Maybe you can tell a Ford Taurus from a Mercury Sable from half a block away, but can you explain the difference between a Taurus SES and SEL or whether the Sable GS is more expensive than the LS?
Your sights may be set on a GMC Sierra pickup, but should it be the SL, SLE or SLT? Toyota no longer offers a VE version of the Corolla, but there’s a new S model to go along with the CE and LE.
Welcome to the auto industry’s method of identifying price, or trim, levels of the same car. A string of letters after the model name denotes whether it is the cheapest model, the most expensive or in between.
Which is which, however, often isn’t obvious. If you’re shopping for a Dodge Intrepid, is the ES more expensive than the SE?
If a series of letters such as XLT, GLE or XS tacked on to a model name does not mean much to you, take heart: They may not mean much to the car companies either.
Asked to explain what ES stands for on the Intrepid, Dodge spokesman Rick Deneau confesses, “I’m at a loss. Extra Sporty?”
During the 2000 model year, the cheapest Intrepid was referred to as the “base” model. This year, it is labeled SE, and the ES is a step up in equipment and price. Why the change?
“Nobody wants to buy a `base’ model,” Deneau suggests. History supports that theory.
“There has always been a need for a basic and a more deluxe car,” says John Biel, editor of Lincolnwood-based Collectible Automobile magazine. “They’re basically the same car, but one just has more stuff, so they had to create a series of names to tell people it had more equipment.”
Before car companies came up with LE, EX, XLT, GLX, GLE and SLT, they used simple, common names, such as Special, Custom and Deluxe, to differentiate price levels. That system was flawed, too.
“One guy’s Custom wasn’t as custom as someone else’s Deluxe, and how do you customize something that is already deluxe,” Biel said. “So they started slicing the baloney a little thinner.”
In the 1950s, instead of offering models with boilerplate labels such as Master and Special Deluxe, Chevrolet came up with more alluring names such as Bel Air, later eclipsed in price and prestige by the Impala. By 1959, Chevy had three versions of the same car: Biscayne, Bel Air and Impala. The Impala stood out as the most expensive because it wore more chrome and three taillights on each side instead of two or one as on the lower-priced versions.
Ford was in tune with the times, offering Custom, Fairlane and Galaxie versions to rival Chevrolet, then the sales leader.
The proliferation of names spread to other car lines. The Chevy Chevelle gained an upscale Malibu model, the Chevy II added the Nova, the Pontiac Tempest begat the LeMans and GTO and the Oldsmobile F-85 spawned the Cutlass.
As the number of model names grew, the cream rose to the top. Car companies advertised their most-expensive models, which became the ones dealers stocked in large numbers to meet the demands of their customers.
“After a while, they began to realize that people bought a Malibu to get a Chevelle,” Biel notes, and the lower-price names faded away.
The Chevelle name disappeared but Malibu survived; the Chevy II name was dropped in favor of Nova; and LeMans lasted much longer than Tempest.
At Ford, the top-line Galaxie name was replaced by LTD, the highest-priced Galaxie.
During the 1970s, more companies began giving trim levels letter designations, such as S, LX and GT, and this trend accelerated during the 1980s.
“At that point, they may have run out of names, or at least good names,” Biel said of the change to alphabet soup.
Ford Taurus Brand Manager Richard Crossland says using multiple model names for the same car wastes marketing money and creates confusion.
“Was the Galaxie better than the Custom? With one name, we can focus all the branding on the Taurus,” Crossland said. “We want to have a trim level designation of some sort, because as marketers we don’t want to describe it as a base car.”
From its 1986 introduction through 1997, the LX trim was the top of-the-line Taurus. In 1998, the LX became the cheapest Taurus, and it now ranks below the SE, SES and SEL.
“We flip-flopped the LX, but we have seen no confusion among consumers from it,” Crossland said. “We’ve never had any customer complaints.”
Crossland says buyers quickly recognized the SEL as the most-expensive Taurus. Ford created new trim-level designations because the SE model, the most popular, offered a multitude of option packages that Crossland describes as “order-code soup.” The SES and SEL come with more standard features than the SE, simplifying the ordering process.
Some model designations have solid reasoning behind them. Mazda’s GLC stood for “great little car,” the widely used GT label means grand touring, and Pontiac created the GTO name for grand touring option.
When Dodge hot-rodded its humdrum Omni economy car in 1984, it irreverently dubbed it the GLH for “goes like hell.”
The Z28 moniker for the Chevrolet Camaro performance model comes from its original 1967 factory order code. Chevy also still uses the SS (Super Sport) label created during the 1960s.
Most trim level names, however, make little sense, partly because there is no uniformity even within a brand. LX describes the least expensive Taurus but the most-expensive Ford Crown Victoria. On the Chevy Impala and Malibu sedans, the LS is the top-rung model, but on the Blazer sport-utility it is the bottom rung.
Trying to give meaning to trim levels produces mixed results. Cadillac differentiates Seville luxury and sport models by calling one SLS (Seville Luxury Sedan) and the other STS (Seville Touring Sedan) but creates questionable acronyms with the Eldorado Touring Coupe (ETC) and DeVille Touring Sedan (DTS).
Honda contributes a trim-level malapropism with the Prelude SH, which is not as quiet as the name implies.
Though one brand’s LX may be another’s GL and there is no way to tell whether an ES outranks an SE without looking at the sticker, there are a few axioms to guide the befuddled.
GT universally applies to a performance model or one that tries to be. SE often stands for special edition or sport edition–or just SE.
The more letters in a trim level, usually the more standard features and the higher the price. The XLE model of the Toyota Camry costs more than the CE or LE, and the Pontiac Bonneville SSEi tops the SE and SLE in letters and dollars. There are exceptions: The Nissan Maxima SE ( a sporty model) is more expensive than the GXE (the base model), and the Corolla S outranks the CE.
European brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW use alphanumeric model designations based on engine size.
Mercedes’ E-Class sedan comes in E320 (3.2-liter 6-cylinder) and E430 (4.3-liter V-8) models, and BMW’s 5-Series sedan has the 525i, 530i and 540i.
Most BMW models end with the letter “i,” which spokesman Rob Mitchell says denotes fuel injection. Because all BMWs have had fuel injection instead of a carburetor for 25 years, Mitchell says, “We hardly need it any more.”
The German word for injection is einspritz, but Mitchell says BMW “internationalized it from the beginning” by using “i.” The “e” suffix on some older BMW models, such as the 325e, denoted the “eta” engine.
BMW also is logical in other applications of the alphabet. Among current models, “C” denotes a coupe or convertible, “X” is for all-wheel-drive (power to all four corners) and “L” means long wheelbase.
However, BMW has a few skeletons in its alphanumeric closet. Coupe versions of the 3-Series used to carry names such as 325is, which looked like a typographical error, and model numbers don’t always match the engine size: The 540i has a 4.4-liter V-8, for example.
Chrysler insists its current nomenclature, which began in the early 1990s, makes sense. Base models are called LX, which Ron Hein, director of global marketing strategy for Chrysler, says is short for luxury. Higher priced versions are called LXi, adding the European designation for fuel injection.
Like everyone else, Chrysler uses fuel injection on all its engines, but some LXi models have a larger, more powerful engine than their LX counterparts. All Chrysler LXi models come with standard leather upholstery and alloy wheels, options on LX models.
Do Chrysler’s customers notice these differences?
Yes, Hein says, though he has only anecdotal evidence.
“In a series of focus groups we did, we had some minivan owners and the [Chrysler] Town & Country owners would say, `I have the Town & Country LXi,'” Hein said, emphasizing they drove the more-expensive version. “You don’t hear that as much from the LX owners. It’s one of the bragging rights of owning the uplevel model.”
However, even LXi owners can be trumped by the Town & Country Limited, which has standard chrome wheels, a power liftgate, side air bags and a larger V-6 engine than the LXi.
Lexus challenges European luxury brands with its models, so it uses alphanumeric designations similar to Mercedes’ and BMW’s, such as RX300 and LS430, and shuns trim levels.
“It sure makes life easier for us and our customers,” Lexus spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell says, though some still have trouble naming their model. “When we ask some of our owners which model they drive, they say, `The big one.'”
