It seems this is part of their modus operandi: acquire established franchises and develop them by making them more widely available, make patches/updates/DLC/remasters, make sequels. So far this seems to have worked for them.

Personally, I've never understood why companies want to buy other game IPs. To me, what makes a game is the people who made it. I'd care far more about hiring the team that made a game I enjoy than I ever would about buying a name.

Besides, I have too many game ideas that I could never shoehorn into another existing IP.

Besides, I'm sure we could come up with other games titles that evoke the same idea as Carmageddon.

How about these? (some titles may already exist, I didn't bother checking. These just popped into my head):
Carnage
Roadrage
Driving Angry
Swerve
Pulverizing Pedestrians
Vehicular Manslaughter