The Action-Packed World of Car Names: A Journey Through Time and Across Cultures

In the vast and fascinating world of cars, one aspect that often goes unnoticed is the creative process behind naming them. From the mighty Tiguan to the mysterious and exotic Lamborghini Countach, car names have a unique story to tell. The Volkswagen Tiguan, for instance, was named after two animals - the tiger and the iguana - which together make up the word "Tiguan". This clever naming decision sets a precedent for other VW SUVs, such as the Touareg and T-Roc, all of which start with the letter "T". However, not everyone is pleased with this naming trend. The Mitsubishi Starion, originally intended to be called the Stallion, took on a new name due to linguistic limitations in the Japanese language.

The Mitsubishi Starion's story highlights the complexities of translating languages and the importance of creative problem-solving. In this case, the company cleverly rebranded the car as "Starion", which means "star of Orion" in Arabic. While some might dispute the authenticity of this explanation, it is undeniable that the name has become synonymous with style and sophistication. On the other hand, some manufacturers prefer to stick with more conventional naming practices. Aston Martin, for instance, chooses names that all start with the letter "V", such as Virage, Vulcan, and Valkyrie. This approach adds a touch of elegance and cohesion to their lineup.

However, not all car manufacturers are content with following traditional naming conventions. Some opt for using random English words or phrases that sound appealing in their native language. In Japan, for example, brands like Toyota and Nissan frequently employ this approach, resulting in names such as the Century and the Skyline. While these names might not have a specific meaning, they often convey a sense of coolness and modernity. Conversely, some car models are named after animals or natural phenomena, evoking a sense of power and majesty. The Aston Martin DBS, for instance, was originally called the "DB", but this name has since been replaced by more exotic options.

Lamborghini is another manufacturer that takes inspiration from Spanish and Latin sources when naming its cars. The Espada, Miura, and Countach are all examples of this trend, with each model drawing upon a rich cultural heritage. However, it's worth noting that the Countach's name has a rather different origin than initially meets the eye. According to one engineer, the word "Countach" is actually an exclamation of amazement ("cazzo" being Italian for "bullshit"). Regardless of its etymology, the name has become synonymous with style and sophistication in the world of supercars.

Interestingly, some car manufacturers prefer to name their vehicles after concepts or ideas rather than specific animals or natural phenomena. Aston Martin's latest lineup, for example, features models such as the Valkyrie and the Vantage, which are named after mythological figures and abstract concepts respectively. While this approach might not be as attention-grabbing as some of its competitors, it adds a touch of subtlety and nuance to their branding strategy.

Ultimately, the world of car names is a fascinating and diverse place, reflecting the creativity and imagination of manufacturers from around the globe. Whether inspired by animals, natural phenomena, or abstract concepts, these names have become an integral part of our automotive culture. So the next time you find yourself browsing through car showrooms or online listings, take a moment to appreciate the stories behind each name – you might just discover a new favorite model!

Some manufacturers don't fancy naming their cars after animals; they prefer to name them after the weather instead. The most obvious one is the old Nissan Sunny, but Volkswagen likes to do it too. The old Boréas was named after a cold seasonal wind from Croatia, and the Sirocco got its name from a warm Mediterranean wind. Maserati loves windy names as well – the Ghibli is named after the Arabic word for a wind that blows in from the Libyan Desert, while the Coupé S is named after an Egyptian spring wind.

Aston Martin also has some windy names, but not all of them start with the letter V. The DB models are exceptions to this rule, however, with all their car names beginning with the letter V. Aston Martin's approach adds a touch of elegance and cohesion to their lineup, making it easier for customers to navigate and find what they're looking for.

Some foreign brands name their cars using random English words that just sound good in their native language. This is particularly true in Japan, where anything Western is often seen as being cool. Toyota's Century and Nissan's Skyline are examples of this trend, with the latter two names not necessarily having any specific meaning or connection to weather phenomena.

However, there are some exceptions to this rule. Mazda's Bongo Frendy is a case in point – while it doesn't have a clear connection to the weather, the name does convey a sense of fun and playfulness. The brand might be experimenting with new naming conventions that break away from traditional weather-inspired names.

The world of car names is full of surprises and contradictions. While some manufacturers prefer to stick with established trends or linguistic traditions, others take bold risks by embracing unique cultural references or abstract concepts. As the automotive industry continues to evolve and grow, it's likely that we'll see even more innovative and creative approaches to naming cars. Whether you find these names fascinating or forgettable, one thing is certain – they're an integral part of our shared automotive culture.

The Mitsubishi Starion's story serves as a reminder that language limitations can sometimes lead to unexpected outcomes. However, in this case, the company managed to turn a linguistic hiccup into a clever branding opportunity. By embracing creative problem-solving and cultural exchange, manufacturers like Mitsubishi have shown us that even the most seemingly trivial details can hold the key to success.

In conclusion, the world of car names is an intriguing and fascinating realm, full of surprises and contradictions. Whether inspired by animals, natural phenomena, or abstract concepts, these names reflect the creativity and imagination of manufacturers from around the globe. By taking a closer look at the stories behind each name, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the art of naming cars – and perhaps even discover some new favorite models along the way!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi everyone matt watson here from car wow now you might think that naming a car is pretty easy but actually it's a lot harder than you may think for a start you've got to pick something that no one has used before it also has to sound good and it has to work in a whole load of different languages and on top of all that you've got to please your marketing department as well it's not easy all this means that sometimes you end up with weird names with even stranger meanings so i found some of the strangest funniest and just plain stupidest car names for you to enjoy now so here's a car wow list of the weirdest car names and what they really mean buying a new car head to car wow to get offers from the uk's top dealers car wow dot co dot uk the car buying comparison site in case you failed english at school i'll just explain to you that an acronym is when you take the first letters of several words and use them to make a new word like lol or omg well car makers love acronyms sometimes they make sense like the toyota chr now that stands for compact high rider which is sort of what the car is and there's the honda hrv which stands for high rider vehicle sometimes brands will throw a number in for good measure like the toyota rav4 the rav bit stands for recreational activity vehicle and the four stands for four-wheel drive so far so good but then toyota decided to change what rav meant when they launched the latest version of the rav4 now it stands for robust accurate vehicle there are actually loads of car names that you probably didn't realize were acronyms for instance the nissan leaf so leaf apparently stands for leading environmentally friendly affordable family car so this i'm working in a few hyphens to make the word leaf work otherwise it should strictly be lefa because it's l-e-f-a-f-c smart is another name that you probably didn't know is an acronym well it's sort of an acronym the original smart was a project mercedes did with swatch the people who make kind of funky watches so smart actually stands for swatch mercedes art sir ma art smart yeah sometimes i'll make us pick an a that sounds good in english but it might cause a bit of a stir in other countries like when toyota made the mr2 mr2 actually stands for midship runabout two-seater which sort of makes sense it was a small mid-engine two-seater sports car and i guess you can use it as a runabout but they had big problems when they tried to sell the car in france because when you say mr2 in french it becomes which means that's probably got bleeped so it means the swear word for poo no wonder they took off the two and called it just the in er in france now audi had exactly the same problem when they tried to sell their new e-tron suv in france because etron means turd in french why does it seem that every word means poo in french it's actually a good car the itron but you're never going to sell any with a name like turd are you oh look i bought the new turd would you like a game my turd do you like the look of my turd anyway click on the banner up there to watch my in-depth review of the audi e-tron anyway it's not just the french language that's tripping at car makers is the spanish language as well you see chevrolet got into a bit of bother when they launched the nova now nova sounds pretty cool it makes you think of a supernova a star that's exploding but in spanish no that means it doesn't go that's like calling it the chevy broken down no wonder they barely sold any in mexico amazingly that is not the worst example hyundai really screwed up when they picked the name kona for their small suv hindi says the car is named after the kona district in hawaii i don't know why they did that but hey it's innocent enough but kona is portuguese slang for a lady garden yeah animals are a great source of cool car names ford especially loves naming its cars after animals there's the mustang the puma and the cougar they're all really cool names but porsche's been at it too caiman is probably the most obvious it comes from the cayman which is a small crocodile though it's actually spelt with an eye instead of a y and makhan is also a type of animal it comes from an indonesian word which means tiger although poor says that makhan also means suppleness power fascination and dynamics now you might not think it taikon is also another animal it sounds like a made-up word but it actually means soul of a spirited young horse in various turkic languages i kind of like it and it sort of makes sense when the middle of the porsche badge actually has a horse on it however the way porsche's named its first ever electric car sort of reminds me of those liam neeson movies especially when people mispronounce it as taken instead of taikan now if you don't pronounce it correctly i will look for you i will find you and i will kill you anyway vw's been getting in on the action as well with some funny naming only they decided that one animal wasn't enough because the tiguan is actually named after two animals tig comes from tiger and iguan comes from iguana i suppose it fits with all the other vw suvs beginning with the letter t like the touareg and the t rock but i don't know why they chose those two animals i think it's just a bit of a marketing bodz fudge really however the worst animal name to ever be used has to be the mitsubishi starion i know it doesn't sound like it's named after an animal but it is it was originally going to be called the stallion you know to go with a mitsubishi cult which is the name of a young male horse trouble is the japanese language doesn't really differentiate very well between the letter r and the letter l so stallion ended up becoming starion by accident luckily they came up with a clever comeback to cover this up because according to mitsubishi starion actually means star of orion yeah nice save guys but we're not buying it some manufacturers don't fancy naming their cars after animals they prefer to name them after the weather instead the most obvious one is the old nissan sunny but vw likes to do it too the old borer was named after a cold seasonal wind from croatia and the sirocco got its name from a warm mediterranean wind maserati loves windy names as well the ghibli is named after the arabic word for a wind that blows in from the libyan desert and the old calm sin is named after an egyptian spring wind sounds like a load of hot air to me some manufacturers like to keep it simple and give their cars names that all start with the same letter aston martin sort of does this you see besides the db models all their car names begin with the letter v like virage vulcan and valkyrie viraj is actually french and it means turn which makes sense when you're talking about sports cars and vulcan is the name of the roman god of fire which is an awesome name and a valkyrie is a mythical female viking warrior but what happens when aston runs out of cool words beginning with thee are we going to end up with a car that's called the aston martin for chaser i hope not some foreign brands name their cars using random english words that just sound good in their native language this happens a lot in japan where anything western is sort of seen as being cool it's different sometimes it works out okay like the toyota century or the nissan skyline those names don't really mean anything but they still sound pretty cool but there's nothing cool about the mazda bongo frendy which was a camper van or the mitsubishi delica space gear which was a weird off-road mpv thing the honda life dunk is another car with a terrible name and why the heck did daiatsu call one of its tiny k-cars the naked most of these cars never got sold in the uk but i kind of like the idea of driving around in an isuzu mysterious utility wizard hmm that's what the vauxhall frontier was actually called when it was sold in japan i mean what a load of nonsense lamborghini usually names its cars after spanish fighting balls or were to do with ball fighting mercillargo and gallardo were names of famous balls and miura was a breed of ball they also had a car called the espada which was a type of sword used in bull fighting but the countach was a bit different when lamborghini were designing the car one of the engineers kept saying good dash whenever he saw it now the word countach actually comes from a northern italian dialect and directly translated it means plague but actually it's used in slang to mean wow imagine if we went around going plague or we went it's car plague welcome to car plague anyway all you need to know is that countach translates roughly to wow the word cuntash actually became the catchphrase for the whole project and in the end lamborghini just decided to name the car after it and thank god they did because it's one of the coolest car names ever in the world if you enjoyed the video please give it a like also comment below any kind of other videos you'd like us to do if you want to watch some more videos click on the windows there and if you click on the box you can download the car wow app it's completely free you can use it to like browse all our reviews and see how much money we can save you on a new car on average we can save 3600 pounds that's right also it has a special number plate reader so you can scan any card's number plate and it'll tell you how much that car is currently worth download it it's completely freehi everyone matt watson here from car wow now you might think that naming a car is pretty easy but actually it's a lot harder than you may think for a start you've got to pick something that no one has used before it also has to sound good and it has to work in a whole load of different languages and on top of all that you've got to please your marketing department as well it's not easy all this means that sometimes you end up with weird names with even stranger meanings so i found some of the strangest funniest and just plain stupidest car names for you to enjoy now so here's a car wow list of the weirdest car names and what they really mean buying a new car head to car wow to get offers from the uk's top dealers car wow dot co dot uk the car buying comparison site in case you failed english at school i'll just explain to you that an acronym is when you take the first letters of several words and use them to make a new word like lol or omg well car makers love acronyms sometimes they make sense like the toyota chr now that stands for compact high rider which is sort of what the car is and there's the honda hrv which stands for high rider vehicle sometimes brands will throw a number in for good measure like the toyota rav4 the rav bit stands for recreational activity vehicle and the four stands for four-wheel drive so far so good but then toyota decided to change what rav meant when they launched the latest version of the rav4 now it stands for robust accurate vehicle there are actually loads of car names that you probably didn't realize were acronyms for instance the nissan leaf so leaf apparently stands for leading environmentally friendly affordable family car so this i'm working in a few hyphens to make the word leaf work otherwise it should strictly be lefa because it's l-e-f-a-f-c smart is another name that you probably didn't know is an acronym well it's sort of an acronym the original smart was a project mercedes did with swatch the people who make kind of funky watches so smart actually stands for swatch mercedes art sir ma art smart yeah sometimes i'll make us pick an a that sounds good in english but it might cause a bit of a stir in other countries like when toyota made the mr2 mr2 actually stands for midship runabout two-seater which sort of makes sense it was a small mid-engine two-seater sports car and i guess you can use it as a runabout but they had big problems when they tried to sell the car in france because when you say mr2 in french it becomes which means that's probably got bleeped so it means the swear word for poo no wonder they took off the two and called it just the in er in france now audi had exactly the same problem when they tried to sell their new e-tron suv in france because etron means turd in french why does it seem that every word means poo in french it's actually a good car the itron but you're never going to sell any with a name like turd are you oh look i bought the new turd would you like a game my turd do you like the look of my turd anyway click on the banner up there to watch my in-depth review of the audi e-tron anyway it's not just the french language that's tripping at car makers is the spanish language as well you see chevrolet got into a bit of bother when they launched the nova now nova sounds pretty cool it makes you think of a supernova a star that's exploding but in spanish no that means it doesn't go that's like calling it the chevy broken down no wonder they barely sold any in mexico amazingly that is not the worst example hyundai really screwed up when they picked the name kona for their small suv hindi says the car is named after the kona district in hawaii i don't know why they did that but hey it's innocent enough but kona is portuguese slang for a lady garden yeah animals are a great source of cool car names ford especially loves naming its cars after animals there's the mustang the puma and the cougar they're all really cool names but porsche's been at it too caiman is probably the most obvious it comes from the cayman which is a small crocodile though it's actually spelt with an eye instead of a y and makhan is also a type of animal it comes from an indonesian word which means tiger although poor says that makhan also means suppleness power fascination and dynamics now you might not think it taikon is also another animal it sounds like a made-up word but it actually means soul of a spirited young horse in various turkic languages i kind of like it and it sort of makes sense when the middle of the porsche badge actually has a horse on it however the way porsche's named its first ever electric car sort of reminds me of those liam neeson movies especially when people mispronounce it as taken instead of taikan now if you don't pronounce it correctly i will look for you i will find you and i will kill you anyway vw's been getting in on the action as well with some funny naming only they decided that one animal wasn't enough because the tiguan is actually named after two animals tig comes from tiger and iguan comes from iguana i suppose it fits with all the other vw suvs beginning with the letter t like the touareg and the t rock but i don't know why they chose those two animals i think it's just a bit of a marketing bodz fudge really however the worst animal name to ever be used has to be the mitsubishi starion i know it doesn't sound like it's named after an animal but it is it was originally going to be called the stallion you know to go with a mitsubishi cult which is the name of a young male horse trouble is the japanese language doesn't really differentiate very well between the letter r and the letter l so stallion ended up becoming starion by accident luckily they came up with a clever comeback to cover this up because according to mitsubishi starion actually means star of orion yeah nice save guys but we're not buying it some manufacturers don't fancy naming their cars after animals they prefer to name them after the weather instead the most obvious one is the old nissan sunny but vw likes to do it too the old borer was named after a cold seasonal wind from croatia and the sirocco got its name from a warm mediterranean wind maserati loves windy names as well the ghibli is named after the arabic word for a wind that blows in from the libyan desert and the old calm sin is named after an egyptian spring wind sounds like a load of hot air to me some manufacturers like to keep it simple and give their cars names that all start with the same letter aston martin sort of does this you see besides the db models all their car names begin with the letter v like virage vulcan and valkyrie viraj is actually french and it means turn which makes sense when you're talking about sports cars and vulcan is the name of the roman god of fire which is an awesome name and a valkyrie is a mythical female viking warrior but what happens when aston runs out of cool words beginning with thee are we going to end up with a car that's called the aston martin for chaser i hope not some foreign brands name their cars using random english words that just sound good in their native language this happens a lot in japan where anything western is sort of seen as being cool it's different sometimes it works out okay like the toyota century or the nissan skyline those names don't really mean anything but they still sound pretty cool but there's nothing cool about the mazda bongo frendy which was a camper van or the mitsubishi delica space gear which was a weird off-road mpv thing the honda life dunk is another car with a terrible name and why the heck did daiatsu call one of its tiny k-cars the naked most of these cars never got sold in the uk but i kind of like the idea of driving around in an isuzu mysterious utility wizard hmm that's what the vauxhall frontier was actually called when it was sold in japan i mean what a load of nonsense lamborghini usually names its cars after spanish fighting balls or were to do with ball fighting mercillargo and gallardo were names of famous balls and miura was a breed of ball they also had a car called the espada which was a type of sword used in bull fighting but the countach was a bit different when lamborghini were designing the car one of the engineers kept saying good dash whenever he saw it now the word countach actually comes from a northern italian dialect and directly translated it means plague but actually it's used in slang to mean wow imagine if we went around going plague or we went it's car plague welcome to car plague anyway all you need to know is that countach translates roughly to wow the word cuntash actually became the catchphrase for the whole project and in the end lamborghini just decided to name the car after it and thank god they did because it's one of the coolest car names ever in the world if you enjoyed the video please give it a like also comment below any kind of other videos you'd like us to do if you want to watch some more videos click on the windows there and if you click on the box you can download the car wow app it's completely free you can use it to like browse all our reviews and see how much money we can save you on a new car on average we can save 3600 pounds that's right also it has a special number plate reader so you can scan any card's number plate and it'll tell you how much that car is currently worth download it it's completely free\n"