In 1994, during Johan de Nysschen’s second year as general manager of Audi’s operations in his native South Africa, the carmaker introduced a new model naming system brilliant in its simplicity: the letter A (for Audi) followed by a single-digit number denoting a given model’s size and position in the overall hierarchy of vehicle offerings. […]

Another day…another report of a Toyota trademark filing. Or two of them, to be precise: NX 200t and NX 300h, both filed on 15 October 2012 for “use in association with automobiles and structural parts thereof”. In the United States, Trademark Application No. 85754116 was filed for NX 200t, and Trademark Application No. 85754176 for […]

As we’ve written a number of times in the past, we assiduously follow trademark filings by Toyota, as well as its Lexus and Scion brands for the clues and insights they provide into future product plans. As editor of my.IS, this author has written about the United States and Canadian filings for Lexus’ IS 250C […]

As we reminded you in an earlier Kaizen Factor story, poking around trademark and copyright applications and registrations filed by carmakers can provide vital clues to their possible future plans. We have just learned of two new trademark applications filed by Toyota Motor Corporation. The first of these, HSD, was filed on 23 November 2010 […]

In the modern Internet age, the traditional spy photo or whispered insider hint have been supplemented by poking around and paying attention to legal filings as sources of information for carmakers’ future plans. The European Union’s patent office has, in the past, provided advance peeks at the Suzuki Kizashi, the Nissan 370Z Roadster and the […]