@Fender1325; “Chevy Nova means no go I think in spanish”
When the old Nova came out it was the heyday of the space race and rocketry.
I’m pretty sure the Nova refered to space…like the Satalite, Rocket 88, Galaxy, etc…
What gets me is when looking for parts for some car.
Is it a LE, LX, SR, or a A4 and it’s not shown on the car anywhere.
We’re supposed to kmow that the
LE comes with RAcing stripes
LX comes with power seats and 23 disc CD changer
SR comes with the 5speed Manual and 4:10 rear end
A4 comes with ejection seats and machine guns
I think owners should be able to vote to rename their model after so many years.
THe Explorer would be the Exploder,
The FAlcon would be the Fireball
I have been involved in naming industrial product names, and it’s difficult at best. You have to do a lot of research if you are going to pick a name that may or may not already be in use somewhere else. Most companies stick with alpha-numeric designations.
A French company who patented a self raising oil drilling rig named it the “Smart Leg” because of its abilty to self level as well. My joke of calling it the “Pied Intelligent” did not go over well. The international language of the oil industry in English.
Then I knew a product manager who launched a new line of pumps, and called the first model the “SOA”. He then promply left to work for another pump company, leaving his successor to name the next model.
LOL, interesting idea, yosemite.
The Pinto could be the PintOUCH
The Aztek could be the Azyuck
The Camry could be the CamrZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (snore)
VOLVO V70 The 1981 Fiat X 1/9 I had was renamed Bertone. I’m guessing that was an attempt to fool prospective buyers into thinking it was a different vehicle. Actually the one I owned was a reasonably fun and reliable little car.
“Say it quickly and Americanize the pronunciation and it becomes Camry.”
Well, if you want to REALLY Americanize it, then you should probably pronounce it Cam-A-ry.
After all, there have been countless people posting questions on this site about their “Camary”.
I don’t know about you, but I am fascinated by people who can buy a car, see it every day–including its model name–and yet not know what the correct spelling of their car make & model actually is.
The best one was a question that somebody posted a few years ago regarding his Tayota Accord (or was it his Hondo Camary??)
Most people don’t really care. Once they buy the car, it quickly fades into the background of their life never to be thought of again. That’s the big reason car companies spend millions on naming their vehicles. If the doesn’t capture the consumer’s imagination immediately, it won’t exist.
Besides, do you have any idea how long it took me to learn how to spell Hyundae? Or is it Hyundai?
I never did understand what was wrong with the names Special, Century, Super and Roadmaster for model designations that Buick used until 1959. Suddenly, in its place, we had the Lesabre, Invicta, Electra, and Electra 225. The Invicta and Electra names disappeared, but the LeSabre name hung around for a long time. At least, there was a hierarchy of these model names. Today, I have no idea which Buick is the top of the line with Lacrosse, Regal, Verano. I think manufacturers change the model names to fool old geezers like me.
Out here we’ve had ;
Mercury STABLE,
Ford Mercury,
Ford Exploder,
Ford Tortois,
Mercury cooper,
Mercury Caprice,
Ford Ganado,
Mercury Zipper,
Ford fucus ( gotta watch that spelling so they don’t censor it…but that’s truly what customers call their car )
Ford ecoline ( echo line ) van
and the Mercury Muttoneer ( the best joke on the muttoneer is that , out here on the Navajo reservation, mutton is a daily staple. Sometimes I think they say that on purpose )
plus all kinds of other twisted english-as-a-second-language mishmashes.
meanjoe75fan "…and doesn’t (Mitsubishi) Pajero translate roughly to “wanker?” "
In proper Spanish pajero is bird. Spanish slang often seems to make no sense so bird to “wanker” is entirely possible.
Fender1325 You are correct. The literal Spanish translation of Nova (no va) is no go. The story that GM had extremely poor Nova sales in Spanish speaking nations is pretty much an urban legend.
Say what you want about the Camry name, but it’s now a recognized badge with a pretty solid reputation. It’s a well known brand (although not technically a brand).
My favorite car name is Plymouth Satellite, as in “She drove a Plymouth Satellite faster than the seed of light!”
One vehicle name that I think might be hurting sales is the Honda Fit. It’s a pretty impressive vehicle, but I’m pretty overweight, and I’m also somewhat self conscious about it, so I can imagine how ironic it would be to see me get out of a car that says “Fit” on the back. I don’t need that kind of unwanted attention.
yeah, that may be true about it being a bird, but if you call a Spanish guy or Italian guy a pajero in a nasty way, prepare to get punched out. one of the Honduran fellows I worked with called his Sicilian boss a pajero, not knowing that it meant the same in Italian slang. one Cuban fellow was speaking Spanish around the Chinese owner and did not realize his use of “chin chan chun” would be understood all too well. he was job hunting shortly thereafter.
I have some Spanish as well, and most Spanish speakers do not think they will be understood by me. I hear quite a few racist comments and insults that they think I will not understand.
if I like the people I will speak some Spanish right off to avoid the situation, but if I think the folks are shady I don t let on that I understand until i make up my mind about their intentions.
i thought el camino was a great name, translating to the path, or, the road. perfect for a car.
my old explorer pickup was aptly named too, its a shame they ruined it by naming that sorry suv after. every explorer suv i saw, at one time, seemed to have a wheel on the front that was tilted about 10 degrees out at the bottom. i have always suspected that that was what caused the tire problems with them
el camino
fury
442 (because it meant some thing on the real ones)
explorer
road runner
firebird
Cherokee
ram
charger
challenger
tempest
toronado
thing
beetle
gremlin
cougar
barracuda
wesw I don’t speak Spanish anywhere near well enough to converse. I just know lots of words. I have better luck reading Spanish because I need to translate the words in my head and can read as slow as I need to. I have never heard pajero used as an insult. Or maybe I have and just didn’t know it. Also I’m having trouble remembering all of 442. I’ve got 4 barrel 2 doors. I keep thinking the first 4 was 400 (cu in) but I’m not sure.
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