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BHPian museycal recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
While riding today in and around Pune, I came across the OG Hero Honda CBZ. The bike was in pristine condition with all its decals and stickers in place. And one sticker caught my attention, on the fuel tank extensions, announcing 'TPFC'. If I recall correctly, it stood for Transient Power Fuel Control. This fleeting encounter set alight a flurry of memories of many such acronyms I've come across since I could comprehend the automobiles, like (for 2 wheelers as well as 4 wheelers):
I am sure these are just a few of many, which you may recall too. Contemplating on these a bit, I find it fascinating that makers of these machines invest time, energy and other resources to come up with such acronyms, in order to drive some USPs, create brands and develop some good recall. Honda's VTEC, Bajaj's DTSI, Tata's DiCOR are a very good examples. I remember during the college days and early job life in mid 2000s, these acronyms were almost like top trumps! I recall this discussion among us 3 friends:
Brooding further down the road, these acronyms were also the reflection of what was important at-the-time when these cars/bikes/scooters came out. So, for example, at the moment we have many cars coming out of with dual-clutch gearboxes. These represent something new and transitionary from the prevalent manual and auto transmissions. And, almost every auto manufacturer will have a fancy word for their dual clutch transmissions - DCT, PDK, DCA, DSG etc. Similar is the case with the connected car in-car-entertainment suites - iRA, SmartPlay, BlueLink etc.
Please chip-in with your recollections and anecdotes about these, may be from even earlier decades. Do you find any values in these sub-brands? Are they necessary? Did any of them, any time, influence your automotive decision? Which one is/was your favourite, and why?
Here's what BHPian SS-Traveller had to say on the matter:
Knowledge about vehicle-related 3- to 5-letter acronyms, it is said, differentiates the automotive cognoscenti from the 'caridiot'. Features like ABS, EBD, ESC, TC, ROP, AWD, BTC, HDC... sometimes, the mind boggles. Then there are those nomenclatures for different variants of cars - LXi, VXi, ZXi, ZX, XZ, XT, XTA, AX... Nowadays I just read a specifications list, and not try to figure out which version of which car has what feature. Call me a caridiot if you want.
Here's what BHPian saikishor had to say on the matter:
Yamaha had some stickers on the R15 V2. IIRC, they were Deltabox and LCDV. Deltabox was nothing but a name given to perimeter frame. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Here's what BHPian GForceenjoyer had to say on the matter:
A lot of manufacturers have had different trim level names for a while. EXI, ZXI, SXI, CLXI, etc. Some more generic ones like ORVM, IRVM, MT, AT come to mind as well. Then TSI, TDI, TCDI (Chevrolet), iVT and iMT are some I commonly see. Some acronyms were used to describe entire cars, such as OHC, NHC and ANHC (Old Honda City, New Honda City and All-New Honda City. Used for the first, second and third generations respectively).
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