A friend bought an Excel for his wife when they first came out. It did not excel in anything except trips to the repair shops. In those days Hyundai dealers were notoriously incompetent, and could not even locate the cause of the car’s problems.
When a newer and better model was introduced they changed the name to Accent.
I believe Dodge Dart Swinger is the worst name, my opinion.
Here’s is the story,the Japanese has this really neat new car (soon to be named the Datsun 240Z) but they couldn’t come up with a name. One of the big wigs said “let’s ask the Germans they always come up with great names”. So they contacted the Germans and the Germans said “Yes we can do it,when do you need the name” well the japanese said “The car is ready, we are loosing lots of money, we need a name now” the Germans replied “Dat soon” and the rest is history.
Beg to differ, they did produce the Impact as a prototype vehicle. I test drove one about 15 years ago for two weeks in Los Angeles. It was a great car. Eventually it became the EV-1 and was only available as a leased car. I remember Johnny Carson making fun of the name on the Tonight Show. My guess is GM thought the Impact was going to make a big impact on the car market. They were a bit ahead of their time. Now every car maker, including GM, is hopping on the hybrid, electric car band wagon. Everyone who rode with me in the Impact thought highly of the car. Only a two-seater, but very fast and quiet.
In case you’re interested, the 240Z was really called the Nissan Fairlady since the Japanese love quaint English names. It’s hard to imagine a Texan swaggering into a roadhouse and bragging he just bought a Fairlady. Americans like tough names.
Because of WW II, the Japanese feared that the name Nissan would conjure up an unfavorable image.
Up until about 15 years ago the Germans still considered Japanese cars “junk” to their own loss and detriment. Self delusion is a universal attribute.
Doc, of course you know my “story” is just that,a story. I actually know people that won’t buy a Mitsubishi because of the Zero airplane thing.
Sorry Docnick, but that’s not true. Up until 1983 they were named Datsun in Europe, 1984 they changed it to Nissan.
http://www.bilgalleri.dk/html/gal_visbil.asp?ID=143717
This is a Datsun 280 ZX from 1981.
Renault 5 was also named Le Car in Europe for a few years.
My favorite is the Impreza. Who were they trying to imprezz with that lousy car?
I’ve always wondered about the Mitsubishi “Starion”? Was it supposed to “Stallion” and
the marketing department mixed up their L and R?
Agree; image is everything. My late father-in-law would not buy anything made in China by those “godless commies”! We ended up giving him gift certifcates for Christmas.
“car” means because. Actually, it is more informal like: 'cos
the French word for car is la voiture.
Everyone, a round of applause and please bend over for the Ford Probe!!!
Certainly a proctologist’s preferred mode of transportation.
A recent rental car was a chrysler 300, why I don’t know, it was an ok car till I saw a Ford 500, 500 is better than 300 right? Guessing if GM wanted to pay that game they would make a 750 
“The Bermuda name was not used to my knowledge”
Bermuda was the name used for the wagon models of the Edsel, IIRC.
asterix; I stand corrected. The Japanese probably felt Europeans would not like the word Nissan (sounds like Nippon)either too soon after WW II. My European aunt spent 4 years in Japanese prison camp in Indonesia, and had a permanent hatred for all things Japanese for the rest of her life.
A college friend’s father owned several car dealerships in Brooklyn, NY. One of them was a VW dealership. They did not put the family name on the VW shop - the family is Jewish. Dad thought it would be very bad for business if a Jewish name was associated with a German company, even 30 years after the end of WW-II.
some of the worst names are japanese concept cars. anybody remember the “toyopet”? that was a first attempt by what is now called toyota.
my favorite would have to be Camaro. back in '67, people poked fun at it saying camaro meant a small shrimpy creature. chevy came back saying it meant a small fuzzy loveable critter. thus, the “hugger” was born. thats also why its called hugger orange paint.
France has very strict laws on what words can be used in public. The Academie De La Langue Francaise can prohibit many words. A computer is called an “ordinateur”. in spite of being called a computer in Dutch and many other languages.
“Le Car” would be a complete offence against the purity of the French language! The rest of Europe does not care.It took years for the term “Le Drugstore” to become legal; since there is no equivalent (in France drug stores only sell drugs, not food)it was finally allowed. The last Drug Store I was in in France only sold food, it was a restaurant only.
The Cuisinart food processor is called the “Robot Coupe” (robot cutter) in France. The word “cuisinart” does not exist in French and would likely be illegal.
Because of all these dumb restrictions, the French language only has 264,000 words, while the English language just topped one million.
French used in Canada also has barriers as to what words can be used in public. Colloquially, they use whatever makes the most sense, often resulting in “Frenglish”, which everyone understands. Montreal Smoked Meat, a delicacy similar to pastrami, and brought over long ago by non French speaking Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, and sold nowhere else, has to be called “Beouf Marinee” (marinated beef).