I was under the impression the Chevy LUV was an acronym for Light Utility Vehicle & the GM marketing moguls thought the name would appeal to women buyers, an untouched market for tiny pickups at the time the LUV was introduced to the U S.
Henry J as in Henry J Kaiser; he already had the Kaiser. So why not the Henry J for another marque? Ransome E. Olds had both the Oldsmobile and later the REO just as the German manufacturer had Horch and, then, when he could not use his own name on a newer automobile, translated his name into Latin and introduced the Audi!
The whose Lanos? Daewoo marketed the Lanos not Daihatsu. Daihatsu, on the other hand, marketed the Blizzard! Anyone want to go to the local Daihatsu dealer and buy a Blizzard, or would you rather go to DQ for your Blizzard?
Personally I like actual names better than numbers. The Mustang, the Camaro, the 'Vette, the Charger, the Roadrunner, the Testarosa, these things probably would not be classics if they’d had just numbers. Some european makes like the 325i and the 911 made history, but most of the great cars had names that stir passion.
Was it that bad? I mean apart from its looks I thought the car was pretty well-regarded.
Nissans, and most Japanese cars, were still rustbuckets until the 90s.
Rust resistance was about the only area in which the US led from the mid-70s to the 90s.
Sorry to correct you, but long before they were badged as Nissan in Australia they were called Datsun. Possibly the most infamous was the Datsun 120 Y bother. LOL
The Mitsubishi Pajero. Pajero (roughly translates) as wanker in Spanish.
Because of this the car is marketed AFAIK as the Montero in Spanish speaking countries.
Funny, but other than the Vette, how many of your named cars hold a candle to the performance to the “numbered cars” you named in anything but straight line acceleration. Passion does sell, and that’s the goal, but the numbers don’t lie for me.
Cobra being a big exception as well as…
I can’t believe that all the previous posters missed what was the most obvious to me: the AMC Matador. I guess they thought that they would capture the hispanic market because matadors are revered figures in their culture, but a matador translates to killer (see Dictionary.com)and in the American culture that’s an unfortunate label to have stuck on your car. Gremlin would be my second choice 
Please scroll back to earlier submissions; I listed the Matador (killer) and the Nova (no va!, doesn’t go) as embarrassing names that did not sell well in Latino countries.
The long and colorful history of Datsun:
Here are the car names that I think sound dumb:
- Pontiac Aztek (not only is it a horrible name but a horrible looking vehicle)
- GMC Denali
- Cadillac Escalade
- Ford Festiva
- Kia Borrego
What year was the Willys Aero Ace ? For bad names I don’t think you can top the Studebaker Dictator of the mid-thirtys.
I don’t get why Kia names cars after cities, especially cities in the West (Santa Fe, Sorento, Sedona, Borrego). What’s next, the Kia Bakersfield? Or will they go north to the Kia Gilroy, and south to the Kia Irvine?
There are some good city names (IMO Phoenix sounds cool), but Kia doesn’t use them.
Ford Fiesta AKA as Kia Pride.
How about the Japanese suggesting a joint effort with Chevrolet. They thought the “ToyLet” car would be a winner. Good thing they ran that up the flag pole before going to market.
Here is something interesting. After GM introduced the Saturn, but hadn’t yet discontinued the Pontiac or Oldsmobile, there were six domestic brands. Count the letters in each of these brands:
Buick 5 letters
Saturn 6 letters
Pontiac 7 letters
Cadillac 8 letters
Chevrolet 9 letters
Oldsmobile 10 letters
You could be thinking of the Festiva, which was a badged Kia car. The Fiesta was a German/British FORD design and the ones exported to the US were probably German made. My cousin in Europe bought such a Fiesta for his wife, a really neat car for over there.
Thanks for the comments; my experience has mainly been in having to produce sales literature and promotional materials in French. I was advised by the ad agency to consult with the Quebec language office, who bombarded me with about 10 booklets of correct words for the various industries and trades.
Dealers putting up signs had to be “correct” in terms of was acceptable.
I agree this has eased somewhat since the heady days of the language police.
My difficulty was that the proper French word, such as “clef anglais” for a monkey wrench, was often unknown to the guys who used these tools.
The provincial electric utility bought a number of transformer coolers and specified 3 copies of the user manuals in proper French, which I supplied. Three months later there was a meek request for 3 copies “en anglais”, since the mechanics could not read the correct international French instructions.