Do you know your LX from your GT from your ST? A beginner’s guide to automotive trim level and performance package acronyms | Enthusiast 101

Is a base Kia Stinger good enough for you, or do you need the extra performance and amenities of a Kia Stinger GT to get your juices flowing, or maybe even a GTS? Will a Toyota Rav4 LE hit the spot for your practical everyday family SUV, or do you want to step up to the extra amenities of the LXE—or maybe even bump the level of goodies up even further and get the L? If you’re a newcomer to pursuing an interest in cars beyond the casual level, the array of automotive trim level and performance package acronyms can feel bewildering.

Here’s a quick guide to some of the most common designations that follow automotive model names and what they mean.

GT – Grand Tourer, Grand Touring, or Gran Turismo.

Arguably, it is most accurate to think of GT as an entire category of car rather than a designation of a mere submodel, trim line, or appearance package. A GT car lives in the middle ground between a sports car and a luxury car.

A true sports car is built for power and agile handling, with performance on a track or a winding canyon road being the ultimate test. But agile handling and comfort are often not mutually reinforcing. The same stiff suspension that makes a car so nimble at negotiating tight corners can be fatiguing on a long highway trip or daily commute.

An all out luxury car, on the other hand, can be too soft and cushy for some, to the detriment of the engaging, connected-with-the-road feel valued by those who enjoy driving for the sheer pleasure of the experience. So a GT car is designed to deliver the best of the both worlds, built for engaging, high-speed drives while providing a level of comfort and luxury that keeps drivers and passengers alike happy over a long distance.

In a given model, such as the Ford Mustang, the GT package can be substantial step up from the base in both performance and luxury, with a significantly stronger powertrain and more amenities in appearance, convenience, and comfort as well.

While GT cars are most traditionally associated with two-door coupes, there are four-door GT cars as well. The idea of a four-door GT car is gaining traction today, with the market’s current limited interest in two-door cars. The Kia Stinger GT is a noteworthy example.

GTS, which stands for Gran Turismo Sport, is a minor variant of the GT designation with essentially the same meaning. Another variant is GTO, which in Italian, stands for Gran Turismo Omologato, designating a car that meets specs for racing in Grand Tourer competitions. If your interests have entered into the racing realm at least a bit, you may be familiar with the English equivalent of omologato: homologation.

LE, LS, LT, LX, LXE, L – Luxury Edition, Luxury Sedan/Saloon, Luxury Touring, Luxury Extra, Limited

We grouped these designations together because their meanings are closely interrelated and variable from one automotive make and model to another. Generally these designations are among the most purely “trim oriented,” and the most prone to “marketing fluff,” if you look closely at what they actually mean.

Simply put, they are labels for how automakers will package various combinations of appearance and accessory options for different models. An LX model might have a standard sound system and cloth seats, whereas an LXE or Limited might step up to leather seats and a premium infotainment system.

In some cases, the option for a larger, more powerful engine or an all-wheel drivetrain may also be packaged with a higher trim level designated by an acronym like one of these.  Appearance options such as alloy wheels and accent stripes may also be features of the various “L” trim levels. “L” alone, standing for Limited, may also indicate a package that will also be offered in a literally limited number of vehicles.

R/Type R – Racing Spec.

The meaning of an R designation, when applied to a specific car model, is simple and rather obvious: it stands for racing spec. Noteworthy examples include two contemporary “hot hatch” submodels: the Honda Civic Type R and the Hyundai Veloster R-Spec.

Depending on the make and model, the “R is for Race” concept may be a bit of a stretch. The Veloster R-Spec has been described by The Drive as a “mild-sport” package. And while the Honda Civic Type R and the Veloster R-Spec have earned legitimate cred on the track, the idea of competitively racing a purely stock example without some mods for durability and safety, such as upgraded brakes, racing harnesses, and maybe even a roll cage, could be questionable—and may not comply with track requirements depending on where you want to race.

RS – Rally Sport.

The RS (Rally Sport) designation is applied to vehicles that share some characteristics of rally cars, which are vehicles either purpose-built or modified to compete in rallies, a specific type of motorsports event.

As a rule, RS-badged vehicles on the consumer market are not set up to meet the mechanical demands of actual competitive rallies, which involve such challenges as high-speed runs on rough surfaces such as dirt or gravel, formidable hill climbs, and courses that include jumps. So the RS version of a model you’re considering might be more show than go.

Rally events may also require safety equipment such as roll cages, which are generally not included in consumer production vehicles. As such, even though they are usually engineered to deliver enhanced power, handling, and driving dynamics compared to base models, it is most accurate to think of an RS designation as representing a stepped-up appearance package rather than a stock vehicle that’s rally-ready.

SS – Super Sport.

SS, which stands for Super Sport, is a designation specific to Chevrolet in the U.S. market, applied to models equipped with a premium performance package such as the Chevelle SS in the heyday of the muscle car era, or today’s Camaro SS and Chevy SS. Overseas, GM—the parent company of the Chevrolet brand—has also used the SS designation for vehicles produced by the GM-owned Australian automaker Holden.

Compared to the base versions, models with the SS package feature a more powerful engine, a suspension upgraded to manage the increased power, premium wheels, and a variety of appearance embellishments such as chrome SS badging on the grille and racing stripes on the hood.

ST – Sports Technologies.

ST (Sports Technologies) is a Ford-specific badge that has been applied to performance variants of Ford models, such as the Focus ST, Fiesta ST, and Mondeo ST. ST-badged vehicles are engineered for enhanced performance attributes such as horsepower, torque, handling, and driving dynamics. Ford’s ST-designated vehicles were originally developed by an organization within Ford Motor Company responsible for motorsports and performance applications: TeamRS, now superseded by Ford Performance.

Essentially, Ford Performance is Ford’s racing division, analogous to Toyota’s TRD, testing out ideas on the track that sometimes end up being built out to street vehicles marketed to consumers.

Those are the basics, but there’s still more to learn about automotive trim level and performance package acronyms.

We’ve covered some of the most common and essential automotive trim level and performance package acronyms. But there are others you may run into. Consider, for example, the Volkswagen Golf GTI—commonly referred to as simply the Volkswagen GTI. The meaning of “GTI” is pretty simple: in English, it stands for Grand Tourer Injection, indicating that the engine has a direct-injection fuel system.

But the case of the Golf GTI is especially interesting. It’s an example of the identity of a performance package overshadowing the identity of the model. Yes, the Volkswagen GTI is a variant of the Volkswagen Golf, but the performance upgrades are so significant that the GTI variant provides a remarkably different driving experience.

So the Volkswagen GTI arguably becomes almost an entirely different vehicle than the base Golf. In this case, GTI—nominally a performance package designation—has taken on its own identity almost as a distinct model in its own right.

As heavily associated as the GTI designation is with Volkswagen today, the Volkswagen GTI isn’t the only GTI. Over the years, a diverse range of automakers from Citroën to Maserati to Suzuki have built GTI versions of various models.

There is always more to learn about automotive trim level and performance package acronyms. Some manufacturers, for example, like BMW and Porsche, stand out for having unusually byzantine model and submodel nomenclatures, making the picture even more complex. But once you understand the basics we’ve covered here, you will have a solid foundation to help you make sense of some of the more unusual and elaborate instances.