Baptizing a car is not as simple and automatic as it seems, whether it’s letters, numbers, city names, or inspired by mythological characters, a poorly chosen name can condemn a product to be born in a certain market. All possibilities go through an exhaustive verification, not only to ensure that intellectual property rights are not violated, which can lead to complicated legal proceedings, but also because it is necessary to ensure that the chosen name does not have a double meaning, will not offend sensibilities, or be culturally unacceptable anywhere in the world.
In the automotive industry, there are plenty of examples of this, with different results. Lotus, for example, relied on computer software to create another name for one of their sports cars, starting with the letter E, as tradition dictates for the brand, and that somehow referred to the words “evolution,” “vogue,” and “aura.” Thus, the Evora was born, the Lotus that has the same name as our city in the Alentejo region!
Less “peaceful” was the launch of the Mitsubishi Pajero in Spain, where it had to change its name to Montero. In the neighboring country, the word Pajero is used to classify a “person who masturbates”.
Here, it was Hyundai that preferred to adopt the name Kauai for its B-SUV, instead of Kona…
But when it goes well, a well-born name can work wonders to help the popularity of a model. These are some famous car names and their unknown meanings in their origins.
FIAT PANDA
Are you thinking of the cute black and white bear that eats bamboo? Forget it, the name of the small car in Fiat’s catalog, since the mid-80s, is not related to the animal at all. The Italian brand was inspired by the Roman goddess Empanda (or Panda), of hospitality, patroness of travelers.
RENAULT TWINGO
A popular name since the 90s, Twingo is Renault’s most affordable model in the range, and for it, the French brand sought a designation that would catch the ear with a fun and cheerful sound, just like the vehicle itself intended to be. Thus, the word Twingo was created, which is a combination of the words tango, twist, and swing, three styles of dance.
MAZDA MX-5
The best-selling roadster in the world has two names, Miata, which is used in several markets, including Japan, although it refers to ancient Germanic languages, meaning reward, and MX-5, the chosen name also for Portugal, with much less humor… It is simply the abbreviation of Mazda Experiment 5.
SEAT IBIZA
One of the most popular cars among us, the name Ibiza doesn’t have many secrets for Portugal, but what led Seat to pay homage to one of its most vibrant islands in its utility model is also interesting. We are talking about a particularly complicated time for the Spanish company in the mid-80s, and Ibiza represented everything that the brand wanted to convey with the new model: young, with a Mediterranean spirit, carefree, and independent. Right on target!
OPEL CORSA
We think of the name Corsa (not to be confused with corça, a kind of small deer, which would also be a great name for a car), and we have to place the model in a time when Opel intended to revolutionize the segment of compact cars in Europe, through a more sporty facet. Corsa means “race” in Italian.
VW GOLF
There is ambiguity about the origin of the name Golf, some theories argue that it is adapted from the sport (Golf), referring to an active and refined lifestyle, while the most accepted version says that the name derives from Golf-Strom, which in German means Gulf Stream. As other models of the brand have names of famous winds (Passat, Scirocco, Bora…), we stick with this last one.
HYUNDAI KAUAI
Hyundai found the perfect name for the unprecedented compact SUV it launched in the summer of 2017 in Kona, symbolizing “the energetic image and unique lifestyle of the Big Island of Hawaii.” Hyundai Portugal informed the parent company that the name of this Hawaiian island might not have the desired result here, and immediately suggested its replacement with Kauai, curiously without leaving the Central Pacific archipelago. Kauai is the fourth largest island in Hawaii, nicknamed the “Garden Isle” because of the tropical forest that covers much of its surface.
