To be distinguished from fellow competitors and impress customers more, car makers put up plenty of names denoting their own features. While some of them do help explain the content of the product, others are confusing and even misleading. Nowadays, we see components with more than one name and names referring to more than one component. Here are some prominent yet annoying examples:
BMW Steptronic and VAG Tiptronic
Both BMW and VAG are sourcing the auto transmission from ZF, but the gearbox gets different names. Currently, the 8HP family is used by many brands, but no other variant has such impressive names as BMW and VAG. The name Steptronic appears on the MINI and 2-Series Active Tourer, too. Apparently, the front-wheel-drive models could not use the longitudinal ZF 8HP. The one on those UKL models is from AISIN instead.
Diesel engines: CDI, CDTI, CRDi, HDi, TDCi, TDI
The common rail injection used on modern passenger cars was first developed by the Fiat Group but sold to Bosch before completion due to Fiat’s financial problems. Before that, diesel cars were simply called diesel, or turbo diesel if they got a turbocharger. Things changed after the common rail technology was introduced and used alongside turbochargers.
We have seen Mercedes-Benz using CDI (Common-rail Diesel Injection); Opel using CDTI (Common-rail Diesel Turbo Injection); Hyundai using CRDi (Common-Rail Diesel injection); PSA using HDi (High-pressure Diesel Injection); Ford using TDCi (Turbo Diesel Common-rail Injection). Some use simpler words for that e.g. BMW uses “d”, and Mercedes has also changed to “d” in recent years.
VAG uses TDI (Turbocharged Direct Injection), which is a registered trademark. TDI did not mean common rail in the beginning, but VAG kept the name after the common rail was introduced. A diesel engine of VAG may have different output numbers, and this is denoted on the TDI emblem by the number of red letters. The more the red letters, the higher the output.
PSA and Ford once developed diesel engines together, and due to another partnership between BMW and PSA, early MINI diesel models also got the engine from the PSA/Ford joint venture. Ford further applied these engines to its subsidiaries at that time, such as Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo. The most notable one should be the 2.7L V6 diesel that was widely used among Citroën, Ford, Peugeot, Jaguar, and Land Rover.
Mercedes-Benz 7G-DCT
Since the W176 A-Class, the 7G-DCT dual-clutch transmission developed by Mercedes is applied to the transverse models. However, the W177 A-Class gets two different 7G-DCT: the one used on 1.33L petrol and 1.5L diesel models sourced from Getrag, and the one used on 2.0L petrol is the Mercedes’ own development. This is due to the parts-sharing strategy with Renault and NISSAN, the latter two are also using the Getrag gearbox and the related engines. So is Mercedes now more Renault-ish, or is Renault now more Mercedes-ish?
One may wonder why the displacement of A200 is precisely 1332c.c.? Just multiply the cylinder number and the displacement by 0.75, and a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine is born!
Mercedes-Benz 9G-Tronic and AMG Speedshift TCT/MCT
Mercedes-Benz is known for manufacturing its own automatic gearboxes in-house. The current 9G-Tronic is widely used including AMG models, on which it is called AMG Speedshift. While the MCT (Multi-Clutch Transmission) on 63 models does use a multi-layer clutch different from the normal 9G-Tronic, the TCT (Torque-Clutch Transmission) on 43/53 models is still a traditional torque-converter automatic transmission only with slight adjustments. A “torque clutch” is actually the re-branded torque converter. So would you prefer a 9G-Tronic or an AMG TCT?
Mercedes-Benz EQ Boost
EQ is the electric vehicle sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz, as is the case of BMW i. EQ Power denotes the hybrid power train, as is the case of the BMW iPerformance. So far, the effort of promoting electric-powered vehicles is redundant yet understandable. However, Mercedes-Benz takes a step further by rolling out EQ Boost 48V auxiliary electric motor system. Although many brands adopt a similar 48V, Mercedes-Benz is the only one that gives the system a name. EQ Boost is just too far from the full electric-powered EQ. Does that boost your EQ? Or is it a sibling of EcoBoost?
Modular platforms: CLAR, TNGA, MFA, MLB, UKL
This is the one that I hate the most. Modularization is not an invention in the car industry, but recently everyone is making up words to promote its seeming novelty. BMW refers to the RWD chassis as CLAR (CLuster ARchitecture) and FWD as UKL (Untere Klasse). Toyota has TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture), which consists of more than one platform. Since W176 A-Class, Mercedes-Benz has called its transverse platform MFA (Modularen FrontantriebsArchitektur), which is also underpinning B-Class, CLA, and GLA. Although it is not the first FWD platform of the brand, it is the first one to get an official name.
Porsche’s options: PCCB, PASM, PDCC, PSM, PTV
Porsche probably has the worst reputation when it comes to options. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, but the abbreviated names are so obscure. Some notable ones are PCCB (Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake), PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management), PDCC (Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control), PSM (Porsche Stability Management), and PTV (Porsche Torque Vectoring). Except for the PCCB, all these P-options are so obscure that one cannot tell what they really are from the literature.
Turbocharged engines: EcoBoost, TwinPower Turbo, TFSI, TSI, THP
Since the late 2000s, turbochargers have occupied almost every engine bay. Many names are then created in the order they emphasize the change of petrol engines from NA to turbo. Ford calls its turbo engines Ecoboost, which seem to be eco-friendly. BMW calls them TwinPower Turbo instead of the blunt “twin-scroll turbo”. PSA calls them THP (Turbo High Pressure).
VW has the most confusing turbo-wording among all. Initially, both Audi and VW used TFSI (Turbo Fuel Stratified Injection). Later on, VW came up with a brilliant idea of making a twin-charged engine (super- and turbocharged in one engine) and put it on Golf GT. Thus, a TSI (Twincharged Stratified Injection) engine was born. Nevertheless, VW soon decided to abort the original TSI and switch the name TFSI to TSI (Turbocharged Stratified Injection). Now we see Audi using TFSI and VW using TSI, but both of them could actually refer to the same engine.
Variable valve lift and timing:
MIVEC, MultiAir, VVT-i, i-VTEC, Valvetronic and VANOS
Once upon a time valve technologies were so innovative that each brand eagerly came up with its own name. These names can still be seen nowadays, some of which are even part of the model badge. For example, Mitsubishi uses MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control system), Fiat uses MultiAir, Toyota uses VVT-i (Variable Valve Timing-intelligent), and Honda uses i-VTEC (intelligent-Variable Valve Timing & Lift Electronic Control). BMW has different names for variable lift and timing respectively: Valvetronic and VANOS ( VAriable NOckenwellenSteuerung, variable camshaft control). As for brands that do not put up emblems like VVT or VVI, their engines may still get these designs. They just don’t bother to do so.
