# Apache or Comanche, cars named for enemies and therefore unpopular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973 "2016-06-09T22:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/1 "2016-06-09T22:03:59Z")
I know I heard a while back that the Chevy Apache and / or the Jeep Comanche were not that popular in the Southwest because Apache and Comanche were feared enemies of the Navajo, Hopi, Ute and other groups who would not buy a vehicle named for their enemies. However I can’t find anything about this when I do a search. Does anyone have information on this or any recollections? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/2 "2016-06-09T22:45:26Z")
I have no data but I honestly do not believe that the Native American market is very significant for cars. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/3 "2016-06-09T23:01:10Z")
Or the Chevy Apache and Jeep Comanche just weren’t very good cars regardless of what you named them. See Occam’s Razor. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/4 "2016-06-09T23:03:36Z")
How about Pontiacs and Winnebagos? Where would sales be affected by those? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/5 "2016-06-09T23:26:34Z")
Chrysler already had truck models when the Comanche came out. Why have a chopped Cherokee when you can buy a ‘real truck’? The [Piper Apache](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-23) and the [Piper Comanche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-24_Comanche) were both very successful. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/6 "2016-06-09T23:56:02Z")
Considering that Native Americans make up 0.8% of the American population, I can’t see how their opinions would have any impact one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/7 "2016-06-10T01:09:02Z")
OP is specifying that the cars purportedly didn’t sell well in very specific regions with mostly low populations, not that the manufacturer lost enough sales to take notice. Some of these regions have a majority Native population, including the Navajo plurality Navajo County, AZ, and the 73% Native, mostly Navajo, and interestingly named _Apache_ county, Arizona (the Navajo are an Apachean people). The story itself has shades of the urban legend story that the Chevy Nova didn’t sell well in Mexico. That doesn’t make this current legend false, but does warrant the dubious smiley :dubious:. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/8 "2016-06-10T13:53:31Z")
Perhaps because both OP names are also names of attack helicopters, the car versions of them seem especially lane. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/9 "2016-06-10T14:03:56Z")
I gather that the Mazda LaPuta and the Mitsubishi Pajero, didn’t sell too well in Spain or Mexico, or the Opel Ascona in Portugal. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/10 "2016-06-10T14:09:59Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > the Mitsubishi Pajero ‘Mitsubishi Masturbator’ has a ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/11 "2016-06-10T14:10:14Z")
I live in NYC, and I have never seen an off-road 4x4 Lenape. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/12 "2016-06-10T14:13:11Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I gather that the Mazda LaPuta and the Mitsubishi Pajero, didn’t sell too well in Spain or Mexico, or the Opel Ascona in Portugal. I always heard the one about the Chevy Nova (no- va, doesn’t go/work) in the Mexican market as the disaster that ushered in massive computational language searches to clear branding. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/13 "2016-06-10T14:34:22Z")
The Jeep Comanche failed because Jeep was not known as a pickup car company and it could not compete with it’s cousin, the Dodge Dakota, or with other, more popular Jeep offerings like the Wrangler, the Cherokee (a Jeep that has in no way suffered from having a Native American name) and the larger and more functional J10/20/Gladiator. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/14 "2016-06-10T14:50:18Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I always heard the one about the Chevy Nova (no- va, doesn’t go/work) in the Mexican market as the disaster that ushered in massive computational language searches to clear branding. No one doubts you always heard that. Many people, myself included, always heard that but that doesn’t make it [true](http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/15 "2016-06-10T15:00:11Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > No one doubts you always heard that. Many people, myself included, always heard that but that doesn’t make it [true](http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp). Thanks. Ignorance fought. Not only had “I always heard it,” but most of the time it was accompanied by “and is the classic case taught in textbooks and marketing classes”–which also apparently is true, if false. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/16 "2016-06-10T16:29:51Z")
My Mopar friend always called my Nova the “No Go”. Nova, no fue, no nunca ire. And the [Commanche](http://s207.photobucket.com/user/Rymanrph/media/Comanche/IMG_0180.jpg.html) was a great truck. I wish I’d never sold mine. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apache-or-comanche-cars-named-for-enemies-and-therefore-unpopular/756973/17 "2016-06-10T17:26:12Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I gather that the Mazda LaPuta and the Mitsubishi Pajero, didn’t sell too well in Spain or Mexico, or the Opel Ascona in Portugal. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ‘Mitsubishi Masturbator’ has a ring to it. Yeah, the Pajero was called the Montero in the US market and other places where there were a lot of Spanish speakers. I and a Spanish-speaking friend once encountered a Pajero in a French-speaking country and had a good laugh over it. The Chevy “No-va” story is funny, and I used to kid my brother with it when he owned a Nova, but it isn’t true.