Re: Why do car makers come up with so many meaningless car names?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
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This thread is in response to Cecil’s column, Why do car makers come up with so many meaningless car names?

I’ve been asking myself this question ever since I encountered the Oldsmobile “Alero.”

Totally. Meaningless.

What kind of person looks at his company’s new car and decides that it should have a totally meaningless name based on some sort of “appeal” survey?

IMHO (and this piece may end up there), car names should evoke an image based on a real word, or at the very least, should make your vehicle sound like some kind of experimental fighter plane.

Think about it:

Dodge Viper

Chevrolet Corvette

Ford Mustang

Shelby Cobra

Words that actually mean something are so powerful! This leads me to another thing: why are some names not indicative of the vehicle, especially with respect to others?

Perfect example: the Ford SUV’s - Excursion, Expedition, and Explorer.

How are you supposed to know, based on the name, which one is the largest? The Excursion, a hulking armoured behemoth that can carry an entire soccer team, is the largest; yet the word “excursion” implies a simple day trip down to the bank of the local creek/stream/brook for a picnic.

“Expedition,” OTOH, brings to mind the voyages of Columbus, Lewis and Clark, and La Salle. You’d need a large, rugged vehicle for carrying enough provisions for your voyage - yet the Excursion is larger!

It would make more sense to name vehicles in accordance with size and power… say for example, the Ford Minnow, the Ford Dolphin, and the Ford Whale. That way, you’d know which was the largest and could plan your purchase accordingly.

It might actually make you question buying a Dodge Avenger! :wink:

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The next logical step for the Ford SUVs you cite is the Excavation. “Imagine, an SUV with 1.3 million cubic yards of space! You’ll rename your garage The Quarry!”

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What I am really sick of are the alphanumeric names. Even Cadillac seems to be succumbing to this problem; the car that once bore the stately name Sedan DeVille now wears simple “DTS” badges (ostensibly for DeVille Touring Sedan, I believe). Acura also made the switch awhile ago, when they dropped cool names like Legend, Vigor and Integra for RL, TL and CL. I think the reason for this is that upscale European companies such as Mercedes and BMW have always used alphabet-soup names, so the other carmakers felt that these kind of names would add some class to their products.

-Andrew L

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i believe that car names are ‘meaningless’ because manufacturers have to be really careful, in an international market, about possibly using a word that means something not-quite-so-desirable in another language! but i think the straight dope should get in touch with a couple manufacturers and ask them if it’s so. i don’t know how to use the telephone.

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A lot of the earlier Japanese models were named with an “ahh” sound at the end. Eg. Toyota, Corolla, Celica. It seems a # of American brands have also gone in this direction. The belief is product names should sound have a certain sound, as well as a certain meaning.

I think it was the Nova that meant something like ‘doesn’t run’, in I believe Spanish.

You can check out http://namingnewsletter.com/ for more on this.

FL

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Urban legend, as described atg Snopes.

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I was kinda disappointed Cecil didn’t mention the most obnoxious car names. For Most Annoying Nonsense car name, I nominate Sportage. Sounds annoyingly like some kind of valley or surfer speak.

Nice sportage, dude.

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That’s interesting. Thanks.

FL

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My favorite ludicrous car model name: Toyota Previa. It’s a minivan. Placenta previa is a lifethreatening labor complication. Very apropos for a family vehicle.

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What happens when the manufacturers run out of cool animals, though?

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Oldsmobile Toad!”

One of the modifications that my wife and I were insisting the makers of the “Highlander” was a HUGE blade that came swinging out to remove the tops of all other SUVs you hunt down. At the same time, a recording of Queens “Princes of the Universe”, or possibly “Gimme the Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)” would play, overlaid with Christopher Lambert saying “There can be only one!”

Lightning would be cool, too.

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A true story from real life: A couple of years ago Honda was going to release a new model called Fitta. It was promptly renamed Jazz when it was pointed out that fitta is Scandinavian for cunt. :smack:

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“Alero” : eave or ledge, as in the part of a roof that overhangs so rain won’t go into the windows (in Spanish)

“Previa”: previous, or forward

The Toyota Crown (1960s) was hispanified as the Corona (1970s-80s) and then japglishified as the Camry (from Japanese Kanmuri) (1980s-2000s). Meanwhile, since the Corona is also a part of a flower, they went ahead and introduced the Corolla, which is another part of a flower.

In the 1980s the Chevy division of GM had a fit of naming their new vehicle models starting with “C”, hence Cavalier, Citation, Celebrity, Corsica. Fortunately this was given up.

Of course, if there ever was a car nameplate that desperately needed re-editing before import into the USA, it was the Daihatsu Charade. It’s a wonder they expected to sell any of them.

I notice that “vaguely hispano-italianoid” seems to retain its popularity as a car-name trait, whether it’s with real terms or made-up words (Hyundai’s Santa Fe, Sonata and Tiburon, Toyota’s Sienna and Solara, Kia’s Rio and Sorrento, Daewoo’s Leganza, Nissan’s Maxima and Altima, Mitsu’s Montero, Olds’ Alero)