"blanche cohen" wrote in message ...
It's not a Piper or Cessna or any other vendor issue. It's an
ICAO requirement. The manufacturer still gets to name the
aircraft but they must also provide an ICAO designator for
ATC.
The ATC designators aren't any thing like the Piper (or frequently
anybody else's) model numbers. The manufacturer in general
did NOT have anything to do with the ATC designators. These were invented
by the FAA.

There are only 3 PA-32 designators PA32 (for the straight leg ones turbo or not)
P32R (retract non-turbo), P32T (retract turbo). There are 10 different PA-32
models (as of the 1997 revision to the type certificate, don't know about the 6X).
Eleven if you count the PA-32S-300 sea plane.