Foreign Car Names

[AndyF]

I have just read a motoring book that expresses the sheer stupidity/ignorance etc of forign car makers in naming their cars!

It lists the cars with names, that seem not to have a meaning.

The Nissan Sunny, Nissan Bluebird, Nissan Cherry, Nissan Cedric, Mazda Bongo, Daihatsu Fellow Max, Daihatsu Taft, Daihatsu Atrai, Honda Life, Honda Quint, Honda Today, Isuzu Bellet, Isuzu Rodeo Bighorn, Isuzu Kangaroo, Isuzu Aska, Maxda Carol, Mazda Cosmo, Maxda Capella, Mazda Chantez, Mitsubishi Delica, Nissan Liberta Villa, Subaru Alcyone, Toyota Sprinter Tyueno, and who can forget the good old Toyota Clown.....sorry Clown.

If anyone can explain ANY of these names I will be amazed!!!

[Ray Bell]

Mazda's Capella and Cosmo are drawing an inference of universe, an aura of something futuristic, I think.

Toyota's Crown came along with Tiara and Corona, you can see the connection there, and I think Corolla is in the same lineup. All jewelled headgear... or something.

[elephino]

I know that sometimes it is just "that they sound nice". Really, it's true. Though Nissan Cedric gets me every time. Just look at the Nissan Sunny. Sunny, nice happy word, let's make it the name of the car. Almost logical...almost.

Sometimes it is also a mistake of some sort. For instance the Mitsubishi Starion is really meant to be Stallion from what I've heard but accents got in the way. Just don't talk about the Mitsubishi Pajero in Spain

[DAVID PATERSON]

Or the Ford Pinto in South America, or the RoLls Royce Silver Mist in Germany.

I saw an ad the other day for an import yard selling what looked to be a Toyota Tarago, but it was in fact.......a Toyota Enima!!!!! Can you believe it?

I believe the boss of Nissan in the fifties and sixties was into old British films and named his cars for them. The Cedric was named for Little Lord Fauntleroy. The Fairlady should be obvious .

[Ray Bell]

Fairlady is obvious enough, as is the nickname it garnered here in Australia... Fatlady!

Honda's Prelude and Accord drew remarks when new... "Prelude to what?" was the common cry, but nothing beat the Honda that was stopped at the Barrack Street traffic lights one day, just outside a building being demolished.

A large stone toppled and fell on the car, crushing it and its two lamented occupants. What's not really known is whether it was pushed or fell on it's on Accord?

[AndyF]

Hahahaha. Very Good.

Also, with the Nissan Sunny, it may be a cheerful name - a shame they could not find a car to match it!!

[Ray Bell]

Did I hear someone say touche to that?

How about the Applause? Won't that merit some of the same, especially when older and merits that as it climbs a large hill under its own steam?

er.. is that a Hyundai or Daihatsu?

[AndyF]

It's a Daihatsu......though why anyone would want one beats me..

[elephino]

When at school the music teacher owned a Honda Concerto and I know it was because of the name.

What I find funny at the moment is that the Subaru Legacy is sold here as a Subaru Liberty (something to do with Mitsubishi and a Magna variant I believe) and now Jeep have come out with the Liberty and are having to name it the Cherokee in Australia because of it.

[Devlin]

Here's a pretty drastic example. In our language(s) (I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina and we officially have three "different" languages, but that's besides the point), Toyota's Carina can have two VERY different meanings. If the "C" is pronounced as "TS" (as we do over here), then the word means "customs office", which isn't so shocking, but it's quite silly. However, the whole thing takes a swing to the vulgar side if the "C" is pronounced as it was meant by the fun-loving people at Toyota's marketing department. Any further elaboration on the meaning of THE word would probably cause me to be expelled from this forum, but I guess you get the picture. Those of you imaginative (kinky?) enough to associate it with male reproductive organ are quite right. Mind you, it is a slang expression, so maybe it can't be found in dictionaries, but still...
Another example (not as vulgar, though) of foolish naming was the ill-fated Ford Edsel. From what I've heard, they even assigned a poet to come up with possible names for the car, and there were some pretty wild suggestions too, one of them being "Utopian Whale", if you believe. There were a couple of others, very interesting as well, but I don't have them here at the moment. As soon as I find them, I'll share them with you.

[bella]

my friend's mum drives a nissan micra wave.
or microwave, as it is more commonly known

[Darren Galpin]

There is also the Mitsubishi "Lack of" Carisma.

[DAVID PATERSON]

"Wheels" magazine suggested that the Applause is only slighlty more desirable than the clap.

[AndyF]

The Daihatsu Charade was appropriatly named in my opinion.

[Bennett Fan]

The reason Vauxhall named the Nova replacement, Corsa, was because Nova meant "no go" or words to that effect in Spain where it is built.

[Devlin]

Update on the Edsel: some of the suggested names were "Intelligent Whale" and "Utopian Turtle". Can you imagine someone asking you what car you drove? What would you tell them? "Oh, I just got myself a lime-green Cheerful Sloth." Anyway, they went with "Edsel", after Henry Ford's late son. Not that it made any difference...

[Joe Fan]

Originally posted by DAVID PATERSON
"Wheels" magazine suggested that the Applause is only slighlty more desirable than the clap.

[ma]

Foriegn from whose perspective?

I read yeas ago that some visiting Chinese dignitaries got a good laugh when they they drove by a Ford assembly plant and were told that it was where the Pinto's were made. Seems Pinto means "whore" in Mandarin, supposedly.........