hitting dealers next summer.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)
Edited by William Maley
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