We Asked an A.I. To Name Ram's Upcoming EV Truck, the Answers Were VERY "Synergistic"

Naming a future vehicle is an incredibly difficult task, and it’s no wonder why carmakers cherish their nameplates so much. It’s not only a matter of inspiration, but legacy as well, not to mention that you wouldn’t want the name to sound bizarre in various languages spoken across the globe. Things like that can lead to urban legends like Chevrolet Nova’s supposed failure in Spanish-speaking countries, although that proved fake.

Because it is so difficult to come up with good car names, automakers re-use nameplates, even if this means attaching them to different vehicles. One example that springs to mind is the Mustang Mach-E, which is unrelated to the pony car with the same name. Unless you are Ford, you cannot do that to an iconic nameplate and expect people to forgive and forget. Since we are at Ford, we can mention the Pinto name, which is guaranteed to never return on a vehicle, for obvious reasons.

That’s why we wanted to support Stellantis in finding a good name for their future electric truck, especially as Stellantis doesn’t have an EV-ready nameplate in its stable, like Ford’s Lightning. The quest is far from yielding results, as previously-mentioned names sound rather unconvincing. Ram 1500 EV is a possibility, considering that Chevrolet named its electric truck like that. But Ram wants us all to know the future truck is nothing we’ve seen before, so a boring name like 1500 EV would not do it justice.

Then there’s the “Revolution” name that Stellantis recently trademarked. While this adds more character to the plate, it is more suitable for a generic marketing campaign. I guess there’s a good reason why no one named a car “Revolution” before. Sure, Ram Revolution sounds great as a concept, but buying “a Revolution” sounds awful. No one would want that.

Of course, there’s another possibility: to crowdsource the name of the future vehicle. Stellantis certainly has shown it is open to suggestions with the electric Wagoneer S. Ram did not request fans’ help yet on the electric truck, but we give it a hand nevertheless. And because we don’t want to mess things up, we hired the omniscient ChatGPT assistant powered by OpenAI to offer its opinion. And we must say, it didn’t disappoint, at least not by quantity.

“There are a few different directions you could go with a name for an electric Ram truck, depending on what kind of image you want it to convey,” was the ChatGPT’s expert reply. Then, we were presented with five options quicker than we could think. Not all are inspired, and some might raise trademark issues with Ford, but what can I say? It’s worth taking a look.

The first on the list is Thunderbolt, a name that ChatGPT says suggests power and speed. It would’ve been a good name had Ford not thought the same in 1964 when it showed the Fairlane Thunderbolt. E-Ram is the second on the list, and it might strike as a safe choice, being simple and straightforward, plus it clearly indicates that the truck is electric. But, unfortunately, Stellantis cannot name its future Revolution truck something like Ram 1500 E-Ram. Bummer.

Next on the list is Zephyr, which is an interesting choice. ChatGPT assures us that it conveys speed and agility, a fitting name for an electric truck “that is nimble and quick.” We’d have a hard time picturing a truck as nimble and quick, but we don’t have to because this name is also in Ford’s coffers. We’d also dismiss “Dynamo” as too Ram-less and “Electron” name as too generic, probably more fitting for a Soviet-era radio than a revolutionary electric pickup.

In the end, we don’t think that OpenAI’s chatbot is creative enough, despite the hype surrounding its skills. Sure, it can come up with a handful of answers to a question, and all might sound sensible at first sight. But given a second thought, you realize it’s even less suitable to name a vehicle than most of us. Too bad, because I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw Stellantis naming its revolutionary electric pickup “Ram 1500 EV.”