Ford’s Focused Favorites: We all know that Ford has been enamored with “E” names for its SUVs–Explorer, Excursion, Escape and Expedition. Hot on the heels of that successful “strategy,” Ford has now gone native, and is naming nearly every non-SUV vehicle in sight an F-word, according to a snarky story rolling down from Canada.

Ford is rumored to be renaming its Windstar minivan, giving it the name Freestar, not to be confused with the Freestyle, coming out next year. Also joining the fleet of Fiestas, Focuses and Futuras next year will be the Five Hundred sedan, and in Europe Ford recently launched the Fusion, a derivative of the Fiesta.

“It’s part of a strategy to establish some consistency in brand names. . . that really ties back very well to a lot of the names that Ford used in the past that began with an F….”

Ahh, “consistency,” that signifier of daring and excitement. But making the brand subservient to such arbitrary rules, alas, is not the wisest course.

The madness continues with this old chestnut of rationalization, the F-group:

Ford says F-words tested particularly well with focus groups. Such names do double-duty by bolstering the Ford brand, Mr. [Tony] Galida [vice-president of general marketing at Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. in Oakville] says.

That’s especially important today, when advertising budgets are tight and dozens of car brands are fighting for market share.

No word yet if these were the same focus groups that rubber-stamped the brilliance of the woebegone Chrysler K-car.

Launching a new model “can be a very difficult and time-consuming process, so putting a framework around it that makes sense and ties closely with your primary brand is something that we think will help us,” he says.

It’s a cop-out, a short cut endorsed by focus groups that can only hurt them in the long run. This strategy leads not only to model confusion, but to a general lack of individualization at a time when many cars are trying to stand out from the crowd by becoming ever more specialized. Ford may think that these sound-alike F-names will help conserve advertising budgets, but what’s more likely is that more money will be spent in the attempt to differentiate models whose names all scream, “We’re all alike.”