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AutoPuzzles Today => Features, Stories and Photos => Topic started by: Carnut on January 27, 2012, 08:26:49 AM
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When I was growing up (and starting to take an interest in cars - when I was about 2 months old…) cars generally seemed to have such exciting and interesting names. In the UK you only ever really saw British cars apart from the very occasional VW Beetle (whose owners always used to wave to each other!), so the names you saw were ones like Zephyr, Zodiac, Tiger, Avenger, Vanguard, Continental, Jupiter, Californian – as well as the thoroughly boring Oxford, Cambridge, Somerset etc from BMC! In the US there was the Mustang, Fury, Challenger, Coronet, Monterey, Comet, Cobra and lately Viper.
The French had some interesting names too, like the Citroen DS conjuring up images of Goddesses, or the Renault Fregate (who but the French could get away with calling a car after a ship? Bentley Battleship? Rover Barge? Er, no thanks, although I’m surprised names like Destroyer haven’t been used, and the non-marine Annihilator).
So what’s happened to the exciting names conjuring up faraway places and vicious animals? Do the Asian manufacturers have whole departments charged with inventing the most awful names imaginable, like Optima for the latest Kia? What does that mean exactly? That you have to be a real optimist to buy one in the hope that it’s some good? Or the mis-spelt Carisma of Mitsubishi, naming it after the one thing it really did not have? Not that that was the only name they couldn’t spell: what about the Mitsubishi Starion? Perhaps some non-English speaking employee thought Stallion a really good name for a sports car but never really got it across properly and it got all the way to production mis-spelt? Kia don’t seem to have found a copy of an atlas either, what with their Sorento..
How much do Toyota spend inventing their boringly dreadful names? Avensis? Auris? Verso? What on earth do they all mean? And what’s a Rodius, as SsangYong insist on calling the most hideous car ever made?
Although not exactly having the monopoly on awful names the Japanese nevertheless are far and away in the lead, with cars like the Mitsubishi Chariot Grandio Super Exceed, Mazda Bongo Friendee, Honda Life Dunk, Isuzu GIGA 20 Light Dump etc. Do they know what 'Dump' means? And just who would be seen dead in a car named the Yamaha Pantry Boy Supreme? Some people apparently!
Even the Germans seem to have taken a leaf out of Japan's book though. Who precisely at VW was responsible for calling their new city car the "up!"? I was thinking about getting one for my wife as it's had such good reviews, but frankly I just coudn't live with that stupid name, so another Fiat Panda it's going to have to be.
Numbers have always been used but they are so boringly efficient, usually just describing the engine or body size. Thankfully Ferrari have rediscovered the magic of their old names like Monza with new cars like the 458 Italia; long may it continue. Their numbers must have been the most confusing ever and I wonder if even the people at Ferrari themselves can tell you which is which out of the 365GTC, 365GTS, 365GT 2+2, 365GT/4 2+2, 365GTB/4, 365GTC/4, 365GTS/4, 365GT4/BB - all completely different cars! And Fiat does still try with cuddly names like the Panda, although fellow Fiat Group company seem unable to grasp how awful a Lancia Dedra must have sounded to an English speaker!
Surely there are enough exciting words out there to give cars decent names without having to invent idiotic ones or use boring ones?
Boycott cars with crap names I say!
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.... although I’m surprised names like Destroyer haven’t been used , and the non-marine Annihilator...
Well, in the McFarlan line-up of 1918,1919 and 1920 there was a 4-passenger touring called "Model 127 Destroyer" in 1918-1919 and "Model 90 Destroyer" in 1920 ;D
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Well stated, Carnut!
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I enjoyed that read Carnut, thank you.
Why car manufacturers don't do their homework before announcing the name of a new model beats me......
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What about the strange grammatic rules and special characters of some new names...
iQ, Qubo, C-Zero, Cee'd, Pro_Cee'd... ???
What was wrong with normal names like the wonderful Aprilia, Appia, Aurelia, Giulietta?
The worst: Opel Mokka... :-\
MPC
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What about the strange grammatic rules and special characters of some new names...
iQ, Qubo, C-Zero, Cee'd, Pro_Cee'd... ???
What was wrong with normal names like the wonderful Aprilia, Appia, Aurelia, Giulietta?
The worst: Opel Mokka... :-\
MPC
Fully agree: I had quite a few of those names lined up to mention but couldn't fit them in anywhere! Just who would rather drive a car called a c'eed than a Giulia? I can't imagine.
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Well, Chinese car names cannot be compared with anything else:
- Hi, dude, what's the name of your ride, huh?
- Ah, well, it's BCS 5010 TYN-C1! And yours?
- Mine is HBJ6460...
- Oh, nice!
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We can only make a guess at how some of those Oriental names that are supposed to look English are pronounced.
I assume that the "q" without a following "u" has a "k" sound, so I can only assume that "ai" must be the same as "ow" to make any sense of Nissan's Qashqai.
Why can't we have names like "Jordan Playboy" any more? My late friend, Roy Jordan, knew where he was with that - and he wanted one!
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and he wanted one!
Don't we all?!
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Well, Chinese car names cannot be compared with anything else:
- Hi, dude, what's the name of your ride, huh?
- Ah, well, it's BCS 5010 TYN-C1! And yours?
- Mine is HBJ6460...
- Oh, nice!
Yes, what a dreadful lack of imagination.
Mind you, the Brits are no better: how sexy does a McLaren MP4-12C sound?
Why didn't they call it a McLaren Maori or a McLaren Marlborough (after the wine-producing region rather than the cigarettes, which would be Marlboro!)? After all, Bruce was a Kiwi..
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Surely there are enough exciting words out there to give cars decent names without having to invent idiotic ones or use boring ones?
Boycott cars with crap names I say!
Amen!
Great article, Carnut. Agreed whole-heartily. And, include using old names on cars that have NOTHING to do with the original ... such as the 1995-2007 Ch#$r%*et "monte carlo", 2000-2012 Ch#$r%*et "impala", 1997-2012 Ch#$r%*et "malibu", etc..... JUST SAYIN'
Cort | 38.m.IL | pigValve + paceMaker + cowValve | 5 MCs + 1 Caprice Classic
* post-surgeryPARTY = 5:30p-10:30p, SAT, 02/11/12 | Beef Villa, 1225 W Spring St, S Elgin IL *
"You were history with the slamming of the door" __ Celine Dion __ 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now'
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I once watched a feature on German TV about a man who "invented" names for Opel.
if I recall it right "Vectra" and "Calibra" were two of his accomplishments. It was interisting to see how he found names that give a certain kind of abstract feeling (or not!), without saying too much. (harmful, disturbing)
We all know that it can be quite hard as you can't be sure that somewhere on this planet exactly this particular name is used in vulgar or ridiculous context. (Pajero, Vixen etc.)
I guess todays car makers resp. their marketing departments don't give a s*** what we think about them. We're simply not their target group anymore..
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I was behind a car yesterday called a "Kia Carens".
If I'd been asked I would have said "Carens" is an anti-wrinkle cream for middle-aged ladies..
The name probably suits the car, then!
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Then there's the pronunciation problem.
Obviously Hyundai is an attempt to write a Korean name so that we can say it, but has it two syllables or three? In other words do you pronounce "yu" as one sound (as in Yugoslavia) or two - and if two is the "Hy" bit spoken as in "hyperbole" or as in "hymn"?
Mercifully we no longer have to work out how to pronounce "daewoo" - it's "chevrolet" hereabouts now.
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I was behind a car yesterday called a "Kia Carens".
If I'd been asked I would have said "Carens" is an anti-wrinkle cream for middle-aged ladies..
The name probably suits the car, then!
This name has always surprised me...I studied Latin at school and I remeber a past participle of the verb Carere, that is Carens, Carentis: "Missing, devoid of something; inadequate: a character lacking imagination; deficient nutrition; culture lacking, inadequate, incomplete.
What a name for a car!
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I was behind a car yesterday called a "Kia Carens".
If I'd been asked I would have said "Carens" is an anti-wrinkle cream for middle-aged ladies..
The name probably suits the car, then!
This name has always surprised me...I studied Latin at school and I remeber a past participle of the verb Carere, that is Carens, Carentis: "Missing, devoid of something; inadequate: a character lacking imagination; deficient nutrition; culture lacking, inadequate, incomplete.
What a name for a car!
Well, as the logo spells the name KIΛ which anyone who's familiar with the Greek alphabet would pronounce "kill", nothing would surprise me about them and their naming policy.
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I doubt if they know as much as you guys, so I think Kia are the ones who'd be surprised!
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Well, as the logo spells the name KIΛ which anyone who's familiar with the Greek alphabet would pronounce "kill", nothing would surprise me about them and their naming policy.
:lmao:
(...or russian...)
MPC
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I doubt if they know as much as you guys, so I think Kia are the ones who'd be surprised!
LOL!
Also intriguing (well, at least, to me) is the different names a car takes on, before the final name is established.
For instance, iirc, the Camaro was originally named "Panther".
And, the Monte Carlo (the ORIGINAL, ~the late 1960s before the model was introduced September 1969 as a 1970 model) was originally dubbed "Concours".
Cort | 38.m.IL | pigValve + paceMaker + cowValve | 5 MCs + 1 Caprice Classic
* post-surgeryPARTY = 5:30p-10:30p, SAT, 02/11/12 | Beef Villa, 1225 W Spring St, S Elgin IL *
"Back in 1876 an old boy named Bell invented a contraption that we know so well" __ Reba McEntire __ 'Why Haven't I Heard From You?'
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[quote author=knightfan26917 link=topic=19534.msg198493#msg198493 And, the Monte Carlo (the ORIGINAL, ~the late 1960s before the model was introduced September 1969 as a 1970 model) was originally dubbed "Concours".
[/quote]
I can imagine why they changed that one.
After all, how could they name a car after the concreted area in front of a building...?!
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;D
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Then there's the Mitsubishi Starion. In response to the Ford Mustang it was supposed to be the Stallion, but with the Japanese inability to pronounce the letter "L" ............
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Then there's the Mitsubishi Starion. In response to the Ford Mustang it was supposed to be the Stallion, but with the Japanese inability to pronounce the letter "L" ............
Well it also seems they left the "t" out of Shotgun, but would we do any better in Japanese?
Perhaps they should have followed Armstrong Siddeley's lead and used wartime aeroplane names, in their case "Zero", "Raiden" and perhaps "Betty"
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Then there's the Mitsubishi Starion. In response to the Ford Mustang it was supposed to be the Stallion, but with the Japanese inability to pronounce the letter "L" ............
..yes.. From my original article above:
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Not that that was the only name they couldn’t spell: what about the Mitsubishi Starion? Perhaps some non-English speaking employee thought Stallion a really good name for a sports car but never really got it across properly and it got all the way to production mis-spelt?
Unquote
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[/quote]
Well it also seems they left the "t" out of Shotgun, but would we do any better in Japanese?
Perhaps they should have followed Armstrong Siddeley's lead and used wartime aeroplane names, in their case "Zero", "Raiden" and perhaps "Betty"
[/quote]
Mitsubishi left nothing out of "Shogun": according to Wikipedia, a shogun (literally, "a commander of a force") was one of the (usually) hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents (1203–1333), were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor.
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Pretty sure Allan will know that Siata 1; think he was joking...!
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Pretty sure Allan will know that Siata 1; think he was joking...!
Well, yes probably.
So many of our friends on this site write such good English as their second language that we native speakers sometimes forget ourselves.
It is however quite common for car manufacturers to select a name that they think makes sense, only to find some language in which it is a great embarrassment. Some of those have been covered in this thread already, but there are many, many more.
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Pretty sure Allan will know that Siata 1; think he was joking...!
Well, yes probably.
So many of our friends on this site write such good English as their second language that we native speakers sometimes forget ourselves.
It is however quite common for car manufacturers to select a name that they think makes sense, only to find some language in which it is a great embarrassment. Some of those have been covered in this thread already, but there are many, many more.
Yes, I left out those with names that are embarrassing in a different language - that could be a whole thread of its own (c.f. I believe your 'Shogun' example actually means 'penis' in some language or other - Spanish perhaps; or was it 'Pajero', which is why they had to change it?)
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Pajero means 'wanker' in Spanish. The vehicle is called the Mitsubishi Montero for Spanish-speaking markets, but for some reason Shogun for the UK. Maybe 'Montero' looks too much like 'Montego'... :huh:
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The list of ridicolous names is long...
The Nissan Pivo for sure is not liked by East-Europe police: never drive when you drink!
And luckily Fiat chose "Seicento" instead of another proposal from marketing: "Curva" sounds good in Italian, but being produced in Poland... :censored:
It would habe been the biggest competitor of Mazda Laputa in Spain... As attractive as the Honda Fitta in Norway or the Opel Ascona in Portugal...
WTF! (citating a recent Cadillac prototype)
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Cadillac didn't propose that. It was a design content entry by an outside designer. The name (and the ridiculousness of the entire premise) was a stunt to get him some press.
Since it still gets talked about three years later, it seems his stunt worked. :)
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The French had some interesting names too, like the Citroen DS conjuring up images of Goddesses, or the Renault Fregate (who but the French could get away with calling a car after a ship?
...As in "Corvette" . . . which was the original working name of the car that became the Renault Dauphine!
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Cadillac didn't propose that. It was a design content entry by an outside designer. The name (and the ridiculousness of the entire premise) was a stunt to get him some press.
Since it still gets talked about three years later, it seems his stunt worked. :)
You are right, but all the others are real indeed... And often mass-production cars... ;D
Last but not least the Porsche Cajun, that has a quite dangerous similarity in Piedmont's old language with some part of the masculine reproductive apparatus... Turin will be full of them... with the risk of confusing the car with its dirvers... :lmao:
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Another great one just seen a few hours ago in Geneva: Tata Manza.
Once again, a wannabe-bestseller in Italy: the female of cattle! :lmao:
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The French had some interesting names too, like the Citroen DS conjuring up images of Goddesses, or the Renault Fregate (who but the French could get away with calling a car after a ship?
...As in "Corvette" . . . which was the original working name of the car that became the Renault Dauphine!
I wondered if I'd see that mentioned...and there's that little Chevrolet thing... ;) How about PT Cruiser? A double winner there: PT as in PT Boat and Cruiser as in class of warship.
Caravelle was used by Renault and Plymouth.
There was a 1909 Zachow-Besserdich 'Battleship', a 4wd car manufactured in Wisconsin and then the Miller 'Submarine" which is just an absolutely knockout car for 1917.
Torpedo or Siluro as a body style is kinda self-explanatory, as is barchetta & skiff.
If one wanted to include names for race cars, then that would open the field up to just about anything: Dreadnought (that was actually a pre-WWI armored vehicle), Destroyer, Man-of-war and so on.
This list could probably be extended indefinitely, especially if one decided to branch off into aircraft names.
But I'd wager that the most commonly used ship-type name is that of the famous Chinese sailing ship, the junk. I've owned more of those than I care to think about. ;D Matter of fact, I have a couple of 'em now.
RtR
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Well, I´m just waiting of the re-birth of the name "Krisenauto" ("crisis car"), that has debuted in Berlin in 1921...
My favourite car name is the german 1929 "Vorweg Motorhund", which means the "Ahead motor dog"...
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Just imagine the Motorhund chasing this bike:
(Why? Because it is the Neander Motorkatze (motor cat). :lmao: )
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Interesting discussion !
Talking about stupid names, let's not forget Goggomobil. But microcars are a class of its own for everything, including ill-advised name choices !
For brands of "true cars", I think one of the latest example was the Renault Latitude. What do they were thinking of ??
The 2010 Paris Motorshow was only opened since 15 minutes that the joke with "platitude" was running among the journalists... Such a well deserved name for such a awfully bland and pointless car. :-\
On Toyota nameplates, does anyone know just why they used so many with a "C" as first letter : Crown, Corolla, Camry, Carina, Corona, Celica, etc... ? Was the Toyota boss in love with the third letter of the alphabet ?
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On Toyota nameplates, does anyone know just why they used so many with a "C" as first letter : Crown, Corolla, Camry, Carina, Corona, Celica, etc... ? Was the Toyota boss in love with the third letter of the alphabet ?
They may well have decided it was a theme which just sounded good.
There are precedents like Vauxhall liking model names beginning with 'V': Velox, Viva, Victor, Ventora, Viscount etc.
Trouble is, they always end up running out of suitable ones and have to either resort to stupid-sound names or switch tactics and hope no-one notices...
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The Subaru Legacy is known as a Subaru Liberty in Australia because the veterans' assistance organisation is named Legacy Australia.
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Talking about stupid names, let's not forget Goggomobil. But microcars are a class of its own for everything, including ill-advised name choices !
Well, "Goggo" was the pet name/name of endearment for Hans Glas´grandson Andreas Glas.
It is an explanation, but it´s still strange... ;)
Another small car name story:
the very first pony car Ford Mustand was not allowed to be sold under this name in Germany.
The companies Krupp and Kreidler had the right to use this name for their trucks and motorcycles.
So officially the Mustang was christianed "T5" in Germany - everybody has used the name "Mustang nevertheless.. :)
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Then there's the pronunciation problem.
Obviously Hyundai is an attempt to write a Korean name so that we can say it, but has it two syllables or three? In other words do you pronounce "yu" as one sound (as in Yugoslavia) or two - and if two is the "Hy" bit spoken as in "hyperbole" or as in "hymn"?
Mercifully we no longer have to work out how to pronounce "daewoo" - it's "chevrolet" hereabouts now.
I did ask Hyundai about this once. I believe it's meant to be pronounced 'hee-oon-deh' - so neither 'hun-day' (as in the USA) or 'high-oon-die' (as in UK). Apparently, to Korean ears, the latter pronunciation sounds a bit like 'dead dog'
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In Germany they call it "Hee-oon-die"..., and still nobody knows how to pronounce "Ssangyong"... :D
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I remember my father always pronounced Abarth as Ab|art (German Abart = variety, but also adj. abartig = perverted) He didn't know that it's the company's name, but reckoned it's some kind of special (Abart) part.. (what it is in fact)
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Apparently, to Korean ears, the latter pronunciation sounds a bit like 'dead dog'
a.k.a. "lunch" ;D
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Did I just read this whole thing and not see the Chevy Nova mentioned? The story that it wasn't marketed as such in Spanish-speaking countries is as old as the hills and completely wrong, but it keeps popping up. I've been on a Chevy Nova mailing list for what seems like centuries (well, only parts of 2 of 'em) and some FNG comes on the list about every other month and starts off with putting his foot in his mouth by stating such. For those who don't know, the incorrect notion that "Nova" means "doesn't go" is like the stories of the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, the yeti.
I'm very partial to Chevrolets (like KnightFan, although I only feel saddened :( by their abandonment of the RWD platform and recycling of names to insipid front-driver tuna cans...not actively resentful :lmao: ) and I miss the day when BelAir, Biscayne and Impala meant something...although I never totally understood the naming of station wagons: Brookwood, Kingswood, Driftwood, Firewood, Wormwood...etc. The only cars they've left unmolested are the Camaro and Corvette...although they tried real hard to kill 'em both off in the 70s and early 70s.
The car I had trouble (and still do) comprehending the naming convention on is Studebaker. It was ok when Champion meant 6-cylinder and Commander meant 8, but then there was a Dictator in there (who didn't survive the war) and then they started adding sub-models: "Studebaker Champion Regal Starliner" and "Studebaker Commander Regal Starlight Coupe" and "Studebaker Commander State Starliner Coupe". More than once I've imagined a new salesman coming to work and being handed a 4-pound book of model and sub-model names and hearing, "we'll have a test on this tomorrow morning" whereupon he either goes home and shoots himself in despair or applies for a job in ladies' lingerie at Montgomery Wards the next morning.
But if ya really wanna go nuts, there's Packard. Year, Series, Chassis, Body, (all numbers), then the Model and perhaps coachbuilder's name. I asked a friend what the ID was on his 33 straight-8 rumble-seat roadster and he said, "I'll have to go home and look it up." LOL! And this is a sharp guy! He emailed me later to tell me that it was a Tenth Series 1933 Packard 1004 659 Super Eight Coupe Roadster by Deitrich. Maybe the suicides of salesmen started in the 30s, rather than the 50s. ::)
What's in a name? More than meets the eye, apparently.
RtR
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Don't know if it helps, Ray, but in England there is a seriously large cemetery at Brookwood. 8)
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Don't know if it helps, Ray, but in England there is a seriously large cemetaery at Brookwood. 8)
And of course Wormwood is a particularly well-known prison (Wormwood Scrubs of course for non-UK residents!)
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Then there's the pronunciation problem.
Obviously Hyundai is an attempt to write a Korean name so that we can say it, but has it two syllables or three? In other words do you pronounce "yu" as one sound (as in Yugoslavia) or two - and if two is the "Hy" bit spoken as in "hyperbole" or as in "hymn"?
Mercifully we no longer have to work out how to pronounce "daewoo" - it's "chevrolet" hereabouts now.
I did ask Hyundai about this once. I believe it's meant to be pronounced 'hee-oon-deh' - so neither 'hun-day' (as in the USA) or 'high-oon-die' (as in UK). Apparently, to Korean ears, the latter pronunciation sounds a bit like 'dead dog'
Hyundai ran some television ads in the UK a few years back, trying to educate us on how to pronounce the name. Apparently it's supposed to be only two syllables, pronounced approximately "hyon-day", but with the 'd' softened slightly.
But they soon gave up, and reverted to "high-un-die" in their adverts.
I haven't been able to find any of the old ads online, but here's a Korean speaker to put us all right!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0UovyM8Ni0
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I was always told that we have the name Lada as in one of the Scandinavian countries VAZ was not a good name.
In Finland, nobody bought the Fiat Uno (apprently it is something like fool).
Fiat did it more often too, as the Croma failed in the Netherlands as Croma over here is a brand of butter and who likes a greasy car?
Rolls-Royce found out, at least so the story goes, that introducing the Silver Mist would cause controversy in Germany, as it would mean Silver Excraments over there.
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In Argentina like in all countries we've had issues with car names.
REO was rebadged RIO because a reo is a convicted prisoner.
Studebaker Dictator wasn't used here, because the country was usually governed by one that did not like competition.
Volkswagen Gacel - Senda - Bora - Vento instead of Jetta because no matter how you pronounce it, it means either yeta=jinx or Jeta=a not nice word for face.
Chevy Nova was Chevrolet 400 first version and second version was simply Chevy. 'No va' does mean 'no go' or 'doesn't go' in Spanish, I don't know if this had anything to do with the name change.
Mitsubishi Pajero is Montero here, as explained previously.
No Mazda LaPuta has reached these shores, but TheWhore isn't a name that buyers will like.
Same as Nissan Mocco, which is what we use hankies for.
The Rambler American, restyled by Pinninfarina was given a very masculine name Torino.
IKA also used ship names the Kaiser Manhattan was Kaiser Carabela and the Alfa Romeo 1900 was the Kaiser Bergantin.
Citroën 2CV when produced with a more powerful engine was upgraded to Citroën 3CV.
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I don't pay much attention to modern cars so only today noticed a Toyota Corolla Verso.
My publishing friends use "recto" and "verso" to mean the "front side" and "back side" of a piece of paper ;D
Good thing most of us don't know that, isn't it?
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I don't pay much attention to modern cars so only today noticed a Toyota Corolla Verso.
My publishing friends use "recto" and "verso" to mean the "front side" and "back side" of a piece of paper ;D
Good thing most of us don't know that, isn't it?
"recto" would be an apt title for some cars.......