Goofy Marketing: Citation X vs. The Ten

Ok…doesn’t look like anyone has commented on this issue so I’ll grab the grumpy mic and proceed…

So…in this dumbed down world of ours, Cessna execs have decided to name the new and improved version of the “Citation X” the…wait for it…“The Ten.”

Now, for most of us who are in the know, this seems a little strange.

I mean, afterall, the Citation X followed the Cessna numbering scheme used for earlier Citations and used a Roman numeral “X” to denote the number “10.” Unfortunately, many people just couldn’t wrap their skulls around the concept and continually butchered the moniker, calling it the, “X” as in the letter, not the numeral. In other words, there were a bunch of “smart folk” out there who couldn’t help but call the jet the Citation “Ex,” instead of Citation “10.”

This buffonery apparently drove Cessna nuts and instead of maintaining an aire of exclusivity (as in, you’re either a Roman numeral doofus or you’re not), Cessna decided to spool up the turbines of imagination and rename their uniquely named masterpiece, “The Ten.” Which is what it was named in the first place…

Now…if I’m just a grumpy old man (as I’m sure many of you will be more than willing to point out), so be it…I still think “The Ten” is a silly name for this particular upgrade. But, I have a sense that I’m not alone in this…

In either case, humor me and gimme your thoughts in the poll, wouldja?

Cheers,
Jack

I vote “F” - “The Ten” is a great marketing idea.

Unfortunately you didn’t include that option.

Really? Great marketing? Whycome?

Actually, I’m just kidding. Just pointing out the fact that you left that option out.

“LIKE”

We always call the current Citation X the ‘Citation Ten’ so its rather silly to me. They have gone with the + after updates to names for other models so X+ works better I think.

So, let me get this straight, the new Citation X is a Citation Ten, but a X was a ten before a ten was a ten.So if a X is a Ten and a Ten is a Ten, what’s the difference. Oh, Maybe they should call it a Garmin, wake up Honeywell and Collins. Talk about goofy marketing, try still charging 50,000 bucks for an FMS. OOps, almost slipped into a new thread there. But seriously, gotta agree, pretty lame name. Maybe in going from a cast of 16,000 to somewhere around 7,000, they lost the marketing department or at least the name game guys.

Sounds like I’m not alone on this…if only Cessna’s C-Suite guys kept up with this forum…we might get some real change goin’…

How does Cessna 750 grab you?

They probably wanted to accentuate all of the improvements while emphasizing that the plane is still the Citation X (pronounced Ten). They could have called it the X+ or the XYZ. Like the Sovereign, they could have gone with Supreme or Imperial. The next edition will probably be The Ten+ so you have about four years to prepare yourself.

I’m fond of the 560XL, a 650 (III, VI & VII) fuselage mated with the wings and tail of the 560 (V, Ultra, Encore, Encore+) upgraded with modern engines and avionics. They called it the Excel (get it?) then the XLS and now the XLS+. If they followed Sikorsky marketing the next editions will be the XLS++ and then the XLS+++.

They should have named it something else. We already call the “X” the “Ten”. What the hell are we going to call “The Ten”? My big question… Is my CE-750 type going to cover the new aircraft?

I think I’m just gonna hold and let my excitement build for the “10-4” so that I can use the comms like a CB radio…
OR
The “Ten-Forward” as a nod to Star Trek fans everywhere…