Datsun Cedric
Named after the very pensioners that drove them, the Cedric sat alongside cars baring equally elderly monikers (Violet, Gloria and Sylvia) in Nissan’s sixties lineup.
Toyota MR2
Say each letter of the model name in French and it sounds like a very rude word. In French.
Mazda LaPuta
I mean, honestly? Odds are that the person who signed this model name/appalling Spanish swearword is no longer in Mazda’s employ.
Ford Probe
Very few people would choose to have a probe. Especially on their driveway. Even more especially if it had 24 valves.
Growler E Concept
What’s not already been said about this awful naming oversight (of a rather wonderful car)?
It’s not quite in the same league, but one of Mitsubishi’s early models in The US was the Cordia sedan.
Most of the ones that they loaded onto ships for transport to The US were the “L” variant of the Cordia, so a LOT of language-challenged Americans thought that the Mitsubishi Cordia L was actually the Mitsubishi Cordial.
I’d have to complement VW on making up their model names out of non-words (Passat, Jetta, Amarok, Lavida, Routan, Santana, Sharan, Tiguan, Touareg, CC, Corrado, Eos, Karmann Ghia)
But they frequently break that rule, witness:
Dasher, Pointer, Golf, Caddy, Fox, Beetle, New Beetle, Polo, Scirocco, Up, Vento, Brasilia, Country Buggy, Derby, Phaeton, Schwimmwagen, Lupo
And Caddy and California are new to me… Caddy is strange, naming a model after another brand. In fact, I’d nominate the VW Caddy to this list. But VW’s thinking was “Golf Caddy”.
A lot of VW’s, at least the older ones, are named after winds.
Passat: German for "trade wind."
Scirocco: high-speed Saharan wind
Jetta: German for Jet stream
Golf: German for Gulf stream
They also have a thing with animal names. Rabbit, Fox, Amarok (mythical Inuit wolf), Tiguan (combination, I am not making this up, of “tiger” and “iguana”).
The Karmann Ghia was named for the two outsourced companies that designed the body. Karmann and Ghia.
Oh, and the “Beetle” was not its original name. It was just called The Volkswagen at first. Then Hitler gave it the name Kraft durch Freude Wagen, which meant it was called the Strength through Joy Car and therefore would fit well within this thread. That got shortened to KdF Wagen. Then people noticed it was shaped like a beetle, started calling it that, and VW just went with the flow.
My colonoscopy was surprisingly mild. I’m not looking forward to my next one, but I’m not dreading it either. Let’s just say that the overall experience depends heavily on the advance prep.
The upper-echelon at Daihatsu heard about the FTC’s Truth in Advertising regulations, and they figured that if they simply told the absolute truth about that model, then they couldn’t be prosecuted for violation of those regs.
A few more…
The Daewoo Racer–a car that would probably have lost a race with a turtle.
The Hyundai Stellar–a car that was most definitely NOT a star.
The Mitsubishi Carisma–a curious name for a totally uncharismatic car with perhaps no redeeming qualities.
That got shortened to KdF Wagen. Then people noticed it was shaped like a beetle, started calling it that, and VW just went with the flow.