Why Did General Motors Trademark the 'Tribute' Name?
General Motors has filed a trademark application for the ‘Tribute’ name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The Tribute name has been reserved for use on “motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles, sport utility vehicles, trucks, vans, engines therefor and structural parts thereof.” We therefore know it will be used on a future GM vehicle of some sort, although it’s not clear if it will be a Chevrolet, Buick or GMC. We’re confident it won’t be a Cadillac, however, as it wouldn’t follow the brand’s alphanumeric naming convention.
As you may recall, this isn’t the first time the ‘Tribute’ name has been reserved for a car. The Ford Escape-based Mazda Tribute was built between 2000 and 2011, but the Japanese automaker’s rights to the badge burned out in 2012. That allowed GM to swoop in and claim it as its own, with the American automaker filing the application on February 16th, 2018.
SEE ALSO: FCA has Filed a Patent for a Dash with Three Screens
It’s really anybody’s guess what GM wants the Tribute name for. We don’t think it will be used on a crossover to avoid any confusion with the now defunct Mazda, but who knows? Weirder things have happened.
Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
More by Sam McEachern
Comments
Join the conversation
Odd that they would snatch this name that used to belong to the Mazda version of the Ford Escape.