My favorite car name of all time is the Honda Life Dunk. But I can fully appreciate pistonheads whose taste in automotive monikers runs more towards the aggressive (Mercury Marauder, Plymouth Fury, Aston Martin Vaquish), animistic (Dodge Viper, Pontiac Firebird, Ford Mustang, Reliant Kitten) or snoberific (Buick Regal, Dodge St. Regis, Buick Park Avenue, Chrysler LeBaron). As Chris Paukert noted in a previous TTAC editorial, automakers have submerged the [formerly] mission-critical name game into a watery alphanumeric soup. The inanity of this approach is exemplified by Ford's decision to rename the Lincoln Zephyr the Lincoln MKX, and instruct its dealers (as of today) that the vehicle is not to be called a "Mark X" but an "em kay ex." Are car names inherently better than simple numerical designations? What's your favorite and least favorite car name? Would a Ferrari F430 or Jaguar XK120 by any other other name be any more or less memorable or desirable?
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
I have to go with the Suzuki Grand Vitara. So nonsensical, yet so catchy.
I will always remember the Lambo Diablo – now that was a great name for a car. But stuff like Aveo, Corolla, and Toureg are, at best, forgetable.
I want to see names that inspire. Any fool can name a model something numerical…BMW aside, as they’ve been the same for years.
Acura went from the names to just letters, and it’s sorta easy to figure it out what they mean, but names like “Integra” and “Legend” and “Vigor” were inspiring. TL and TSX which I’d assume are Touring Legend and Touring Sedan X or something similar. But it’s not exactly inspiring. A Mustang is a Mustang for a reason.
I do like names, but I also like the letter and number system. BMW’s in particular. You know what size class, engine size, and subclass all by looking at its designation. 330xi tells everything I want to know. But hey, it will not work everywhere. So I am not one offended by letters and numbers.
Pick your Keicar: Mazda Laputa or Mazda Bongo Friendee, vulgar vs. ridiculous.
My favourite is the Mitsubishi Chariot. Mostly because that car doesn’t resemble anything chariot-like. I don’t know what those guys were on when they named the car but it sure is a great joke.
http://autokirov.ru/pages/autokirov/001_08_01.jpg
Names definitely are better than alphanumerics. I’d almost managed to memorize every car model available in America, but now I’m getting killed by these unlearnable designations.
Anyway a terrible name is Impala, which sounds like it would be the name of a nursing home. I know it’s a good selling model, but I can’t understand what kind of person under 75 who has any self-respect would touch an Impala? I mean do you invite a chick you’re hitting on to take a spin in your IMPALA? As for a classic, you just can’t beat “Mustang”.
I think the best car name of all time was the Ford Thunderbird. It was just a little too goofy to be taken seriously, not unlike most iterations of the car itself. Plus it was an unrepentantly American name.
Bad car names abound. My three worst are the Suzuki Esteem (hey, big shooter, just because you’re driving an off-brand econobox is no reason to get down on yourself!), the Chevy Celebrity (was that DeNiro driving that boxy, underpowered four-door that just oozed past?), and the Ford Probe (no further comment necessary).
Names are always better than Alphabet Soup with the lone exception of BMW’s M Division, which, in some German way, makes sense.
What the hell is a Cadillac CTS? It’s like the metric system — cold and dull.
My favorite name? Buikc Roadmaster. A 1953 to be exact. How could you come up with a better name? And how could Buick drop both the name, and a car worthy of the moniker?
Somebody in the business–can’t remember who it was or what company, it was, at some long-lead–told me that a large part of the problem is that virtually every real-word name has been “taken.” Not necessarily used, but at least copyrighted. In other words, if you want to name a car Sequoia to suggest that it’s big and strong, you’ll find that an airplane company, a shaver maker and shoe company already own that name, etc. etc.
So one answer is to make up nonsense words that are computer-generated–Yaris, Vitara–and another is to use alphanumerics.
Of course, numbers come with their own trademark problem. The Porsche that the world today knows as the 911 was initially named the 901 and was introduced as the 901, which was its actual rank in the progression of Porsche projects. Peugeot, however, claimed that it had copyrighted all three-digit car model names with a zero as the middle number. Some say that Porsche could have won that fight, but the then-small German company didn’t want to take on the French giant.
By the way, anybody who doesn’t know an impala is a large, fast, graceful African antelope should be _in_ a nursing home. Splendid name, very much in the spirit of Mustang.
Considering the psychological role that SUVs often play for their middle-aged owners, the Suzuki Grand Viagra is the perfect name. The best/worst name I’ve seen recently has to be the Saturn Outlook. On one hand it looks like a desparate consultant was staring at a half-composed email when he looked down to his taskbar and had a flash of not-insight. On the other hand, maybe it’s the perfect name for a car marketed towards the type of person who does spend 50% of the day sending emails and scheduling meetings in Outlook instead of actually doing productive work. Saturn should have stuck with the physics / astronomy convention and named it something impressive-sounding like the Saturn Galileo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn's_natural_satellites
How about Hyperion, Calypso, Skathi, Albiorix, Erriapo, Siarnaq, or Paaliaq? of S/2004 S 12 if you’re into alphanumeric.
I don’t really like the Alphabet soup, but it does present the advantage of allowing for a simple and logical naming convention. Unfortunatly, no company has managed to get it completly right, which is maddening, considering how simple it should be. Lincoln and Cadillac have letters that represent absolutley nothing. They don’t tell you anythng about that car’s size, power, purpose, or relation to the rest of the lineup.
BMW is almost right… but not completly. It’s pretty dumb that the M cars can all follow the formula of M3, M5, M6, but then instead of the logical M4, we have “Z4 M Coup??” Mazda is also in the “almost” category of naming success… ok, CX = crossover, MX = roadster, and RX = rotary engine… well, the problem with that is 2 prefixes represent a body style, while the third represents an engine type, making for a predicament if they were to ever come out with a rotary engined roadster or crossover. Then the sedan’s go in a different direction, with only a number (MAZDA3), that increases as size increases (except fot the 5?). I mean, if you are going to develop a naming convention, go all the way with it, have it make sense, and stick to it.
Ford wants all their vehicles to start with an F, but they had to know they would always have a car called the Mustang, and their halo car is the GT, so why bother with the F thing.
Stick to the plan. Thats all I ask.
I agree that the Roadmaster is a very evocative name.
Even this was accompanied by a number I believe, to signify the build level. 60, 80 or 100.
Rolls-Royce had a problem in Germany a few years ago with the Silver Mist (mist = dung, in German).
My favorite and least favorite both come from Lotus. The Elite is wonderfully undemocratic and snobbish, but it suits the car perfectly. The Eclat sounds like its just fallen off a shelf. They should have filled it with cream and chocolate and called it the Eclair.
Make mine a Vista Cruiser. Could anything go wrong when you’re driving a Vista Cruiser ?
On the other hand, a Maverick sounds like something a doctor needs to remove.
How about a Chevy “Citation”? I think that’s one of the worst I’ve ever seen. I do appreciate BMW’s logic, as noted above, but their line is so sprawling now that they’re running out of ways to stay logical. Painting themselves into a corner, as it were.
A6…HIT!
B9……HIT!
G6……..HIT!
H2……….HIT!
YOU SANK MY BATTLESHIP!
There was an article about this in Smithsonian about 15 years ago. Apparently at least part of the reason car makers have gone to such generic, fabricated and/or alphanumeric names is so they don’t have to rename the car every time they move it to a different market.
I used to have a Mitsubishi Montero which is called a Pajero in every other part of the world, apparently because Pajero is either too hard to spell and pronounce or because it sounds too foreign (although “Montero” sounds pretty foreign to me.)
The weirdest I’ve ever seen was a neat little 4×4 minivan, also made by Mitsubishi, called the “Space Gear,” I guess because it has “space” for your “gear” but to put those two words together really advertises its English-as-a-second-language origins.
Hey, did you see that episode of Space Gear where the Stig made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs? Awesome stuff, man.
If the automakers aren’t creative enough to make up good names for their cars, how inspiring can these cars be in the first place?
How about that horrific Ford “Aspire”….still cracks me up. Aspire to drive anything but that car!! har har.
In the distant world of scooters, an up-and-coming Taiwanese company called Kymco (Kwan Yang Motor Company) has a product called the “Grand Dink”. Who wouldn’t want to commute around on that bad boy?
Martinjmpr, the Mitsu 4×4 actually goes by 3 names, Montero, Pajero and Shogun, depending where it’s sold, part of the problem is that Pajero is slang for gay in some Spanish dialects.
My personal favorite for wacky car names is the Mitsubishi Minica Dangan ZZ, which barely fit on the back of the car since it was a souped up kei car. Although nothing tops the names Marianne Moore reputedly came up with for Edsel, Utopian Turtletop anyone?
Although my all time favorite model name is actually a motorcycle, the
Velocette Venom Clubman Veeline.
As for bad names, where to begin, the Hyundai Pony (because it should be taken out back and shot), the Rolls Royce Silver Mist, if you speak German (mist = manure).
my current name gripe is the honda fit. fits in the crack of my……..
I worked for the customer service division of a major automaker at one time, in a technical support role.
Technical type phone calls got forwarded to me. Apparently there are a lot of retired guys out there with absolutely nothing to do with their time.
My response to many of these calls went something like “No, sir. The ‘GLX’ on the side of side of your car does not stand for ‘Galvanized Experimental’. Actually it’s doesn’t stand for anything at all. It’s just a trim level.”
Like someone else stated – I used to be able to name any car in America. Now I can’t tell you one Cadillac from another by name. Seems everyone is jumping on the German bandwagon. Problem is, while the BMW and Mercedes naming conventions will still be the same in 20 years. the domestics will have changed course 6 times, further confusing everyone.
Oh yeah – I insist on calling my Tacoma the Hi-Lux. Don’t know why.
Personally, a couple favorites come to mind such as the “Phaeton”. What a cool name. What kid wouldnt want Dad to drive the Phaeton instead of the minivan? Also a favorite was the Buick Wildcat.
I think the alphanumerics get a bum rap. Mercedes class systems with displacement suffix works incredibly well. Also, I must give the aptly named Olds 4-4-2 the nod of approval.
GMs recent name game habit seems a bit Shiny-Happy-Griswold and becoming a groanfest: Lucerne, Solstice, Acadia, Enclave….ENCLAVE!!!?? Ford’s F-fest is getting truly embarrasing but at least we dont have the humiliation of europe’s Ford Ka.
My one and only Toyota truck was known by many as “the Green Goblin”(there will NOT be another, as that little demon was less reliable than the most stubborn of camels, by the way) but was officially listed in parts books as “PICKUP”. I had to often reassure parts counter folk that it was not, in fact, a tacoma on my many…many trips to the parts dept. Even after such a poor experience, TTAC helps me uncover SOMEthing positive about that jalopy; its blissfully simple name.
You could remove a few letters off the back of your pickup, giving you the “Yo Taco” which I did see on my commute a few months ago.
MGBGT V8
Here’s a name that evokes awe (even if the car did’nt):
‘Jensen Interceptor Mk IV’
I also liked the sound of ‘Oldsmobile Aurora’ (not sure why)
What about the ‘Ford Prefect’ ?????
I always was amused by the Japanese habit back in the 70’s to include the entire specification for the engine in the name and write the thing down both sides of the car!!!
as in:
Toyota Celica GTSi DOHC Twin Turbo-Injection – 5 speed’ or something like that!!
Honda S2000
Why?
Dodge Super Bee. And the 1998 Dodge Copperhead (later renamed the “Concept Car” due to an intellectual property rights dispute). Yes.
The Fiat Sedici; it just sounds so right, doesn’t it? Can’t quite say the same thing for the Gas Goggomobil, which was a microcar produced in Germany from 1955 to 1969. Too bad it’s now “gone-gone.”
Tiger Commanche,
Best post so far! Love it! :-)
And as for Cadillac, while their names do stand for something- CTS=Catera Touring Sedan, STS=Seville Tourning Sedan, DTS=Deville Touring Sedan, OK, no idea what SRX is-what did they get themselves into: They now have split logic: Mostly alpha names, but what happened with the Escalade? It doesn’t follow convention. And if they dare rename the Escalade something Alphabetic, well….
Best car name: Well, Daihatsu Charade.
It wasn’t a real car, it was only charading as one :-)
Seriously, get back to real names. Alphas and alpahnumerics suck. I don’t get the infauation with Bimmers scheme. Its logical, but could be better. Lexus has it perfect. Couldn’t be better. Tells body style and engine in a single name, very easy to get.
I like the name MR2. In all french speaking Nations pronounced “Mmerredeux” sounding just like “merde”
( french for: sh!t) I kid you not.
Try picking up a girl with you cool sports car named “merde”!!
Lol.
Oh, and Lincoln,
“Mark Z” sounds kinda badass. “Em Kay Zee” is hard to say, and sounds weak. Why would you have gone with the worse sounding, less unique, and historically insignificant moniker?
There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with semi-meaningless names. “Acura” suggests “accuracy,” a close relative of precision. It certainly works OK for the upscale Honda line.
In some cases, the meaningless name the automaker assigns is just bad news like, for example, the Olds Achieva. It’s smacks of achievement but was it really much of an achievement to buy a middle-market car? And, unlike “Acura,” the banality of the “Achieva” automobile didn’t make the name meaningful in any good way.
In other cases, a meaningless name takes on a new meaning because of the car it’s attached to. “Corolla” may well be the Japanese word for “reliable” or “satisfaction.”
And a good real name can’t rescue a POS. “Citation” is a pretty good name (it’s being used, quite successfully, for a biz jet). However, it was still a crappy car and the market figured that out.
Cadillac CTS = Cimarron The Sequel. Or Catera The Sequel. I have not figured it out yet.Lol!!
Chadillac: on that note, there’s also the Hyundai Accent. Too small to be a car; it’s just an accent.
someone said “a rose by any other name…” and a piece of crap car is just that no matter how glorious its name (i have to admit, however, that a viper would just not be right if it were called a lucerne, or a tribeca a vagina ;o).
it’s natural that the Germans would develop a logical and succinct method (stereotyping maybe, but true), and we all squint to see if it’s a 540i, or an E55, and we in turn confer the appropriate respect (we are nuts). hell, when it turns out to be a 911 turbo we almost can’t help but vocalize some sort of reverant blurble.
And there are only so many great names, as someone said the name Phaeton has a wonderful ring, and how about Rolls Royce Silver Ghost? Awesome, rolls from the tongue, and i can’t believe any letter/number could have the same panache.
Hey, how come no one has mentioned the Kia Sportage? WTH is is a Sportage? It sounds like it was named by Pauly Shore. “Dude! You’ve got some serious Sportage going on there!”
Thanks starlightmica, the Mazda Laputa. Just don’t try to sell that anywhere remotely Spanish speaking – “The Whore” may not get too many takers.
Then again, if we’re talking about $1,000 down cash or trade, and $400 a month for the next 48…
Remember when GM showed it’s usual attention to detail by marketing the Nova in Mexico?
For those who no habla espanol, no-va basically translates as “it does not go”. An accurate name to be sure, but I don’t think Chevy intended to confess to it’s build quality that early in the buying process…
It really is a challenging job trying to pick out names for cars. As has been mentioned, there’s maybe 2 names left in the English language that haven’t been trademarked by somebody and ‘left-handed-donkey’ just doesn’t have that sports car feel to it.
Even worse, if one does enough drugs to come up with some letter-string you think is innocuous/random enough not to have been claimed by your competitors, it’s probably a paint color that you’ll have to fight Sherwin-Williams over.
Personally, I’ll take letters and numbers. But that’s just me.
I’m gonna hafta go with the DeTomaso Pantera.
Why Honda S2000?
I think it’s a great name. I would think the ‘S’ either stands for Sports Car, or the founder of the company, Soichiro Honda.
S360= 360 cc engine
S500= 531 cc engine
S600= 606 cc engine
S800= 791 cc engine
S2000= 1997 cc engine
Benley Continental Flying Spur
Actually, I like the name (sounds fast), but what the hell is a flying spur?
Good names are better than letters and numbers. Consider this example from Civil Aviation:
Boeing, Douglas and Airbus went with 747, DC10 and A300
but
Lockheed went with some beautiful names, Electra, Constellation, Tristar and here are 2 good ones for heavy-lift cargo jets: Starlifter and Galaxy. All these airplanes had alpha titles also (L1011 Tristar) but they are more often remembered by their names.
I don’t think cars with alpha names are easily remembered either however there are exceptions of course like MG ‘B’ GT!!
Names like Z28 or IROC Z28 come and go but ‘Camero’ lives forever!
Great names: Barricuda or ‘cuda for short; Cobra; ShelbyGT500; The “Thing” by VW many years ago; the Superbird in the late 60’s; the GTO “Judge” model; Comet GT; Chrysler Imperial (just sounds huge like it was); the Olds 442.
Bad names: Gremlin, Pinto, Vegas (and bad cars); Edsel; Plymouth Breeze (sounds like a bathroom air freshener); Chevette (sounds like “shove it”, which many owners ended up doing)
Also the name of hall of shame: Yugo, simply because it was a Yugo.
Testarossa. The name says it all, baby.
today’s dull alphanumerics go with today’s dull cars. What is worse than the alphanumerics, though, are the names that sound like the computer was programmed to come up with something inoffensive: the Azera, the Elantra, the Aveo, the Achieva, etc. But can you imagine calling any of those cars the Fury, the Wildcat, or the Cutlass? My point exactly.
One of my favorites is the Ford Aspire, AKA Expire. Of course, if you owned that car, the only thing you could do would be to aspire–to a Celebrity, or something of that ilk.
Cutass Supreme. Gotta like that misspelling.
While on a trip to Japan last year, I did a double-take for the Daihatsu Naked. Whoa, what a name!
Mr Holzman as usual you are absolutely right.
The worst offenders on boring names tend to be companies that produce boring cars (although that is just a generalization). The absolute worst are the UK cars, listen to these: Kalos, Lacetti, Matiz, Tacuma (all Chevrolets), Croma, Doblo, Multipla, Stilo Abarth (all Fiats), Carens, Cerato, Picanto (all Kias), Agila, Corsa, Meriva, Vectra, Zafira (all Vauxhalls) – what awful names! Boring, uninspired, derivative and unmemorable, just like the cars themselves I might add.
Honda *had* some of the best: Prelude, Legend, Vigor, Integra…what a pity Acura is now using alphanumerics; so lame… Nissan also has some (though not here) good ones: Skyline, Silvia, Fairlady, Primera, Patrol.
Seems to me BMW and Mercedes started and earned their alphanumeric luxury nomenclatures. Most everyone else are just followers.
Gremlin, Pacer, Rambler, Astek, logical progression
I think the answer is clear…. super seven…. what a perfect name for the car it’s attached to… I mean its got super in the name, how bad or conflicted could it possibly be.
Saab VIGGEN… it sounds serious but has psychotic torque steer…. yeah its a fitting name.
Audi AVANT…. oooh sounds avant-guarde, how elite and fasionable…. I use mine to transport audi engine blocks to the local machine shop. I’m totally cool like that. Avant is spelled eerily akin to Variant which is what VW calls their hatched four doors.
Mazda Cosmo… just sounds cool. I’d drive the Kramer mobile even if its japanese.
Vw Corrado… has a great sound to it as does Scirocco. Very “ciao baby”.
Worst is chevy Aveo… it sounds like a vaginal product for women with heavy flow.
I happen to hate badges so whatever I buy is not gong to have any sort of mfg or model markings much less any engine or trim indication.
Made-up words that sound like what they wish the car were have to be the worst. i.e. “Impreza”. don’t get me wrong, I like the Impreza (WRX and STi anyway), but when it first came out it was one of the least imprezzive cars I’d seen in a while.
Did someone mention the Maxima? A nice name for the top sedan – definitely better than Avalon (reminiscent of a country fair or the Avon lady).
My favorite is the Chevy Nova – translated in Spanish means “no go” Great seller in Latin America…
wstansfi
For those who insist on perpetuating the urban myth about the Nova not selling in Spanish-speaking countries, please see:
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
Letters and numbers don’t make a boring car. I submit the DeLorean DMC12. Yes, yes, I know the car wasn’t that great, and it was only immortalized by Back to the Future.
Still, that is a damn cool name. And I still, for some strange reason, want a DeLorean.
wstansfi:
Not sure if its true or not but I remember reading that “maxima” was representitive of the fact that it is the largest car made by nissan on that platform.
My nomination for the worst name is the Nissan Cedric.
Legend has it that upon release in Australia way back in the early ’60s, a motoring journalist asked one of the Datsun (Nissan) execs at the release “Why have you named this car after a poofter?”
Datsun exec: “What is this “poofter”?
Journo: “You know, um, a homosexual”
Datsun exec: “Ahhh so. You have many homosexual in Australia?”
Journo: “Yeah, the bloody place is full of ’em”
Datsun exec: “Ahhh good – we sell many Cedric then!”
Another Japanese example is the late ’70s Mitsubishi Starion, a horrid turbo coupe. Apparently, Mistubishi wanted to call it the “Stallion” as a take-off of “Mustang”, but because “Stallion” is pronounced “starrion” by the Japanese, it all became confused.
I lost faith with the BMW and M-B nomenclature when they started calling 1.8 litre cars 320i etc.
Favourites? Evocative names which capture the essence of the machine – Austin Healey Sprite, Ford Thunderbird, Lotus Elan, Toyota Pious to name a few.
In the case of the iconic Jag, the name meant something: XK (the designator of the engine) 120 (top speed… estimated.)
Later they took the car out to a Belgian freeway and pushed it to 132.6 MPH, but “XK 120” sounds sexier than “XK 132.6” =)
XK Engines powered everything from Le Mans-winning racers, to sports cars, saloons, limosines, and even British tanks(!) “XK” wasn’t some marketing flunkie’s made up moniker, it actually meant something. In fact the association was so strong that here in the US Jaguar dealers called the E-type the “XKE”… a name that has stuck in people’s minds since the 60s.
All that said, I don’t really care what something is called, far more important are what it can do, and how it looks.
–chuck
Some of my favorites happen to be ‘abbreviations’:
AMX
GTO
NSX
WRX and STi
MR-2
RX-7
But as mentioned many times earlier, the overuse of abbreviated and alphabetical names today is downright sad. Acura alone has the EL, CL, TL, RL, RSX, TSX, CSX, MDX, and the RDX. Cadillac has the CTS, STS, DTS, XLR, SRX, ESV, and the EXT.
Trim levels on the car name used to mean something cool too. The great Chevy’s HAD to be an SS, also the cool factory packages like the Z28 Camaro, Z06 Corvette, WS6 Trans Am, etc.
Dodge had the Challenger R/T, Honda had the Type-R, Nissan with the ‘Z’ badge and also the GT-R, and Oldsmobile had the 4-4-2.
Unfortunately, many of these terms were homogenized and thrown onto other platforms and cars, and in a lot of cases removing the original meaning. Did GM really need to throw the SS badge on a 170 hp, FWD Cobalt (Cavalier)? And what about Dodge throwing the R/T badge on a 250 hp Dakota pickup?
-Dustin
The best name ever made is of course the Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle.
Some of the best car-names are already mentioned, but anyway, here goes my list:
(Studebaker) Dictator
(Jensen) Interceptor
(Bentley) Continental
(Rolls-Royce) Silver Ghost, Phantom
(Maserati) Mistral (Perhaps the most beautiful name ever made), Khamsin
(Ferrari) Superamerica
(Porsche) Speedster (Says all about it, doesn’t it?)
(Tucker) Torpedo
(Monteverdi) High Speed
(Matra) M530 (Named after the Matra-made long-distance missile. If you know that, you like it becuase of the sheer geniousness of naming the company car after their best selling defence-contract product. A slam-dunk sleeper of a name.)
The problem with the alpa-numeric soup is the lack of context. BMW has had their naming-strategy made 40 years ago, and it’s still usable. Mercedes half-assedly so, becuse of their change of strategy some ten years ago. But their sheer amount of name-plates makes their categorization somewhat confusing. But aside from that, the germans are strong, and everybody else wants to jump that train. The problem is that a name like BMW 330 has a history, context and logic to it, where Lincoln MKZ or Cadillac SRX have not. Their names doesn’t carry with it some brand-recognition or meaning to it for anybody. It’s like that line in Pulp Fiction. “What does it mean, your name?” “Nothing. American names doesn’t mean anything.”
There is nothing cooler than to be able to say “I drive an Enzo Ferrari!”
Frank,
I never said the Nova did not sell simply because of the name.
I do base my observation on multiple conversations with gen-u-ine car loving Mexicans and Central Americans over the last 20 years.
I can state without reservation that the name was good for at least a chuckle among the natives. When it broke down, you knew what kinda harassment was coming from your amigos.
As the Urban Legends sites states correctly, Nova and no-va are read differently. As to the veracity of the rest of their conclusions, I can produce enough Mexicans who will argue that “Nova” is not the brightest name to satisfy most juries.
To paraphrase Buddha, don’t trust me, do your own field work.
Context is everything. There’s a certain circularity here: Better product and brand will result in a stronger nameplate, e.g., the XK-E would not be iconic if the car had been a dog. Same would even be true with the Mustang.
Sure, the luxury brands have taken alpha-numeric way too far, but why reject this strategy out of hand? As discussed above, it works fine for the likes of BMW, Audi and Mazda.
In contrast, Cadillac’s embrace of alpha-numeric seems counterproductive (e.g., why throw away the enormous brand equity of the Deville?). But, of course, anything GM does Ford will soon copy, so now we have the lamest me-tooism of the decade: MKZ. Why not at least the Zephyr Mark Z? Or more accurately, the Cimarron Mark II?
I think it is past time for the return of names with greater personality, e.g., the Dodge Charger almost makes up for Buick’s Lucerne (mooo!).
Us old farts might also prepare ourselves for the rise of the non-nameplate. In other words, a branding strategy whereby the customer is given room to pick their own name. Cars as pets (or boats). Laugh if you will, but in an era of individualization such a trend is all but inevitable.
The worst automotive name, probably because it will live in infamy as the most ridiculous automobile to wear the name of a proud marque: Cadillac’s Cimarron. Even a blind man could see that the damn thing was nothing more than a lightly tarted up version of the Chevrolet Cavalier. (Well, a blind man could feel it out and tell you that, in any event.)
I do like the name that Mercury gave one of their most huge, typically ungainly V8-powered behemoths of the late 1950s, because the name told you what its mission was: the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser.
But I don’t feel you can beat the name Ford came up with for the car which started a genre, that of pony cars: the Mustang. Not only does it take its name from something which is uniquely American, the wild horses of the plains and high desert of the country, but in one’s mind’s eye, the horse appears and connotes nothing so much as pure motion, set in wild abandon. I believe the very name is one reason that the Mustang is the only pony car that has its place with the young gearheads of the world, right next to their slammed Acuras, Civics and Scions; whereas the Camaro, Firebird and Barracudas, were always their dads’ cars.
The only exception to the rule was the Mustang II, which ironically enough – or maybe it was the gas crunch of the time and that the competition wasn’t there yet – sold very well, when new. Today, go to a Mustang meet sometime and notice how few Mustang IIs there are – if any.
I’ve always liked the name, “Humber Super Snipe.”
And I’ve always thought it a shame that back in the ’50s, Ford foolishly dumped the suggestions of poetess, Marianne Moore, who, as a publicity stunt for Ford, suggested a whole bunch of neat names like, “Uptopian Turtletop,” and “Civique Mongoose,” only to have Ford ending up calling their new car the “Edsel.”
best: Dodge Demon
worst: Venturi Fetish
Slow-Joe-Crow To clarify:
Velocette Venom Clubman Veeline is perfectly logical
Venom: Model (500cc single)
Clubman: Tune (bigger carb, tunimg tweaks)
Veeline: Body style (primitive fibreglass clamshell enclosure around the machinery)
——————–
Car names:
Russian Lada’s sold in the UK did their best to impress a doubting public. As a result their rear end read “LADA RIVA 1300GL”
the 1 and 3 looked like a “B” so many were convinced that the model was a Riva Boogl (presumed to be an obscure Russian word).
I actually drove a black ’62 Olds Starfire. Loved the name and the big slab of chrome for a dashboard.
Testarossa was a cool name, but cool plus affordable had to be the Mercury Cyclone.
Only THIS car deserved that name:
http://www.seriouswheels.com/1970-1979/1970-Mercury-Cyclone-GT.htm
I do prefer numbers. It’s interesting no one’s yet mentioned SAAB 900. I love that composition. It just encapsulates so much novelty about the brand and I think it was a mistake to drop it (along with discontinueing the entire product line) in favour of vapid and indiscernible 9.5 or 9.5. Pluss that Aero addition (supposedly refering to SAAB’s aviation heritage)… It just doesn’t do it for me. Saab’s aviation history is undisputed and therefore ought to be embeded into its auto brand. But planes are about power, thrust and performance… Lots of it! In my view the original 900 signified that in a somewhat descrete, subtle manner partly due to its larger numerical extension. Think of Boeing 737 or Airbus 320…
Ah, I’ll never forgive GM. But I digress… Sorry.
Worst name ever has to be the Nissan Cedric. By name by nature..
(apologies if that’s actually your given name…)
GM addressed the “Nova” thing on thier FYI blog a few months ago http://fyi.gmblogs.com
The Ford Ka is effective only in its ability to stimulate argument over its pronunciation…. 9 years after its launch!
Always thought the “Matrix” was a stand outish name. Not exactly sure why its called that, though.
What I haven’t seen mentioned is the copyrighting of certain words when naming an automobile. A specific example comes to mind.
As rumor has it, Ford actually wanted to call the Fivehundred the Futura like the old Ford Futura, but Pepboys owned the copyright (or trademark, can’t remember which) to Futura for their in-house brand of tires. Pepboys was able to prevent Ford from using the name Futura on the car.
Perhaps it’s the difficulty of finding an unused word describing something positive about an automobile to use as a name that is causing this trend. Or, perhaps it’s just easier to put a few numbers and letters on the trunk.
I remember when I was a little kid seeing a TV commercial for the Renault Fuego. Back then it looked exciting, fast and fantastic.
I’ve since wised up, but the name is a name I still am not quite sure how to pronounce. That’s my nomination for the worst car name.
Another that just popped into my head is the Skoda Felicia. What a hoot! Everytime I hear or see it, I just imagine the driver to be some cat lady, a spinster with hundreds of cats at home.
There is a trend that bugs me currently. The preponsity to create brand new model names. Whether they are an alphanumeric mix or made-up nonsense words, the market is flooded with new brands, all vying for our attention. Any of the history, cachet and value of real historical and significant names is at the drop of a hat, dumped in favour of these new fangled ideas.
I guess most marketing folks simply don’t know or care about the intrinsic value of their manufacturer’s past. Sure some names should never be resurrected, but as other commenters have said, keep the DeVille, etc.
Oh, and the Datsun Cherry! Those crazy Japanese!
We had one of those… I’d love to find one again…
I prefer names. Two of my favorites are Nissan’s Fairlady Z, because it makes so little sense but sounds so anime cool. Another favorite is the Ariel Atom. Makes me think of the nuclear age and explosiveness. Besides all of that, the car is just so damn cool.
One Word
ThuderCougerFalconBird!
“Nothing makes you feel more like a man than the Ford ThunderCougarFalconBird”
-Futurama
I love the name of my scooter – Aprilia Scarabeo. It’s soooo Italian.
I believe the reason why the nomenclature naming conventions works for BMW is b/c they essentially use NUBERS! Yes they add an “i” or “x” every now and then but nonetheless they are recognized as 3 series or 5 series. Think about, there are only ten numbers to identify whereas there are 26 letters to identify. Numbering is easier to remember b/c as we all know and have heard one point in time in our childhood, if you ever need to learn one thing learn numbers b/c it is more universal and easily accepted in the world than the alphabet.
I also recall reading (a while back, just a little after the internet boom) market research showing that people identify 2-3 letter or number schemas best (people can’t remember or don’t like to remember full names) hence most new car naming and websites use 3 letter identifiers. The problem with cars is that people (men) first and foremost identify a cars displacement as the essence of the car; hence BMW’s naming works so well. But I am pretty sure BMW already bought the rights to pretty much all available numbering within reason. So, manufacturers jumping on the alphanumeric band wagon have to resort to letters, which does not work out so well with cars. Nothing alphabetic identifies with cars, as does numbers with displacement (fill in sound bit from Tim the tool man taylor grunt -US folks). The alphabet more associated with words, which can and does trigger emotion which I believe works best with a name. Also, words have meaning and have certain sounds when pronounced that just sounds better and triggers a response (culture dependant obviously).
I would pick a good name over some alphanumeric acronym any day, but vice versa if the name is corny or does not have the means to back up the name.
oboylepr: “Names like Z28 or IROC Z28 come and go but ???Camero??? lives forever!”
Umm, dude, its CAMARO. :-)
So it lives on pretty close…
I didn’t even know the Life Dunk was a car.
But it sure as hell wins my vote, now. Best name ever.
Worst name? Ford Excursion. Excursion? Excursion?! To where?! The blasted thing weighed more than the dinosaurs it was burning for fuel. You couldn’t take that beast anywhere! And even if you could you’d run out of gas before you ever got there. Stupid, stupid name.