Ford beats Tesla to Model E punchline

FORD Motor Company recently announced that it would split its internal combustion-, commercial- and electric-vehicle business into individual units named Ford Blue, Ford Pro and Model e respectively, but the latter moniker does not sit at all well with BEV giant Tesla.

And while the decisions behind that announcement are now patently clear (see link below), it seems the use of the Model emoniker as the masthead for its new EV business unit was initially sought by rival Tesla as the nameplate for what we now know as the Model 3.

Behind the scenes, Tesla and Ford have been at war over the use of the Model E name; the dispute dates back more than eight years, when Tesla revealed plans to use the “E” nomenclature as the next in its model series behind the Model S, Model X and Model Y.

At the time, Ford said the name sounded too much like to its 114-year-old Model T and entered a contract with Tesla agreeing not to register the Model E trademark. However, when Tesla tried to register the trademark some four years later, it discovered Ford had beaten it to the punch.

According to The Detroit Free Press and others, Ford’s move blocked Tesla’s chances of naming its models S, E, X and Y, and instead chose S, 3, X and Y. Yes, that’s correct: Tesla wanted its model portfolio to spell out S-E-X-Y, but Ford ruined its plans.

In a 2014 interview with CNNMoney, Elon Musk said: “We have the S and the X and then a friend asks at a party: ‘hey, what are you going to call the third-generation car?’. Well, we’ve got the S and the X, so we might as well make it the E”.

"Ford gave us a call and said they're going to sue us for using Model E. And we're like, Ford's killing SEX. I mean, that's terrible!'" Mr Musk told CNNMoney.

Ford has sued companies for attempting to use the Model E name before, most recently in 2000 when internet leasing start-up Model E Corporation tried to register the company name in Fremont, California.

“We have a history of using the nomenclature beginning with the word 'Model' and then followed by a letter, so we do think that (Model E) would be perceived as associated with Ford," Ford spokesperson Kathleen Vokes said at the time.

Ford Motdels is also the name of a New York modelling agency… but that’s whole other story.

Historically, Ford has sold models including the Model A, AA, AC, B, BB, C, CX, F, K, N, R, S, T, TT and Y, but never an E. And yes, you read that right – Ford was first to use the Model Y nameplate.

Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley told The Detroit Free Press this week that it had protected the Model E (e) nameplate “for a darn good reason”, adding that the company values its history and nameplates like few other companies do.

“Choosing the name is very intentional. We keep telling people this is the biggest transformation of the company since the scaling of the Model T,” Mr Farley told the publication.

“We knew that the Model E was going to be important at Ford Motor Company. Did we know it was going to be for this announcement three or four years ago? Absolutely not. We protected it for a darn good reason,” he said.