What does the X represent?
 

It occurred to me the most current crossovers have an X in their name. Is it "crossover" or some indication that it is off road (4X4)... though all are not 4X4 or AWD.

RDX, MDX, CX3, CX5, CX9, X3, X4, X5, XC40, XC60, XC90, X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, RX350, NX300, GX, LX, UX, MKX, QX50, QX60, XT4, XT5,, XTerra, Model X

What does the X represent, and what did I miss?

It's a trend and laziness in automotive naming of models/cars.

Remember Acura used to have real names for their cars like: Legend, Integra, NSX actually was a meaningful initialism. Seems like the trend is for these naming schemes.
One thing I actually read about Acura going to these names is the easiness for SEO when people search/talk about those models.

Model X has an interesting backgruond. IIRC, Elon Musk was hoping to name the 3 main Tesla cars Model S, E, X. (Model Y is their next upcoming model. And yes it looks just like what you think he was trying to do, and he pretty much succeeded) But Model E naming was blocked by ford, and so he went with Model 3.

Very interesting about Tesla! I didn't know that! Thanks!

It doesn't have one single meaning, it means different things to different brands. For example the Lincoln MKX was supposed to be read as Mark 10, whereas MDX is an acronym for Multi dimensional Luxury. Some brands use it to denote crossover and some just use it because it sounds cool and it's become synonymous with vehicle nomenclature. So in short it means everything and nothing at the same time.

Very interesting! MKX = Mark 10. I wonder how many people knew that! You are probably 1 in a million!

Either that or I've been caught napping for the last 10-12 years!

Some automakers are still going for more interesting names:

Lincoln Nautilus, Hyundai Ioniq/Kona. Jeep Gladiator, Chevy Bolt/Volt, Nissan Leaf

Some models are being resurrected from their glory days of past: Ford Bronco, Toyota Supra.

Giving names to vehicles has 'complications' when selling internationally. Chevrolet kind of missed the boat years back with slow sales of the Nova in Spanish speaking countries. They understood why after translating the name from Spanish to English.

X Factor...in other words, a crap shoot. Will your RDX be trouble-free or a total piece of shit!

I just figured X stood for Crossover and never really thought about it any further. Life's too short! :)

MDX= Multi Dimensional luXury. The other siblings just go with the flow.

But for fans of the original RoboCop, never forget the quintessential GM car name.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...0b4342a4e7.jpg

Sounds like Sex.

Lol, I read it as "iPhone X", not 10. And the 10r, it's "Xr", to me!


X is an interesting letter and people are fascinated by it!


Who wants X?

Some people abbreviate Crossfit as X-Fit on the internet I've seen, denoting the way the X crosses over itself. So I just assumed X mostly implies crossover in most vehicle names because the X crosses over itself.

I always thought the X meant eXperimental... the 19 RDX is that for many

Can't believe no one has posted this yet.. shame