It is both an exciting and confusing time to be in the market for a vehicle.
On the one hand, many top vehicles are able to do things we wouldn't have dreamed of just 10 years ago. A mid-range Tesla (TSLA) -) Model 3 goes from 0-60 mph in as little as 3.1 seconds, guzzles no gas, and is considered pretty cool for doing so.
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Entire new categories and brands of luxury are hitting the market -- and taking it by storm. The Genesis (Hyundai's answer to Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti) is consistently ranked one of the best new brands; the 2023 Genesis G90 was just ranked the number one best luxury large car for 2023 by Car and Driver and the 2023 Genesis G80 was ranked third for best midsized luxury car.
One thing that's notably changed over the past few years: cars are less affordable than ever.
If, for example, you were in the market for a car in 2017 with a budget of $20,000, that would be reasonable. You'd have about 11 models to choose from. As of summer 2023, however, only three models were available in the U.S. market for $20,000 or less.
Nowadays, a new car runs you an average of more than $48,000 -- and that's before all the add-on fees like tags, title, taxes and others.
If you're less concerned about affordability, you might consider a BMW (BMWYY) -), which touts three models in the list of the top 10 most popular luxury cars in America. Those include the BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series, and the BMW 4 Series.
BMW has successfully threaded the needle between luxury and performance at (somewhat) attainable prices. With a 2024 X3 you get the feel a sports car with the comfort of an SUV for around $50,000 -- just $2,000 short of the national average cost for a car. And when you consider the base model Toyota Venza starts at approximately $35,000 -- the X3 suddenly doesn't seem that far-fetched.
Still, BMW has a problem on its hands. It doesn't have to do with price, but rather its nomenclature. When you hear "Venza," "Tacoma," or "Highlander," you can probably instantly picture that car. These are identifying names that closely associate with a car model. Not so with BMW, whose mixture of numbers, letters and different capitalization styles feels confusing and wonky for even the biggest of gear heads.
BMW makes a big change
BMW is seemingly well-aware of its confusing naming issues, so it's working on a fix to hopefully clear all that up.
The German-based car manufacturer has reportedly filed new model names with the EU trademark authorities -- something many hopeful onlookers read as a signal for new names to come.
Now, before you get too excited, the familiar letter and numerical plays will likely still be very much in play. But rather than getting the wordy BMW i4 eDrive35i, for example, we may get a simpler iX340.
According to Car Magazine, the X3 family, which are BMW's gas-powered mid-size SUVs, will be renamed first. Here's what some of the new names may be:
- X320 (gas)
- X330 (gas)
- iX330 (electric)
- iX340 (electric)
- iX350 (electric)
The new naming system denotes power and package stack associated with each model.
"Cleverly, it allows the familiar ‘3-series’ and ‘5-series’ family names to continue, but realigns the individual constituent models below," Car Magazine writes, adding, "the proposed flexible badging system can reflect different bodystyles, model hierarchies and power/battery capacity with a single common style."
Smaller sedans and cars are also expected to get similar name overhauling. A 3-series sedan might be renamed as 330 and 340, and electric versions might simply be known as i330 and i340. And for its its M line, or its top-performance vehicles, they might be revamped simply as BMW M3 or iM3.
Right now, much of this is speculation as BMW has only just filed for trademarks, but there's a chance that in the next several years it'll be a lot easier to denote what car cut you off in traffic or which one you'd like to spend some of your own money on.
