Lotus has had some really good names: Elise, Europa, Evora, Exige, Elan, Emira... They all sound like elegant words I'd find in a museum in Europe lol.
Let’s see you got the Elise Esprit Eclat Elite Europa CARLTON Elan Exige Essex Than you just got the Seven, Mk. 1 Cortina, and 2/3 Eleven. Wish they just stuck with E names
@@x-90 Meh the Carlton doesn't really count. The name is Vauxhall's fault as that is the name of the car its based on. Also, are you insinuating that Carlton is NOT an elegant word? It's not unusual to be loved by anyone....
@@dohmies77 my reply is a reference from the American tv show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It is definitely a weird name for a car. Pretty much any proper name would be, Nissan is the only one I know to pull it off.
@@sethery7826 when it was new back in 1951, it was absolutely a knockoff of land rover. However since then, it's definitely proven it's at least as good, if not better than land rovers in most cases.
When I got my KIA Cee'd (yes, with apostrophe) I was like "the hell does that even mean? Is it a Korean pronunciation of something cool?". Well, absolutely not. It means *Community Economics of Europe, with European Design* and since it came out Ceeed they removed an "e" by putting the apostrophe, Cee'd. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.
When I was 16 I got my first car, it was a Ford Probe SE. The Eclipse GSX and Subaru WRX were popular at the time, so I bought some decals and renamed my car the Ford Probe SE-X. Elon would've approved.
The “Maserati Quattroporte” hits me as one of the less creative names. I sounds vaguely Italian and exotic, but it literally just means “Maserati Four Doors.” Not terrible, but definitely learning hard on the exotic vibes of Italy rather than creativity.
Maserati names now just shows the current state of the company shit and unreliable Edit: it comes to my attention that the name has been around since the 60s. But I will still gonna say how shitty Maserati is in their current state
The word "scat" can also refer to a music technique used in jazz (among other genres) in which a vocalist sings meaningless syllables as opposed to actual words. I don't know how that relates to the Dodge "scat pack", but it's a nice fact.
I think Aston Martin's names all sound great. They all start with V and typically represent something cool. The Vanquish, Vulcan, Victor, Valkyrie, Valhalla, Vantage, Virage and then the use of Volante for the convertibles. Edit: Ignoring the DB series (still sound cool imo), the lagonda and the rapide. Edit 2: Missed the Valhalla
Wait I think of something Maybe there wasn't a DB8 because the Vantage is the DB8? Because it was released close to the DB9 And the new Vantage is the DB10 Next gen Vantage DB12
I always liked Camaro and Supra a lot as a kid. They dont really mean anything, but sound rad and when you say them out loud, everyone knows that youre talking about the car.
To be fair to Nissan Laputa, the name is probably inspired by a setting in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travel" (1726). In the book, Laputa is a relatively small, floating island which can be maneuvered by its inhabitants via magnetic levitation. But yeah, it can be read as a Spanish word for the oldest occupation in the world.
The E in 500E or 190E does not stand for E-Class. It's for Einspritzer, which means injector. Also the 190 does not always mean engine size. Look at the 190 2.3. or 2.6. for example and the 190 is always the size of a small sedan, not medium. So it was already confusing back in the day. And with the three letter names nowadays, C stands for coupe or C-Class, E for E-Class, S for sport or S-Class, L for lightweight or luxury, G for Gelände which means terrain or offroad and K for Klein which means small.
so basicly its confusing af becouse some letters can mean different things and the 190e was for the chassis and not the engine but then on other models the 500e was for the engine like wtf
Also I think it became more confusing after the release of the youngtimer line-up with a lot of different powertrains, for example the C200 CDI (2.2 Diesel engine) and C220 CDI ( still a 2.2 but with a little bit more hrsprs), or the C280 with a 3.0 engine.
All of the Saturn cars with names. They had names that fit a theme with each other and with the name of the brand Saturn. In my opinion some of the best names are Ion, Aura, and Sky.
Id say Pontiac had some of the coolest names (GTO, FireBird, Bonneville, Solstice, Fiero, Phoenix, Chieftain, Cobalt, G6,G8) hands down Pontiac had the best cars names
Since I'm from Spain, SEAT way of branding car names after their split with FIAT is very easy to remember because most of the them are named after Spanish towns(SEAT Leon, SEAT Ibiza, SEAT Marbella, etc...) or Spanish monuments (mainly the SEAT Alhambra) and there's the SEAT Mii, which is the equivalent of the Volkswagen Up! or the Skoda Citigo but with a SEAT badge.
I mostly agree with you, but to be fair "Turbo" isn't part of the actual name. While in other Porsche cars the "Turbo" badge indeed indicates the presence of a turbo, there are also Porsche cars with a turbo in the engine but no "turbo" badge in sight. So there's really not a lot of logic behind it now, it's just a cool way of differentiate variants of the same car. At this point, the word "Turbo" is more of a "version" or trim reference, like the "GTI" in a Peugeot 208 or S in the Mini Cooper, or the "P85D" or "Plaid" in the Tesla Model S.
@@AlejandroLZuvic I 100% agree but with this car specifically, sure it may not be part of the actual name, but the top of the range model turbo name implies that there is a turbo in a fully electric car
Yes, the Taycan "turbo for Marketing only" BEV... (there's no such thing as a BEV with any forced induction, as the motor(s) will do it from any RPM level)
I still love the Mazda Scrum Wagon. Absolute masterpiece of a name. A good runner up is the Mclaren F1 though... it's just straight forward from where the influence came from
Why can't all car manufactures name their cars after sexual activities or references and funny names? GTA IV and V literally has a car named "Schafter", why can fictional cars get away with it when real life manufacturers can't? It would be funny if Ferrari or any Italian automaker name their cars "Bolide". I wish Honda Jazz was called "Fitta" as they originally planned when selling them in Europe.
I once heard (PROBABLY James was the person who said that) that the Mclaren f1 was named like that because Ferrari had their F50 and people in MClaren said something like: "Shit, let's show to those fools that our new car is 50 times better than theirs" ... Having said that it sounds stupid buuuut could totally be a true history.
The Buick Century has a cool story behind it - it was the first production car capable of going 100 MPH with back in the 30s was called "doing the century".
I had a 2000 Century that, alas, didn't survive to see much of this one. The last straw was when three of the window motors failed in the same month. NEXT!
Some Seat models are named after cities in Spain, like the Ibiza, Leon, Arona, Ateca, Cordoba, and for sure others that have come and gone through the brand's short history, my point is that I think that's a cool naming scheme.
what about the Opel Commodore, Pontiac Sunbird, Vauxhall Belmont, Chevrolet Kingswood, Cadillac Calais, Cadillac De Ville, or Chevrolet Caprice? GM's reuse of names is pretty interesting when you get into it.
On the topic of [5:00] Fun fact: The Toyota MR2 is known in France and Belgium as the MR Spyder because of French: 2 in French is deux, pronounced like de (the but with a d instead of a t) Merde is French for "shit" MR2 comes extremely close.
The third gen was also called MR Spyder in the us , and MRS in Japan . Mrs is short mistress , so they thought most guys would see it as a car for women .
Ford missed the mark with the Mach E name. Instead of diluting the Mustang name, which has always represented a 2-door pony car (and not a crossover SUV), they could’ve called it the Model E. Not only would it be funny after the Tesla Model 3 situation, but it’d generate tons of publicity and signify a new era for FOMOCO. Or hey, even just Mach E. That’s cool too. Edit: I want to also add that my issue has nothing to do with an electric drive train. The Mustang has almost always had a diverse engine and trim selection. However, I don’t recall a four-door crossover SUV body and chassis ever being offered as an option. They did the same thing to the Lightning. Lightning represented a 2-door performance truck, now it’s just an F-150 engine option. Pretty stupid move for the inevitable future when most vehicles are electrified. Guess all Ford trucks will have to take on the Lightning name. “F-150 Crew Cab Lariat Lightning, F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab King Ranch Tremor Lightning,” etc. If you don’t think a vehicle will sell well without borrowing a name that means something, build a better vehicle. When it came to classics like the Cuda, 442, Challenger, and so on, the name didn’t sell the car. The car sold the name. Super frustrating.
I'm pretty sure "Model E" name is used for Ford E-Series/Econoline. Yes, Ford obviously shouldn't used the "Mustang" name, just should've simply called it "Ford Mach E" I think the reason they used the "Mustang" name since it's a very recognizable name to compete with Tesla Model 3. But the name it controversial regardless, not only that, Ford Mustang Mach E isn't even related to the 2-door pony car at all.
@@matthewdavison1090 I think you're unaware that Ford already name "Galaxy" for their MPV for European markets. Also the past US model was "Galaxie", not "Galaxy"
In Czech it can mean both shame or pity and damage. I dont like the recent native american inspired names EnyaQ KamiQ KaroQ. The original brand name was Laurin & Klement
I love the Quattro's name as a pioneer in all wheel drive technology, it's simple, elegant, and got it's point across around the world. I don't know what happened with Audi's names after that though, simpler times.
7:12 As one RUclipsr put it, a bison is a tank with hooves. They are awesome and powerful animals (surprisingly quick too). I don't see a problem with using "Bison" as a car name.
Acura actually stated with names and went alpha numeric around 2001. They had the integra the vigor and the legend long before they had the MDX, SLX, TSX NSX etc.
I remember finding it odd that Acura would leave all of the name-recognition they built up over the years for alphanumerics. I really loved the Legend and Integra names 😊
@@yutakoh They did it because it was the trend with every luxury maker at the time. There were no luxury cars with names. Strangely Porsche was going the opposite way around the same time with ditching the alphanumeric names going away in favor of real ones. Gone were the 914, 924, 928, 944 and 911, in with the Carrera, Boxster, Cayenne and Cayman.
Ask any Japanese person to say the word “stallion” and you will see why they named it Starion. No disrespect intended, it’s just how accents work. I like that name actually.
They named it Starion because you are slightly racist?... that's weird, but ok ill go ask Glenn Howerton from Its Always Sunny to say "stallion" and find out why they called it that... lol 🤪
@@Zackaria_sMax he’s not wrong bruh idk why ur pressed about it. I’m Japanese and while I don’t have an accent because I grew up in America my grandma has a heavy accent and she can’t say the “L” sound because it doesn’t exist in the Japanese language.
"Starion" is supposedly actually a contraction of "Star of Orion", not a misspelling of "Stallion". A lot of Mitsubishi's engine names have astronomical names (Sirius, Astron), so this makes sense. (Also, essentially nobody in Mexico had problems with the name of the Chevy Nova. To quote a popular explanation, that's like Americans having a problem with a dining room set with the name "Notable" because it looks like "no table".)
I have to start a table company just to name a table Notable now 😂 or just release dinner room chairs but never make a table to go with them and call the set Notable
Another myth with the "Starion" name is that it was supposed to be "Stallion", but "Stallion" comes out sounding like "Starion" when pronounced with a heavy Japanese accent
@@BardiaSaeedi the Stallion part yes, but in the video they said garbled phone call. I'm bringing up the urban legend of mispronunciation due to a heavy accent
my understanding of the nova issue was that it came up more in south America, further from the influence of the US. Argentina is always the one I've been told about specifically.
my favorite is the Ford Kuga. Kuga literally means "The Plague" in most of Eastern Europe, and probably elsewhere too. It's not like it's some obscure word that nobody ever uses. And the best thing of all is that they still sell it here under the same name.
Honestly Honda's S roadsters have pretty great and straightforward names. You can always remember it as S for "sport" followed by the engine size. S2000 in particular is great because not only is it a sporty car with a 2000cc engine, but it launched at the turn of the millennium.
One funny story is about the Alfa Romeo "Giulietta". During a meeting in a restaurant between 5 alfa's engineer where they were trying to find a name for the next car .. A Russian Playboy said to them "you guys are 5 Romeo without a Giulietta" and so, they decided to use that name!
I’ve always wondered why American car companies have always had an obsession with Spanish names, el camino, ranchero, festiva, fiesta, nova, Cruze, impla, just to name a few.
easy to pronounce for americans, recognizable due to our shared history with mexico and resulting cultural residue, and associated with wild west badassery
In my country, India, there's a company called Tata Motors that named their hatchback Zica, the unveiling coincided with outbreak of the Zika virus so they rolled it back and named it the Tiago. That car is now famous in the country ever since GNCAP gave it 4 stars in their crash tests
Yea, I've heard that story (the name "Zica" was chosen in a public competition) and then came that Dengue-based mosquito-bitten ailment and had to change the name within days. At least they got to build some mainstream branded car there that passes most international car crash standards... (and yes, we know Mr. Tata over here as he's the owner of Jaguar-Land Rover)
Just a heads up : the Mitsubishi Starion story is a myth. The name actually comes from the "Star of Arion", which is a mythical, immortal horse in Greek Mythology. (St)(arion)
The whole business about the Chevy “Nova” not selling in Spanish-speaking countries because of the name is an urban legend. The English/Latin meaning of the word was well-known in these parts of the world.
@@dylanrodrigues9267 The Hyundai Kona actually had to be rebranded in Portugal. Phonetically, Kona is the same as "cona", which is Portuguese slang for "that" area of female anatomy. So, they came out with the Hyundai Kauai. Whatever that means...
"Swinger" came from a time when it had nothing to do with inverted pineapples. You won't hear anyone be called a "Hep Cat" today, but that was jive lingo in the seventies, much like swinger was a super cool dude back then. Keep in mind also, this was the same product planning department that thought "statutory grape" was a good name for purple. They did manage to get the "Curious Yellow" name past top brass... Curious Yellow was a Dutch adult film in 1969-70.
The Starion was actually also attached to the Star of Orion which is Mitsubishi's emblem. Whether the dual meaning was intended or a happy coincidence and which actually came first is largely unknown. Pajero means wanker in Spanish though which is why we got the Montero and MR2 sounds like shit in French which iirc led to MRS. Either way we narrowly avoided Lil' Nas X having an even more unfortunate name.
For us in Europe it makes very much sense that bmw puts the i on the back because you can buy almost every model also with a Diesel engine which then has a d at the back, for example like a 530i or a 330d you would instantly know if it’s petrol or diesel when buying, I my self drive a 118d (it’s a 1 series hatchback which the us didn’t get)
I actually noticed while deployed in Poland the past few months that most vehicles are diesel. Asked my taxi driver about it and he explained it some. Don't remember all of it but mostly because of gas being more expensive and diesel performing better. Which I knew diesel performs better generally, but didn't expect gas to cost more than diesel anywhere
@@gazortank8768 Tax for gas in most european countrys is higher, because back in the days diesel was considered a fuel for commercially operated vehicles like trucks or trains. That carried over until today so many people in europe buy diesel powered cars. However lately more and more countrys started to equalize taxes for diesel to push consumers more towards cars with low CO2 emmissions. also especially in germany if you want to drive fast on the autobahn diesel engines don't start to use extreme amounts of fuel because a diesel engine doesn't use additional fuel to cool the engine under high loads.
The well known 4x4 in European market Mitsubishi "PAJERO" Means "jerk off" or "fu(ker" in spanish. They later tried renaming it to "Montero", but you still see tons of "pajero’s" on the streets everywhere, Probably because it holds up well.
Running around Japan, came across some funny car names….. Suzuki Hustler, Mazda Carol, there were two vans (don’t remember the manufacturer name) called the Vamos and the Alto. But the funniest engrish I saw was on the back of a tour bus showing the ultimate safety feature called the “powertard brake”!
That eBussy seems like a (slightly above Kei class) "pod platform BEV" that the manufacturer can put whatever different style they can offer on top of it. Problem is, in a very Chinese fashion, they blatantly copied Bugatti's logo (Ettore Bugatti, you know...)
@@taridean there was also a Holden pickup called the Rodeo, which was a rebadged Isuzu, due to dealings and business that the two companies had at the time. I had a brief look on Wikipedia about the Mitsubishi Rodeo, and it's mentioned as another name for the L200, like you said, but there's little detail. Might be a trim level/package for the L200/Triton in South Africa, in the early/mid 2000's, as that's all I can find.
@@ljphoenix4341 it was marketed in the 90s as the Mitsubishi Colt Rodeo in Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 where I'm originally from. It was commonly known as the Rodeo because of a huge Rodeo decal on the truck bed. It also gained a lot of exposure as one of the vehicle prizes for a supermarket chain lucky dip competition called the OK Grand Challenge. The Pajero was usually the first prize with the Rodeo as the second one. The Isuzu pick-ups just had "KB" prefix followed by the engine size.
Funny enough my dad bought a black Rodeo brand new at the time in 97. Decent car granted he made it more of a project test mule for a subwoofer system with tube neon lighting.
My favorite car name is probably “Roadrunner” because Chrysler bought the license from WB to use Road Runner to market their muscle car (which is also probably my favorite muscle car) and so Road Runner is featured on some of the cars, and every Plymouth Roadrunner as far as I know has a horn which goes “beep-beep”!
I can’t believe you left out the famous Fiat 124. The Chinese characters for numbers also have meanings. 1 = one 2 = the way to 4 = death 124 = one way to death It didn’t sell well in markets that used Chinese characters (Taiwan, Singapore, Japan.) Fiat re-branded it as the 128 8 = prosperity
Still remember when we were shopping around for cars and the dealer was like "wanna check out the BMW X4?" and we basically instantly rejected it because it sounded horrible.
Rolls Royce have an ethereal theme for their cars. Ghost, Wraith, Phantom, Spectre. Aston Martin has the Vantage, the Vulcan, Valkyrie as well as the DB line. Lotus have the Elise, Exige etc. so yeah, British luxury brands have the best car names. Oh wait, I forgot about the Lambos, Countach, Diablo, Murcielago, Aventador, Huracan, gallardo and Urus (ok Urus sounds like the rear end of a bull but anyway)
As James May point out back in 2013, the Ferrari LaFerrari in english means "The Ferrari The Ferrari" Also don't forget about "The Growler" that was made by a Swiss Firm, which successfully made the whole Top Gear studio laughed their ass out.
Come on lets give Skoda some credit here. They have a killer line-up with Octavia, Superb, Fabia, Yeti, Scala, Rapid, (pronounced rah-PEED), Kodiaq, Enyaq etc
Not really. Two issues: 1. Yeti is this BIG, mammoth even imaginary creature. Skoda Yeti is a baby hatchback trying to act like a SUV. 2. Skoda had a model called Laura. In Hindi phonetic, it is often pronounced as Lauda. And in Hindi slang it means dick. Not sure how many were sold here but every kid just called the car dick. Or even behen ka lauda. Which translates to sister's dick or whatever. So, I don't think at point ANY manufacturer is off the hook 🤣
In around 2007 Kia had a crowd sourcing marketing contest to come up with a new name for a car, ours wasn’t chosen. Yet years later it actually showed up in their line up without so much as a thank you. It was Cadenza. My wife was a music major.
Here's a bit of an obscure trademark issue that automakers ran into: before General Motors owned stake in Saab, they weren't able to sell their top of the line models as the "aero" in the United States because GM owned the trademark to the name. They instead sold them as SPGs or "special performance group." Aero is cooler by a long shot.
Personally, I think Ford has always been the king of naming cars. Yeah, you've got obvious ones like the Mustang, the GT40, and the Thunderbird. But even less hard hitting ones like the Cortina, Capris and the Mondeo just roll off the tongue. Even something like the Windstar is really cool. Sure, they've had duds like the Probe (which is an awesome car, not hate on it) but I'm sure we can overlook it.
This is maybe one of the greatest wheelhouse I´ve ever seen. Simple, easy to consume and funny as hell. I really enjoy some technical wheel house about Tesla and F1 but this one really came out great
From model names, I absolutely love these: Škoda Octavia (current 4 generations of Octavia share name with Octavia built between 1959 and 1971. It was named Octavia because it was the eighth car produced by the nationalised Škoda company.) Praga Piccolo (another Czechoslovak car brand. Piccolo was mid-range model for people that didn't want to buy larger and more expensive Praga models such as Alfa, Grand or Mignon.)
As Great Wall Motors was brought up in the run down of worst car names, I think their recent naming effort of their subordinary brands definitely deserves a shout. Here's just a few examples that sounds just as dumb as it does in English as it did in its original language. And yes, these are names of actual cars in production: Ora Good Cat Tank 300 Haval Big Dog My guess is that they were deliberately making these awkward-sounding but admittedly, memorable names out there to obtain maximum publicity. And who knows, maybe this will eventually turn out to be beneficial to their sale figures
those actually sound okay in chinese, tank 300/500?/800 etc makes it's own series. Ora Cat is actually a cute little EV and is marketed as such. I think the worst name they had was the RV based on the Pao Pickup truck. The pickup itself is fine, but add RV onto the name and you get 炮房车 which sounds really like a car that you have sex in.
I think BMW nailed it back in the day. A series would usually denote its seize and luxuriousness. And then you could figure out the engine size. Up until recently… a 435 and a 440 share the same engine and it’s a 3.0. And a 325, 328, and 330 have a 2.0….. it used to make sense. BMW has lost their mind nowadays.
@@AspireGMD I like them. You know exactly what it is just from the name, no guessing required. For the 3 digit names, the first is the series, which gives the size. The second and third denote engine performance (back when they used NA engines, it was displacement). The letter(s) and occasional other words afterward give more information, such as fuel type. So, an old NA 330i was a 3-Series (typically a sedan, but we'll get to that) with a 3 liter engine. A new 330i is a 3-Series with a smaller turbocharged engine that has roughly the same performance (somewhat better, honestly, but in the same ballpark) as the old 3L NA inline 6. The i at the end is for gasoline direct injection; diesel engines are denoted with a d. If the body style is different than the typical car from that series, that's added to the end; for example, a 330i Touring is a wagon and the 440i Gran Coupe is a 4-door liftback (normal 4-Series cars are 2-door coupes). If someone says that BMW is making a 335d Touring but you haven't heard of that, you know that it's a 3-Series wagon with a diesel engine which is significantly quicker than a 2000s BMW with a 3L NA inline 6. If someone says that Kia is making a K5 and you haven't heard of it, you have no idea what the hell that is. It could be a coupe, a sedan, a hatchback, a crossover, a full size SUV...there's no way to tell just from the name. That's why I tend to like it when manufacturers use a system to name their vehicles rather than an ad-hoc assembly of random words. BMW, Volvo, Audi, Mercedes, Mazda, etc. are all good about that.
@@AspireGMD dude it's not code... It's car designations. An apt description of the model then the engine under the bonnet. I think there's something stupid about naming cars after animals and native American tribes.
Actually Volvo have the most easiest naming methodology. S for Sedan, V for Wagon, C for Coupe and XC for SUV stands for Cross Country. Surprised you guys missed that.
One if my fav names will still be the Mercury Marauder. I mean first off its a rebadge of a Grand Marquee, which in its own right is a pretty suave name, but it also sounds like the name of a 40/50's super hero/villain. Criminals beware or face the wrath of the Mercury Marauder!
Nissan has had some absolutely amazing names over the years, skyline, frontier, pathfinder. Toyota has too with the tundra and land cruiser. The kia stinger was an absolute unit of a name, right up there with the charger/challenger. Subaru has a pretty good lineup, and I actually like all of the jeep naming due to just how unique it is. Even Jeep's trim levels for the most part have very unique names. One name I love but hate the car its tied to is the equinox. Like that is such a cool name and its a shame its tied to the worlds most awful car.
So we'll just skip that Nissan skipped the "Silvia" and "Fairlady" name in the US because they felt that feminine sounding names wouldn't sell so they went with a more European naming convention? I wonder if historically, that's why we never got a few other Nissan flagships due to names already US patented ie the Q45 instead of President. Or hell, even the Skyline (too close to Skylark). Nissan also uses engine displacement in names. Q45 4.5L; 240SX, 2.4L; 300ZX 3.0; etc etc.
Hi guys..My brother who introduced me to this page passed away yesterday and this page will always remind me of him...Thank you Donut for all the knowledge you provide my brother and me and keep up the good work whilst I recommend this channel to everyone✌️🔥🔥🔥...RIP BEE👑
Minor nitpick: At the time the Studebaker Dictator came out, "dictator" didn't have the connotations that it does nowadays. It was simply a word for a type of leader that has aged very, very poorly. It has the same root as "dictate," in that it was meant to be authoritative and decisive in what the perfect car should be. "Dictator" as a word actually goes back to the Romans, where a dictator was a person (usually a general) that would take commanding power from the Senate for a set period in times of crisis, usually about six months. After that time, commanding power would be relinquished.
Welcome to 2021 it doesn't matter what you meant when you said it what matters is how I take it 20 years later when I read it. I can't wait till the Super woke in 2055 read all of this and judge us as subhuman hateful monsters
it was meant't to be "dictate the standard of the class" but dictator would have still some bad connotations in 1920's just as Kaiser did, which also comes from roman times. obviously not as much as after 1945 as you imply :)
@@robertstone9988 Some words don't tend to age well. If you name a car "Nazi", the name wouldn't age well the be controversial during WW2. If BMW named a car WW2, it'd be very controversial and references WWII. Nobody can get away naming their cars after wars,, even back during WW1 and WW2. Toyota probably can't get away with reintroducing the "Toyota Corona" because people would think 2021/2022 Toyota Corona would contain Coronavirus.
my personal favorite is mazda Biante. one of the few alphabetical mazdas (outside japan). sounds simple and beautiful. talking about 4:27 iirc there's a diecast company named "biante model cars" from australia. maybe if the Mazda was offered there, it would be renamed
Lotus has had some really good names: Elise, Europa, Evora, Exige, Elan, Emira... They all sound like elegant words I'd find in a museum in Europe lol.
Let’s see you got the
Elise
Esprit
Eclat
Elite
Europa
CARLTON
Elan
Exige
Essex
Than you just got the Seven, Mk. 1 Cortina, and 2/3 Eleven. Wish they just stuck with E names
@@x-90 Lotus Carlton be like : It's not unusual to be loved by anyone...
@@dollarstorequality Carlton sounds more like an upscale suburb in England rather than a car
@@x-90 Meh the Carlton doesn't really count. The name is Vauxhall's fault as that is the name of the car its based on. Also, are you insinuating that Carlton is NOT an elegant word?
It's not unusual to be loved by anyone....
@@dohmies77 my reply is a reference from the American tv show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
It is definitely a weird name for a car. Pretty much any proper name would be, Nissan is the only one I know to pull it off.
Land Cruiser is a good name. Straight to the point and easy to remember.
and definitely not a knockoff of Land Rover
And it fits the car well. "Cruises over all Land terrains"
@@captainzoll3303 I don’t know if I’d call it a knockoff but it’s pretty easy to get the names mixed up when you’re a fan of both
@@sethery7826 when it was new back in 1951, it was absolutely a knockoff of land rover.
However since then, it's definitely proven it's at least as good, if not better than land rovers in most cases.
@@sethery7826 Land Cruiser was once considered a knockoff of Land Rover back in 1951, since Land Rover was introduced in 1948.
I gotta put it out there. Mitsubishi "Eclipse" is one of the coolest sounding car names
Definitely!
And then you realize Mitsubishi also named their legendary SUV Pajero, which essentially means wanker in Spanish
@@99toyotacorolla Mitsubishi Pajero Evo. Self-pleasure, evolved.
@@musewolfman Most guys would prefer the Pajero over being stuck with Laputa.
Too bad they butchered the coolness that name had, with the ghastly little monstrosity that is the eclipse cross.
When I worked for Toyota in 01-05 the training classes we had to take to get certified told us that LEXUS was short for Luxury EXport to the US.
Nice
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Dodge has some pretty great ones for sure...Charger, Challenger, Durango, Demon and of course the Viper which is especially perfect.
Neon
Dart
Caliber
Avenger
Journey
Magnum
Stratus
Dakota
Nitro
They also named cars the "Neon" and "Caliber" which are dumb as fuck
@@nooranik21 no arguments there, I promise you.
@@Nash_Nismo Dodge names. High highs and low lows.
charger is good one. its a type of battle horse.
I’ve always liked Honda’s musical names. The Accord, Jazz, Ballade, Concerto
Also prelude and beat
Accord means an agreement. It's not named after the accordion musical instrument.
@@TheMrPeteChannel An accord is a set of notes that you strum in one swipe.
@@TheMrPeteChannel nah, it's from the french "accord" (Engl.: Chord) and thus also is connected to the music theme.
then suddenly came Hyundai with the Sonata xD
When I got my KIA Cee'd (yes, with apostrophe) I was like "the hell does that even mean? Is it a Korean pronunciation of something cool?". Well, absolutely not. It means *Community Economics of Europe, with European Design* and since it came out Ceeed they removed an "e" by putting the apostrophe, Cee'd. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.
oof
also these fucking bots need to calm down
@@Danse_Macabre_125 bots are even worst than the name Cee'd.
my dad owns a 2009 kia Cee'd, *yeah no one asked, also its slow as heck*
Still sounds good.
@@lukethenuke7538 worse than any Chinese car with a 56100 word name
I love how Toyota named the Corolla's Trueno and Levin. Trueno in spanish means "thunder" and Levin in archaic english means "lighting".
Yesss!! I'm so happy someone brought this up, I thought that was genius when I first learned it-
When I was 16 I got my first car, it was a Ford Probe SE. The Eclipse GSX and Subaru WRX were popular at the time, so I bought some decals and renamed my car the Ford Probe SE-X. Elon would've approved.
I love this 😂
Maybe the SE-X should have been before the Probe. E Ford SE-X Probé.
Im dying of laughter because of this, lol
@@iugbrgbbiurejhnyt I can literally imagine Jeremy Clarkson saying that.
Yeah it also would have been corny AF
The “eBussy” has to go down in history as the most legendary car name
Lmao yea
I want eBussy now
Funny enough, the audi E-Tron is a funny name in french since étron means shit
@@DC90X it’s a honda
Either that or the Gaylord
The “Maserati Quattroporte” hits me as one of the less creative names. I sounds vaguely Italian and exotic, but it literally just means “Maserati Four Doors.” Not terrible, but definitely learning hard on the exotic vibes of Italy rather than creativity.
Maserati names now just shows the current state of the company shit and unreliable
Edit: it comes to my attention that the name has been around since the 60s. But I will still gonna say how shitty Maserati is in their current state
Still better than Maserati Coupe.
Maserati Quattroformaggi
Like the Ford Fordor and Tudor literally referring to the number of doors.
@@dr.science_0177 they use the quattroporte name for years now like going back into the twenties and 30s this is not a new name
The word "scat" can also refer to a music technique used in jazz (among other genres) in which a vocalist sings meaningless syllables as opposed to actual words. I don't know how that relates to the Dodge "scat pack", but it's a nice fact.
Nothing screams more exotic than:
Pagani Zonda
It's music to the ears
Pagani is the last name of the designer and Zonda is the name of a wind in Argentina (where the designer was born)
@@asimepuse the earth was flat, then it forgot it was flat, now its round
Huayra sounds more exotic imo
@@koolas_9429 was considering Huayra, it just doesn't roll off the tounge just as nice haha
I like that one a lot. My favorite is probably the Rolls Royce Ghost.
I think Aston Martin's names all sound great. They all start with V and typically represent something cool. The Vanquish, Vulcan, Victor, Valkyrie, Valhalla, Vantage, Virage and then the use of Volante for the convertibles.
Edit: Ignoring the DB series (still sound cool imo), the lagonda and the rapide.
Edit 2: Missed the Valhalla
except the Lagonda
and the DB series
Same with Lotus, all the names start with E. Elise, Exige,Espirit,Evija,Evora,Europa,Elan
U forgot the Valhalla
Wait I think of something
Maybe there wasn't a DB8 because the Vantage is the DB8? Because it was released close to the DB9
And the new Vantage is the DB10
Next gen Vantage DB12
I always liked Camaro and Supra a lot as a kid. They dont really mean anything, but sound rad and when you say them out loud, everyone knows that youre talking about the car.
What is Camaro? A small vicious animal that eats mustangs. That’s what a gm guy said when it came out.
Supra means above in Latin
I think Bizooty would make a good car name actually. Some Ute for the Australian market by a Japanese auto maker. The Subaru Bizooty. He'll ya
@@derekmorgan120 Camaro is essentially slang for "dude" "buddy" or "pal" in French
Camaro means shrimp-like
To be fair to Nissan Laputa, the name is probably inspired by a setting in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travel" (1726). In the book, Laputa is a relatively small, floating island which can be maneuvered by its inhabitants via magnetic levitation.
But yeah, it can be read as a Spanish word for the oldest occupation in the world.
Laputa just sounds bad though.
It is always the Spanish isn’t it? La puta, no va, Mitsubishi Pajero are few examples
The E in 500E or 190E does not stand for E-Class. It's for Einspritzer, which means injector. Also the 190 does not always mean engine size. Look at the 190 2.3. or 2.6. for example and the 190 is always the size of a small sedan, not medium. So it was already confusing back in the day.
And with the three letter names nowadays, C stands for coupe or C-Class, E for E-Class, S for sport or S-Class, L for lightweight or luxury, G for Gelände which means terrain or offroad and K for Klein which means small.
Thanks for the information man. What does CLk stand for ? I can not find any good information about what it stands for.
I keep hearing CL stands for Coupe and Lite but what about the K ?
@@snapchatsnacks3154 Klein, which means small in German.
so basicly its confusing af becouse some letters can mean different things and the 190e was for the chassis and not the engine but then on other models the 500e was for the engine like wtf
Also I think it became more confusing after the release of the youngtimer line-up with a lot of different powertrains, for example the C200 CDI (2.2 Diesel engine) and C220 CDI ( still a 2.2 but with a little bit more hrsprs), or the C280 with a 3.0 engine.
i always liked the way that "Chevrolet Chevette" sounded :)
Yeah, Chevy Chevette is just such a satisfying name to say out loud.
Yo dude, we'll take the Vette! Oh, chevette😥
Chevelle + Corvette = boxy hatchback with an Isuzu diesel. 😂 Makes perfect sense
Always seemed like "little chevy" to me. Seemed to fit. My mom drove one for years
Corvette is a small warship
All of the Saturn cars with names. They had names that fit a theme with each other and with the name of the brand Saturn. In my opinion some of the best names are Ion, Aura, and Sky.
Names were cool. Cars were just rebadged GM. True and best Saturns were S cars.
Why bring up Oldsmobile in this comment? Surely it’s because Saturn’s naming was so memorable. 😂🤣😂🤣😂
@@dannymac6368 I didn't bring up Oldsmobile. I'm not sure what you are talking about?
@@bolt5564 you did on accident. Aurora is Oldsmobile. You meant Aura.
Id say Pontiac had some of the coolest names (GTO, FireBird, Bonneville, Solstice, Fiero, Phoenix, Chieftain, Cobalt, G6,G8) hands down Pontiac had the best cars names
Since I'm from Spain, SEAT way of branding car names after their split with FIAT is very easy to remember because most of the them are named after Spanish towns(SEAT Leon, SEAT Ibiza, SEAT Marbella, etc...) or Spanish monuments (mainly the SEAT Alhambra) and there's the SEAT Mii, which is the equivalent of the Volkswagen Up! or the Skoda Citigo but with a SEAT badge.
Mii?!? *nintendo keystrokes*
how did the SEAT mii pass the legal department without Nintendo interfering?
Honestly, Kia's "Stinger" is probably the best new (in the last 5 years) sports car/sedan name.
In the last 5 years maybe but not in the market
Not in germqn though. It reads like it stinks
No
DODGE CHALLENGER IS A BADASS NAME
Impreza sounds like someone in Poland is partying
The Porsche tycan 'turbo', a fully electric car, should definitely be on the list
Still going on 3 yrs later?
@@arnoldmbuthia2687 probably
I mostly agree with you, but to be fair "Turbo" isn't part of the actual name. While in other Porsche cars the "Turbo" badge indeed indicates the presence of a turbo, there are also Porsche cars with a turbo in the engine but no "turbo" badge in sight. So there's really not a lot of logic behind it now, it's just a cool way of differentiate variants of the same car.
At this point, the word "Turbo" is more of a "version" or trim reference, like the "GTI" in a Peugeot 208 or S in the Mini Cooper, or the "P85D" or "Plaid" in the Tesla Model S.
@@AlejandroLZuvic I 100% agree but with this car specifically, sure it may not be part of the actual name, but the top of the range model turbo name implies that there is a turbo in a fully electric car
Yes, the Taycan "turbo for Marketing only" BEV... (there's no such thing as a BEV with any forced induction, as the motor(s) will do it from any RPM level)
I still love the Mazda Scrum Wagon. Absolute masterpiece of a name. A good runner up is the Mclaren F1 though... it's just straight forward from where the influence came from
Why can't all car manufactures name their cars after sexual activities or references and funny names? GTA IV and V literally has a car named "Schafter", why can fictional cars get away with it when real life manufacturers can't?
It would be funny if Ferrari or any Italian automaker name their cars "Bolide". I wish Honda Jazz was called "Fitta" as they originally planned when selling them in Europe.
I once heard (PROBABLY James was the person who said that) that the Mclaren f1 was named like that because Ferrari had their F50 and people in MClaren said something like: "Shit, let's show to those fools that our new car is 50 times better than theirs" ... Having said that it sounds stupid buuuut could totally be a true history.
The Buick Century has a cool story behind it - it was the first production car capable of going 100 MPH with back in the 30s was called "doing the century".
I had a 2000 Century that, alas, didn't survive to see much of this one. The last straw was when three of the window motors failed in the same month. NEXT!
Some Seat models are named after cities in Spain, like the Ibiza, Leon, Arona, Ateca, Cordoba, and for sure others that have come and gone through the brand's short history, my point is that I think that's a cool naming scheme.
Hyundai does a little bit. Santa Fe, Tucson, Santa Cruz, Palisade.
Premier RIO, too!
@johno the i30 too, wait no that’s not a city
Waiting for a Seat Briviesca.....
@diego García González, dunno if you remember that a few years ago SEAT did publish a pool for multiple names, and that's where El Borg came from 😊
Australia had the FORD FALCON (only the fastest bird in the world) and the HOLDEN TORANA (Indigenous word meaning 'to fly').
MALOO is also an indigenous word, I believe it means “thunder”
Was going to comment Torana my dad has one
what about the Opel Commodore, Pontiac Sunbird, Vauxhall Belmont, Chevrolet Kingswood, Cadillac Calais, Cadillac De Ville, or Chevrolet Caprice?
GM's reuse of names is pretty interesting when you get into it.
The Falcon used to be sold in America too but Ford discontinued it in 1970
@@Helmsy1212 in fact, the first two generations of australian falcon were just slightly modified US falcons.
Renault put the huge "Le Car" decal on the door so customers didn't accidentally try to drive Le toaster to work.
Jesus LOL
this comment is more creative then the name of the car
I mean "Le Car"
Let’s not forget one of AUDI’s latest EVs called
The AUDI "eTron" AKA "turd" or "excrement" in french.
Japan has the best names. Suzuki Mighty Boy, Nissan Homy Super Long, Mazda Bongo Friendee, the list goes on
pahaah, really? I need to look at their lineup NOW
It would be funny if Nissan Homy Super Long was called "Nissan Horny Super Long"
And the Honda Joy Machine
Horny Super-Long
Hahaha
Legit thought about buying a Mazda Bongo Friendee only because it'd be a hell of a rare sight in the USA.
On the topic of [5:00] Fun fact: The Toyota MR2 is known in France and Belgium as the MR Spyder because of French:
2 in French is deux, pronounced like de (the but with a d instead of a t)
Merde is French for "shit"
MR2 comes extremely close.
The spyder was the 3rd generation, the first two were called MR roadsters
The audi etron has the same problem...
Nice fun fact my fellow french !
Lol
The third gen was also called MR Spyder in the us , and MRS in Japan . Mrs is short mistress , so they thought most guys would see it as a car for women .
When Nolan said "synergy", Jerry's eye-roll mirrored the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Synergy could be a good name
5:08 Huge shout-out from Scandinavia to 'Small on the outside but big on the inside' - Honda Fitta (rebranded Jazz/Fit).
Even though they're just numbers and letters, the RX-7 and RX-8 are definitely badass. They sound like some sort of military explosive device.
Citroen C4?
S15 Silvia 180/240sx?
I like Mazda's Rotary "R", Sport "X" convention as well. And put a Rotary in an Miata, and you'd have an RX-5. Yeah, I'd buy one.
@@HyperVanilo kaboom
@@royalspindrift The X means eXperimental
Ford missed the mark with the Mach E name.
Instead of diluting the Mustang name, which has always represented a 2-door pony car (and not a crossover SUV), they could’ve called it the Model E. Not only would it be funny after the Tesla Model 3 situation, but it’d generate tons of publicity and signify a new era for FOMOCO.
Or hey, even just Mach E. That’s cool too.
Edit: I want to also add that my issue has nothing to do with an electric drive train. The Mustang has almost always had a diverse engine and trim selection. However, I don’t recall a four-door crossover SUV body and chassis ever being offered as an option. They did the same thing to the Lightning. Lightning represented a 2-door performance truck, now it’s just an F-150 engine option. Pretty stupid move for the inevitable future when most vehicles are electrified. Guess all Ford trucks will have to take on the Lightning name. “F-150 Crew Cab Lariat Lightning, F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab King Ranch Tremor Lightning,” etc.
If you don’t think a vehicle will sell well without borrowing a name that means something, build a better vehicle. When it came to classics like the Cuda, 442, Challenger, and so on, the name didn’t sell the car. The car sold the name. Super frustrating.
I'm pretty sure "Model E" name is used for Ford E-Series/Econoline. Yes, Ford obviously shouldn't used the "Mustang" name, just should've simply called it "Ford Mach E"
I think the reason they used the "Mustang" name since it's a very recognizable name to compete with Tesla Model 3. But the name it controversial regardless, not only that, Ford Mustang Mach E isn't even related to the 2-door pony car at all.
Oh my god, they totally should have. That would've been hilarious.
I agree they could have brought a name from the past. Names like the Galaxy or Comet. Something futuristic with a classic name would have be best
@@matthewdavison1090 I think you're unaware that Ford already name "Galaxy" for their MPV for European markets. Also the past US model was "Galaxie", not "Galaxy"
@@automation7295 ok didn't know that but honestly I do think there was better names for the Mach E
The brand name "Skoda", pronounced shkoda, means 'damage' or 'property damage' in Ukrainian and Polish.
Edit: also 'pity', yes.
In some regions of Russia it could be used for "mischievous kid". I presume this is what kind of damage was meant.
I wonder if it has the same root at "skade" in scandinavian.
In Czech it can mean both shame or pity and damage. I dont like the recent native american inspired names EnyaQ KamiQ KaroQ. The original brand name was Laurin & Klement
Well,.. they used to make tanks ( one of the more notable, the 38T) so the name isn't that badly chosen imo... :P
I do miss the real škoda, rear engine beauty's. Dam you VW
Ok, the BMW naming convention blew my mind
I love the Quattro's name as a pioneer in all wheel drive technology, it's simple, elegant, and got it's point across around the world.
I don't know what happened with Audi's names after that though, simpler times.
quattro is great
I honestly just put together what Quattro means lmao
I even included the word quttro at the end of my mail adress
quattro means "four" in Italian, so there's a reference to the car's main feature. Overall, yes, that's a proper name
@rodny reeder saw that recently on 2 Q5s and I didnt even get to research the reason for that. Now. its more complicated for sure.
7:12
As one RUclipsr put it, a bison is a tank with hooves. They are awesome and powerful animals (surprisingly quick too). I don't see a problem with using "Bison" as a car name.
Creative
Acura actually stated with names and went alpha numeric around 2001. They had the integra the vigor and the legend long before they had the MDX, SLX, TSX NSX etc.
I remember finding it odd that Acura would leave all of the name-recognition they built up over the years for alphanumerics. I really loved the Legend and Integra names 😊
@@yutakoh They did it because it was the trend with every luxury maker at the time. There were no luxury cars with names. Strangely Porsche was going the opposite way around the same time with ditching the alphanumeric names going away in favor of real ones. Gone were the 914, 924, 928, 944 and 911, in with the Carrera, Boxster, Cayenne and Cayman.
@@s.willis8426 the 911 was always called Carrera. The numbers refer to chassis designation/design/experiment.
New Sportscars Xperimental
MDX, SLX, TSX, NSX, SEX, NASDAQ, iOS, and my personal favorite, OMG.
I love the fact that some car manufacturers have an animal as a symbol
Ask any Japanese person to say the word “stallion” and you will see why they named it Starion. No disrespect intended, it’s just how accents work. I like that name actually.
I think its bcoz the word "L" is not exist in katakana, so they always replace it with "R"
Actually, the name Starion was supposed to mean "Star of Orion"
@@geraldscott4302 I wish it were Stallion. That would make it coolerz honestly...
They named it Starion because you are slightly racist?... that's weird, but ok ill go ask Glenn Howerton from Its Always Sunny to say "stallion" and find out why they called it that... lol 🤪
@@Zackaria_sMax he’s not wrong bruh idk why ur pressed about it. I’m Japanese and while I don’t have an accent because I grew up in America my grandma has a heavy accent and she can’t say the “L” sound because it doesn’t exist in the Japanese language.
FunFact: in some places in Latin America, the Mitsubishi Pajero was renamed as Montero, because in some spanish speaking countries it means "onanist".
The most ironic bit is that they got the name from the scientific name of a South American feline.
Didn't Europe get that as the shogun??? lol
The mom of Lil Nas wanted one so much that she called his son Montero (Lil Nas)
For anyone not knowing what "onanist" is:
Mitsubishi Wanker
For anyone not knowing what "Wanker" is:
it's a male masturbator
"Starion" is supposedly actually a contraction of "Star of Orion", not a misspelling of "Stallion". A lot of Mitsubishi's engine names have astronomical names (Sirius, Astron), so this makes sense.
(Also, essentially nobody in Mexico had problems with the name of the Chevy Nova. To quote a popular explanation, that's like Americans having a problem with a dining room set with the name "Notable" because it looks like "no table".)
I have to start a table company just to name a table Notable now 😂 or just release dinner room chairs but never make a table to go with them and call the set Notable
Another myth with the "Starion" name is that it was supposed to be "Stallion", but "Stallion" comes out sounding like "Starion" when pronounced with a heavy Japanese accent
@@jordancivic96 that's literally what they said in the video..
@@BardiaSaeedi the Stallion part yes, but in the video they said garbled phone call. I'm bringing up the urban legend of mispronunciation due to a heavy accent
my understanding of the nova issue was that it came up more in south America, further from the influence of the US. Argentina is always the one I've been told about specifically.
@9:45 that scream bought back so many memories from my childhood 😆😆😆😆
Suzuki samurai. It's the greatest diy car of all time, damn near indestructible, and I mean, it's called a samurai... what more do you want?
A Suzuki Katana to go with it when I'm on the mood to ride a bike.
And a suzuki Samurai motorcycle... Kawasaki Ninja... Can name the garage Shadow Warriors or something.
@@Zepplin76 Honda ronin XD
Better name than the JDM model name: Jimny.
@@JoseRivera-ym3wj totally
my favorite is the Ford Kuga. Kuga literally means "The Plague" in most of Eastern Europe, and probably elsewhere too. It's not like it's some obscure word that nobody ever uses. And the best thing of all is that they still sell it here under the same name.
Its called escape in the usa I believe
Yep... Kuga, lol😂 What's next, Covid GT-R?
@@Tomislav_B. And new all terrain Jeep Grip.
Honestly Honda's S roadsters have pretty great and straightforward names. You can always remember it as S for "sport" followed by the engine size. S2000 in particular is great because not only is it a sporty car with a 2000cc engine, but it launched at the turn of the millennium.
12:41 the most iconic scene ever.
I've always thought that the Corvette had a killer name. Especially since it was named after a very fast and manuervable warship.
Shame there's no car named battleship
@@Appletank8 Yeah that's because battleship would be an awful name.
One funny story is about the Alfa Romeo "Giulietta". During a meeting in a restaurant between 5 alfa's engineer where they were trying to find a name for the next car .. A Russian Playboy said to them "you guys are 5 Romeo without a Giulietta" and so, they decided to use that name!
Thanks for that Marco, I now know where my car's name comes from LOL!!!!!
Man if it sold on France, they probably changed it into "guillotine" lol
I’ve always wondered why American car companies have always had an obsession with Spanish names, el camino, ranchero, festiva, fiesta, nova, Cruze, impla, just to name a few.
Well down south and throughout america there is a lot of spanish influence primarily from mexico whose main language is Spanish
Impala is actually named after deer, some older Impalas have a deer branding like the mustang has a horse branding
Maybe they find them cool
easy to pronounce for americans, recognizable due to our shared history with mexico and resulting cultural residue, and associated with wild west badassery
couldn't have said it better @@oxlip
Countach, Aventador, Huracan all bangers
In my country, India, there's a company called Tata Motors that named their hatchback Zica, the unveiling coincided with outbreak of the Zika virus so they rolled it back and named it the Tiago.
That car is now famous in the country ever since GNCAP gave it 4 stars in their crash tests
Tiago is a personal name here in South America... and Zica is "bad-luck" in Brazilian portuguese
"Tata" in french Canadian is slang for "idiot".
Yea, I've heard that story (the name "Zica" was chosen in a public competition) and then came that Dengue-based mosquito-bitten ailment and had to change the name within days.
At least they got to build some mainstream branded car there that passes most international car crash standards...
(and yes, we know Mr. Tata over here as he's the owner of Jaguar-Land Rover)
Tata's new crossover recently took the "Punch"
As Clarkson put it the best named car is the "Jensen Interceptor"
But imagine having a Kalashnikov car
Literally just said that in Clarkson's voice, da baby geeeeezuuuusssss
Ah yes, from the genius mastermind behind the electric car name "Geoff" and its successor, "Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust."
I quite like the Triumph Spitfire’s name.
@@ItsAlex58 Always piss myself laughing when he pauses before saying that. It's pure gold LOL
Just a heads up : the Mitsubishi Starion story is a myth. The name actually comes from the "Star of Arion", which is a mythical, immortal horse in Greek Mythology. (St)(arion)
I actually think that the starion is a top tier name
@@raznovgamming8166 starion is a pretty good car too. Lots of fun and easy to work on
@@sleazymeezy ehhhhh, they're not that great, unfortunately. I use to own one, lol. It's still sitting in my driveway.
"Ford Raptor" is just all in all bad ass.
The whole business about the Chevy “Nova” not selling in Spanish-speaking countries because of the name is an urban legend. The English/Latin meaning of the word was well-known in these parts of the world.
I know, Right?
It's of Latin origin.
Wouldn't "Nova" in English/Latin refer to a star exploding? Still not a great car name.
@@quillmaurer6563 I mean in Portuguese means "New" so... Still a dumb name though... Chevy New
@@dylanrodrigues9267 The Hyundai Kona actually had to be rebranded in Portugal. Phonetically, Kona is the same as "cona", which is Portuguese slang for "that" area of female anatomy.
So, they came out with the Hyundai Kauai. Whatever that means...
The Chevrolet Nova was sold as Chevy here in Argentina. Yes, Chevy
Chevrolet Chevy
"Swinger" came from a time when it had nothing to do with inverted pineapples. You won't hear anyone be called a "Hep Cat" today, but that was jive lingo in the seventies, much like swinger was a super cool dude back then. Keep in mind also, this was the same product planning department that thought "statutory grape" was a good name for purple. They did manage to get the "Curious Yellow" name past top brass... Curious Yellow was a Dutch adult film in 1969-70.
Curious Orange is even better, it’s Mark E. Smith’s best work.
The Starion was actually also attached to the Star of Orion which is Mitsubishi's emblem. Whether the dual meaning was intended or a happy coincidence and which actually came first is largely unknown.
Pajero means wanker in Spanish though which is why we got the Montero and MR2 sounds like shit in French which iirc led to MRS. Either way we narrowly avoided Lil' Nas X having an even more unfortunate name.
Hyundais Kona is called Kauai here in Portugal, for a funny reason.
1:37 If the future is the Mustang Mach E, then I don't want such a future
For us in Europe it makes very much sense that bmw puts the i on the back because you can buy almost every model also with a Diesel engine which then has a d at the back, for example like a 530i or a 330d you would instantly know if it’s petrol or diesel when buying, I my self drive a 118d (it’s a 1 series hatchback which the us didn’t get)
i saw a BMW with a Nazi emblem from factory
I actually noticed while deployed in Poland the past few months that most vehicles are diesel. Asked my taxi driver about it and he explained it some. Don't remember all of it but mostly because of gas being more expensive and diesel performing better. Which I knew diesel performs better generally, but didn't expect gas to cost more than diesel anywhere
@@gazortank8768 Tax for gas in most european countrys is higher, because back in the days diesel was considered a fuel for commercially operated vehicles like trucks or trains. That carried over until today so many people in europe buy diesel powered cars. However lately more and more countrys started to equalize taxes for diesel to push consumers more towards cars with low CO2 emmissions.
also especially in germany if you want to drive fast on the autobahn diesel engines don't start to use extreme amounts of fuel because a diesel engine doesn't use additional fuel to cool the engine under high loads.
Gazor Tank this is the case in India as well. Diesel costs less than gas here.
@@muneebrehman6288 2.0L turbocharged engine, it gets 25-26km/l (~60mpg)
I like the “Denali” trim package name. Highest mountain in North America. Highest trim level in GMC.
almost sounds like Do-nali pronounced as Danali, means a double barrel shotgun
My Subaru Forester is actually used in forestry and convservation. And its more than capable. I love the name. It just fits.
Same here, perfect name for a perfect car
The well known 4x4 in European market
Mitsubishi "PAJERO"
Means "jerk off" or "fu(ker" in spanish.
They later tried renaming it to "Montero",
but you still see tons of "pajero’s" on the streets everywhere,
Probably because it holds up well.
Running around Japan, came across some funny car names….. Suzuki Hustler, Mazda Carol, there were two vans (don’t remember the manufacturer name) called the Vamos and the Alto. But the funniest engrish I saw was on the back of a tour bus showing the ultimate safety feature called the “powertard brake”!
Suzuki Alto is actually an supermini/city car.
well in physics the term of 'braking' is like called 'Rate of retardation' if i am not mistaken so thats pretty close hahah.
You know that "eBussy" looks pretty spacious, like it could handle a number of people at once comfortably!!
note sure i want to use the same "ebussy" as my friends. I want my own "ebussy" to drive hard.
Ouch nice word play but you still need to spray.
@@entritur some times sharing is caring!! Haha.
@@reaperasylum on those moments standing in a glade bag is best.
That eBussy seems like a (slightly above Kei class) "pod platform BEV" that the manufacturer can put whatever different style they can offer on top of it.
Problem is, in a very Chinese fashion, they blatantly copied Bugatti's logo (Ettore Bugatti, you know...)
i feel like the isuzu rodeo is very under appreciated in a lot of ways, this one in particular. what a cool name for a rough and tumble japanese suv!
Always thought that was a fun name too
That's odd, the Mistubishi L200 twin-cab pick up was also called the Rodeo.
@@taridean there was also a Holden pickup called the Rodeo, which was a rebadged Isuzu, due to dealings and business that the two companies had at the time. I had a brief look on Wikipedia about the Mitsubishi Rodeo, and it's mentioned as another name for the L200, like you said, but there's little detail. Might be a trim level/package for the L200/Triton in South Africa, in the early/mid 2000's, as that's all I can find.
@@ljphoenix4341 it was marketed in the 90s as the Mitsubishi Colt Rodeo in Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 where I'm originally from. It was commonly known as the Rodeo because of a huge Rodeo decal on the truck bed. It also gained a lot of exposure as one of the vehicle prizes for a supermarket chain lucky dip competition called the OK Grand Challenge. The Pajero was usually the first prize with the Rodeo as the second one. The Isuzu pick-ups just had "KB" prefix followed by the engine size.
Funny enough my dad bought a black Rodeo brand new at the time in 97. Decent car granted he made it more of a project test mule for a subwoofer system with tube neon lighting.
My favorite car name is probably “Roadrunner” because Chrysler bought the license from WB to use Road Runner to market their muscle car (which is also probably my favorite muscle car) and so Road Runner is featured on some of the cars, and every Plymouth Roadrunner as far as I know has a horn which goes “beep-beep”!
I like the Saab 9-3 "Viggen" because of what it means and the history behind it. It sounds cool too!
Saabs always had 9's in their model numbers! (Saab, we miss you!!)
I had a viggen! I always referred to it as the Viggen! Loved that name, loved that car.
I had a 95 aero also a nice car name my favorite as well
@@royalspindrift except for the Saab 600, which we all pretend never existed anyway...
I can’t believe you left out the famous Fiat 124.
The Chinese characters for numbers also have meanings.
1 = one
2 = the way to
4 = death
124 = one way to death
It didn’t sell well in markets that used Chinese characters (Taiwan, Singapore, Japan.)
Fiat re-branded it as the 128
8 = prosperity
Still remember when we were shopping around for cars and the dealer was like "wanna check out the BMW X4?" and we basically instantly rejected it because it sounded horrible.
I’m crying, I have a fiat 124 spider, and it’s sketchy 46 year old breaks are bloody scuff
@@hughdonnelly7183 You should change the 4 for an 8.
didn't know that even im chinese
@@disinque6961 haha. I’m not Chinese or even from Asia, but I’m old!
Some of my favorite car names
-Maxima
-Skyline
-Murcielago
-Speedtail
-Cadenza
Rolls Royce have an ethereal theme for their cars. Ghost, Wraith, Phantom, Spectre. Aston Martin has the Vantage, the Vulcan, Valkyrie as well as the DB line. Lotus have the Elise, Exige etc. so yeah, British luxury brands have the best car names. Oh wait, I forgot about the Lambos, Countach, Diablo, Murcielago, Aventador, Huracan, gallardo and Urus (ok Urus sounds like the rear end of a bull but anyway)
As James May point out back in 2013, the Ferrari LaFerrari in english means "The Ferrari The Ferrari"
Also don't forget about "The Growler" that was made by a Swiss Firm, which successfully made the whole Top Gear studio laughed their ass out.
On Forza Motorsport 1 the Enzo was called Ferrari Enzo Ferrari for some reason.
"Vision" has already been done. Eagle Vision.
@@sukhdevr3489 italian carmakers make sweet looking cars but they also do a lot of silly things
@@nuckels188 and then comes Lamborghini ..
The Ferrari Original Vehicle
Come on lets give Skoda some credit here. They have a killer line-up with Octavia, Superb, Fabia, Yeti, Scala, Rapid, (pronounced rah-PEED), Kodiaq, Enyaq etc
Except the brand name Škoda actually means PITY. We owned a Škoda Favorit. That name was cute.
In Betawi language Enyaq (replace the Q with K) means 'mother'
I want an Octavia just to rename it Octavian and have it decked out to look roman. Maybe purple with red interior
Not really. Two issues: 1. Yeti is this BIG, mammoth even imaginary creature. Skoda Yeti is a baby hatchback trying to act like a SUV.
2. Skoda had a model called Laura. In Hindi phonetic, it is often pronounced as Lauda. And in Hindi slang it means dick. Not sure how many were sold here but every kid just called the car dick. Or even behen ka lauda. Which translates to sister's dick or whatever.
So, I don't think at point ANY manufacturer is off the hook 🤣
In around 2007 Kia had a crowd sourcing marketing contest to come up with a new name for a car, ours wasn’t chosen. Yet years later it actually showed up in their line up without so much as a thank you. It was Cadenza. My wife was a music major.
thats fucked up
skyline is the most calm and cool name for a beast car which also looks like the calm before the storm
Here's a bit of an obscure trademark issue that automakers ran into: before General Motors owned stake in Saab, they weren't able to sell their top of the line models as the "aero" in the United States because GM owned the trademark to the name. They instead sold them as SPGs or "special performance group." Aero is cooler by a long shot.
It was very later that they got name, before GM takeover, it was all numbers and letter.
SPG=Self Propelled Gun.
SPG means sales promotion girl where I live lol
Those bad car names are nothing against the “Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard” …
No way that’s real
One of the most badass car names (in my opinion) is "Lamborghini Diablo" damn tho, literally means "Devil" in spanish
i will always love the mustang. ford raptor is cool too. (i'm not a ford simp despite what my pfp says)
Great name for a great car.
tbh.. Jensen Interceptor does sound cooler.
Personally, I think Ford has always been the king of naming cars. Yeah, you've got obvious ones like the Mustang, the GT40, and the Thunderbird. But even less hard hitting ones like the Cortina, Capris and the Mondeo just roll off the tongue. Even something like the Windstar is really cool. Sure, they've had duds like the Probe (which is an awesome car, not hate on it) but I'm sure we can overlook it.
Plus they have some great alliterative names like the Ford Focus, Fusion and even to a lesser extent the Fiesta. They just roll off the tongue so well
Ghost, phantom, Wraith, Dawn, Silver Seraph are more bad ass to me.
Day 117 of asking Donut media to do either a Up To Speed or a Wheel house on the oil crisis
Yes!
Just do it
3
This is maybe one of the greatest wheelhouse I´ve ever seen. Simple, easy to consume and funny as hell. I really enjoy some technical wheel house about Tesla and F1 but this one really came out great
From model names, I absolutely love these:
Škoda Octavia (current 4 generations of Octavia share name with Octavia built between 1959 and 1971. It was named Octavia because it was the eighth car produced by the nationalised Škoda company.)
Praga Piccolo (another Czechoslovak car brand. Piccolo was mid-range model for people that didn't want to buy larger and more expensive Praga models such as Alfa, Grand or Mignon.)
i thought octavia was named after augustus caeser or atleast his sister or mother
Suzuki Mighty Boy. It exists
As Great Wall Motors was brought up in the run down of worst car names, I think their recent naming effort of their subordinary brands definitely deserves a shout. Here's just a few examples that sounds just as dumb as it does in English as it did in its original language. And yes, these are names of actual cars in production:
Ora Good Cat
Tank 300
Haval Big Dog
My guess is that they were deliberately making these awkward-sounding but admittedly, memorable names out there to obtain maximum publicity. And who knows, maybe this will eventually turn out to be beneficial to their sale figures
those actually sound okay in chinese, tank 300/500?/800 etc makes it's own series. Ora Cat is actually a cute little EV and is marketed as such. I think the worst name they had was the RV based on the Pao Pickup truck. The pickup itself is fine, but add RV onto the name and you get 炮房车 which sounds really like a car that you have sex in.
You have to remember that these are Chinese market cars, so obviously it sounds good enough to regular Chinese people to justify calling it that.
I think BMW nailed it back in the day.
A series would usually denote its seize and luxuriousness. And then you could figure out the engine size.
Up until recently… a 435 and a 440 share the same engine and it’s a 3.0. And a 325, 328, and 330 have a 2.0….. it used to make sense.
BMW has lost their mind nowadays.
Went downhill for bmw after the e46.
@@Basih Nah, the M6 and the E92 are even better cars and they came later.
BMW has the worst names imo, they aren't even really names just weird ass codes.
@@AspireGMD I like them. You know exactly what it is just from the name, no guessing required. For the 3 digit names, the first is the series, which gives the size. The second and third denote engine performance (back when they used NA engines, it was displacement). The letter(s) and occasional other words afterward give more information, such as fuel type. So, an old NA 330i was a 3-Series (typically a sedan, but we'll get to that) with a 3 liter engine. A new 330i is a 3-Series with a smaller turbocharged engine that has roughly the same performance (somewhat better, honestly, but in the same ballpark) as the old 3L NA inline 6. The i at the end is for gasoline direct injection; diesel engines are denoted with a d. If the body style is different than the typical car from that series, that's added to the end; for example, a 330i Touring is a wagon and the 440i Gran Coupe is a 4-door liftback (normal 4-Series cars are 2-door coupes).
If someone says that BMW is making a 335d Touring but you haven't heard of that, you know that it's a 3-Series wagon with a diesel engine which is significantly quicker than a 2000s BMW with a 3L NA inline 6. If someone says that Kia is making a K5 and you haven't heard of it, you have no idea what the hell that is. It could be a coupe, a sedan, a hatchback, a crossover, a full size SUV...there's no way to tell just from the name. That's why I tend to like it when manufacturers use a system to name their vehicles rather than an ad-hoc assembly of random words. BMW, Volvo, Audi, Mercedes, Mazda, etc. are all good about that.
@@AspireGMD dude it's not code... It's car designations. An apt description of the model then the engine under the bonnet. I think there's something stupid about naming cars after animals and native American tribes.
Actually Volvo have the most easiest naming methodology. S for Sedan, V for Wagon, C for Coupe and XC for SUV stands for Cross Country. Surprised you guys missed that.
Anhd they've tried the same with trim / engine levels
IIRC V for Wagon is because the swedish word for wagon is Vagn or something
@@TrashHeapCustodian that would make sense, but no, the "V" stands for "versatility"
@@TrashHeapCustodian also in Swedish the letter w is pronounced as double v unlike English double u.
The Subaru Legacy might possibly be one of the best car names ever. It doesnt try too hard, it’s meaningful, and its not overly corny
One of my favorites is the truck I have. The GMC SYCLONE. Such a badass name
One if my fav names will still be the Mercury Marauder.
I mean first off its a rebadge of a Grand Marquee, which in its own right is a pretty suave name, but it also sounds like the name of a 40/50's super hero/villain.
Criminals beware or face the wrath of the Mercury Marauder!
Nissan has had some absolutely amazing names over the years, skyline, frontier, pathfinder. Toyota has too with the tundra and land cruiser. The kia stinger was an absolute unit of a name, right up there with the charger/challenger. Subaru has a pretty good lineup, and I actually like all of the jeep naming due to just how unique it is. Even Jeep's trim levels for the most part have very unique names.
One name I love but hate the car its tied to is the equinox. Like that is such a cool name and its a shame its tied to the worlds most awful car.
lol
And the Silvia line?
But nothing beats the name Gaylord Gladiator.
Nissan Patrol
There's also Terra, Almera, Urvan, and Navara
you gotta admit, Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger all are great names and i love the way dodge's packages are the demon, hellcat, and redeye
Yeah I always thought hellcat is one of the best car names I ever heard
So we'll just skip that Nissan skipped the "Silvia" and "Fairlady" name in the US because they felt that feminine sounding names wouldn't sell so they went with a more European naming convention? I wonder if historically, that's why we never got a few other Nissan flagships due to names already US patented ie the Q45 instead of President. Or hell, even the Skyline (too close to Skylark). Nissan also uses engine displacement in names. Q45 4.5L; 240SX, 2.4L; 300ZX 3.0; etc etc.
Hi guys..My brother who introduced me to this page passed away yesterday and this page will always remind me of him...Thank you Donut for all the knowledge you provide my brother and me and keep up the good work whilst I recommend this channel to everyone✌️🔥🔥🔥...RIP BEE👑
Our thoughts and condolences with your family
Sorry for your loss, stay strong dude ❤️
My condolences to you and your family
I'm so sorry man, my condolences to you and your family. stay strong man
Best wishes to you and may your brother live on with you and us all through the Love of Automobiles!
When car names gets rejected for being Offensive, Missiles get their names.
I wonder which car manufacturer was going to name a vehicle the MOAB 🤣
@@Majin_Fuu how about Fat Boy
@@x-90 duesenberg
Lamborghini named their cars after fighting bulls, Miura, Diablo, Murcielago, Aventador, Huracan, Vaneno
Minor nitpick: At the time the Studebaker Dictator came out, "dictator" didn't have the connotations that it does nowadays. It was simply a word for a type of leader that has aged very, very poorly. It has the same root as "dictate," in that it was meant to be authoritative and decisive in what the perfect car should be. "Dictator" as a word actually goes back to the Romans, where a dictator was a person (usually a general) that would take commanding power from the Senate for a set period in times of crisis, usually about six months. After that time, commanding power would be relinquished.
Welcome to 2021 it doesn't matter what you meant when you said it what matters is how I take it 20 years later when I read it. I can't wait till the Super woke in 2055 read all of this and judge us as subhuman hateful monsters
They always forget about Stalin tho :/
@@robertstone9988 that's certainly some words
it was meant't to be "dictate the standard of the class" but dictator would have still some bad connotations in 1920's just as Kaiser did, which also comes from roman times. obviously not as much as after 1945 as you imply :)
@@robertstone9988 Some words don't tend to age well. If you name a car "Nazi", the name wouldn't age well the be controversial during WW2.
If BMW named a car WW2, it'd be very controversial and references WWII. Nobody can get away naming their cars after wars,, even back during WW1 and WW2.
Toyota probably can't get away with reintroducing the "Toyota Corona" because people would think 2021/2022 Toyota Corona would contain Coronavirus.
"A scat pack of my own"
Loved that😂
scat pack challenger
gotta love the rav4, recreational activity vehicle 4-wheel drive (even though most rav4’s are only FWD)
my personal favorite is mazda Biante. one of the few alphabetical mazdas (outside japan). sounds simple and beautiful.
talking about 4:27 iirc there's a diecast company named "biante model cars" from australia. maybe if the Mazda was offered there, it would be renamed