QOTD: What '90s Car Name Should be Resurrected for a Crossover?

by Tim Healey

Published: September 18th, 2024

qotd what 90s car name should be resurrected for a crossover

It seems Dodge might bring back the Stealth name and slap it on a SUV to replace the Durango.

As a child of the '90s and someone who believes that words matter, at least some of the time, when it comes to car names, I don't love this. The name "Stealth" just sounds like a sports-car name.

Also, as an aside, why not keep Durango? It sounds very SUV-like and has been around long enough to build up name recognition.

Ahem. I suspect if Dodge does do this, other OEMs, especially those based in southeast Michigan, may jump on the bandwagon. Prepare yourself for old names from sports cars being resurrected because some marketer thinks it will resonate with older Millennials and Gen Xers who remember the moniker from their youths -- and for endless press conferences in which the OEMs use a bunch of buzzwords to try to convince people like me to convince our audience that the use of a name like "3000GT" on a compact crossover makes sense.

I started this QOTD feeling a bit trolly, but now I am mad envisioning this way-too-plausible scenario.

Anyway, what names do you think OEMs might use for this sort of thing?

Sound off below.

[Image: Dodge/Stellantis]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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Guy 59 minutes ago
90's name, does Cavalier count it was around before,during and after the 90's. A Corsica SUV with a Beretta SUV "coupe" counterpart? On the aside if they keep the Durango name they have to keep it in Detroit per the UAW. Change the name and its not a next gen Durango anymore.

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Lorenzo 59 seconds ago
De Soto Firedome!

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