Name Game: The History of Car Model Names

A classic car connaisseur tells the general history of various model names used by carmakers. How do these car brands come up with them? We also talk about general trends as well as mistakes, leading to rather long, strange, weird and inappropriate car names.
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[@EdsAutoReviews]

What is the last time you bought a: BMW Individual M760Li xDrive Model V12 Excellence THE NEXT 100 YEARS ?

[@bigwalter3274]

i dunno, too long of a name to remember

[@darracqboy]

Tru

[@hifiteen49]

T O Y O T A C O R O L L A

[@rogersmith7396]

I've got my "Happy, Happy, Joy Joy" on order from China now. Of course its the XLGLTDSTurbo ExtremeLuxo 2000 Brougham Cabriolet Model. I'm no fool.

[@jimurrata6785]

I really love the word soup that was Japanese car naming in the '80's & '90's. It seemed they threw the alphabet in a blender or were staring at tea leaves trying to read their fortune.

[@nicolauslr9937]

Still hoping for a video about people 's cars around the world. Like comparison of VW Beetle, FIAT 500, Citroen 2CV etc..

[@tarnin]

I was going to reply something very similar to this. I think Ed would do justice to it.

[@stanojevicnatasa2514]

I agree. Don't forget Trabant, Srena 105 and Zastava 750.

[@DavidBugea]

What would be a good choice for the US? I guess most would agree on the Model T, with production of 15 million units.

[@realcanadian96]

A true people's car is one like the Defender.

[@mbryson2899]

@@realcanadian96 The Land Rover?

[@monsieurbrochant7528]

3:30 As a French, the worst example of this is the Audi Etron, which literally means "turd" in French XD

[@gcfifthgear]

Zut alors!

[@BMoney8600]

Haha that’s hilarious

[@Psycandy]

Nope. Toyota MR2.

[@Dieubussy]

@@Psycandy Or the Marcos Mentula whose name is a very dirty word in italian, much used by the writer Stendhal for his excapades.

[@horizonoftheeast]

For the Shuanghuan S-CEO one, it's registered in the national products catalog as a "bus" (because passenger car production permits are harder to get at that time). Buses are required to show it's registered product catalog ID on the vehicle😂 that's why you see that long string of letter-numerics

[@madphilip12]

And it became an icon

[@RedLP5000S]

So gay.

[@stevecritchley2506]

A little trivia for the Aussies: In the late 60s, Holden had designed a coupe version of their regular 4-door family saloon. The marketing department were brainstorming names, but hadn't come up with anything they liked. One of the other employees took a vacation at this time, and while touring the countryside he saw a sign that read "Monaro Shire Council" and thought "Hmm, sounds promising". When he returned to work and found they still hadn't chosen a name, he said "How about Monaro?" - and a legend was born.

[@robertmorris6529]

@ Steve Critchley some debate over that story for about 5 years after release , also about the meaning of ' TORANA ' apparently means ' to fly '

[@stevecritchley2506]

@@robertmorris6529 Well, I heard it in an interview with the man himself - I guess it's possible he made it up, but I'd have thought GMH would've called him out if that was the case. Unless of course they liked the story - marketing people, y'know :D

[@robertmorris6529]

@@stevecritchley2506 I did not mean to say it is not true , just the circumstance of how it occurred . Not so much a ' Holiday ' as a weekend trip .

[@robertmorris6529]

@@stevecritchley2506 Have found brief interview on YT with Noel Bedford about that , also an article about a car called an ELFIN GTS that may have been mistakenly called the ' Original ' MONARO . However , it is linked to an old car business called MONARO MOTORS in Melbourne Vic Australia .

[@steved3702]

My Holden-rlated thought was in response to Ed's comment about names becoming less utilitarian after WWII. Holden defied the trend with the Standard, the Special and the Premier!

[@kailahmann1823]

Citroën did this wording game a lot, resulting in totally random looking names like "DS", "ID", "Ami 6" or "LN", which only made sense if you spell them like a French word. A Language that eats half it's letters before speaking helps with this even more. And then in the early 1990s Toyota brought the "MR2" to France and wondered… Nop, it's not "MR Two" for them, it's "MR deu" or "merde" :)

[@426baron]

Someone at Toyota had done their homework, we got the Toyota MR.

[@andiheinrich2830]

just a typo: it's "deux"

[@francoisbasquin6974]

Citroën also had SM (essaime = swarm) and LNA (Helena).

[@bobroberts2371]

I thought that " Ami 6 " meant " Gay Parre "

[@Retroelectronic]

Citroën loved to use letters in the 70s and 80s, for example. CX, BX, SM, AX, XM, GS, GSA. Despite the few exceptions such as the Visa, Axel. and the like. It was the 90s when they went full on word game with the Xsara, Xantia, Saxo, Synergie/Evasion. and don't forget the whole bigger version of one model being called the Picasso. Then they started putting 'C' in front of everything. C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C8, C-Crosser, etc.

[@isakjohansson7134]

The Honda Fit/Jazz was launched with the name F*tta in Sweden, Fi*ta means p*ssy in swedish and the promotional material described it as a small on the outside but a pleasure on the inside, and a daily joy to drive. They changed the name quite fast. 😬

[@bossfan49]

I don't see the problem. 😉

[@emilyadams3228]

@@bossfan49 I don't, either, but maybe a video could get deeper into it.

[@bossfan49]

@@emilyadams3228 Haha, nice!

[@ForeverHorrorLover]

Similar thing happened to Chevy. They were supposed to sell one of their models under the name Kalos here in Russia (can't remember which one it was tho, either Aveo or Lanos), but changed it since "kal" means "sh¡t" in Russian lol Also, as an ex owner of a VW Lupo, lemme share some of my pain: in Russian Lupo is pronounced as "lupa", which by itself is nothing weird and means "magnifying glass", but if you add "za" in the beginning you'll get "zalupa", which means "d¡ckhead" or "the end of d¡ck" So yeah... The amount of jokes I was getting while owning it was... Magnificent

[@Jerry_Levon]

@@ForeverHorrorLover also Renault changed car name capture to kapture because old word сартир means toilet in russian

[@mintyprojects]

Despite being a great-looking car, I remember the Ford Probe had problems in the UK. The name was meant to evoke thoughts of the future, shooting into space and all that. Unfortunately, here it just made people think of prostate exams.

[@emilyadams3228]

That's why they're gone now. Everyone rectum.

[@robertsmith-zz7ot]

Through the years Toyota named their cars "crown". Carolla, Cressida, Corona, Celica & Tiara all mean crown in different languages. Camry is a play on the japanese word Kamamuri which also means crown.

[@emilyadams3228]

I always wondered where they got Camry from. Thanks for that.

[@uncipaws7643]

Likewise Porsche referred numerous times to the "Carrera Panamericana" (a race on the Mexican section of the Panamerican highway). A number of models (with a more powerful engine) have been called Carrera and there is also the Panamera.

[@steved3702]

@@uncipaws7643 Oh, I thought the Camry was in reference to the engine part. Never knew it was another 'crown'!

[@uncipaws7643]

@@steved3702 The name "Camry" derives from the Japanese word kanmuri (ja:冠, かんむり), meaning "crown".

[@WatanabeNoTsuna.]

A fellow fan of Throtle House, I see! 😂

[@scotttaylor4546]

The new Impact! You'll always be the first to the accident scene.

[@emilyadams3228]

Other cars take years to learn, but for that one, you just need a crash course.

[@Sharion.Inuyatt]

fun fact: the Chevrolet "Nova" in Portuguese means "New" this is kind of funny now that the car is almost 50 years old.

[@jeffreysproul9110]

@Kirk Wolfe - Indie Music Originally Nova was the top trim level of Chevy II in 1962 which came standard with a 4 cylinder as a 100 series. There were the 200 and then the 300 which was called the Nova. After 1968 the Chevy II name was dropped and they were all called Nova.

[@5610winston]

Sixty-one, but who's counting?

[@Sharion.Inuyatt]

@trickdodge One more fun fact: "SuperNova" in Portuguese is the name of an event that happens in space that causes a star to explode in space.

[@jeffreysproul9110]

@@5610winston No 1962 was the first model year but it was released in the Fall of 1961. My parents ordered one of the very first Chevy IIs in September 1961 and took delivery November 1962. It was a Roman Red 1962 Chevy II 300 4 door with a red interior 194 cu in I6, Power Glide automatic, and Delco AM radio. My brothers and I drove that car thru high school and I drove it the first year of college. I did get the Nova model incorrect it was a 400 and there was no 200 just 100, 300, and 400 (Nova).

[@kuhpfau]

I also find it funny to see dirty white Peugeot 205 in the "New Style" trim.

[@kylegellner8687]

Cadillac's alphabit soup does make some sense. For example, 'DTS' was the Deville Touring Sedan, and 'ETC' took the place of the Eldorado Touring Coupe. Then again, having a name of 'ETC' probably did little to help sell those coupes, I'm sure! LOL

[@pdennis93]

Back in the 80s, Cadillac almost called the Cimarron the Caville to go along with Seville and Deville. That would have been super ironic because Cavillie sounds a lot like Cavalier 🤣🤣🤣

[@john_barnett]

I always thought the D stood for Dinosaur

[@vwestlife]

Also with Acura you can think of the RL as Replaced Legend.

[@samiraperi467]

@@vwestlife I can't not think of RDX as the explosive.

[@kepanoid]

And SLS - Seville Luxury Sedan. What's the difference between touring and luxury? Why can't you tour in luxury? Fortunately I didn't buy into the alphabetical soup. A year ago I bought a (95) Deville Concours, a nice full size car (enormous in Europe). The name fits. Concours, konkö(r)s, kind of resembles the Finnish word konkurssi, bankruptcy. I'm feeling it already. 😆

[@darwinskeeper421]

Curiously the VW Golf was originally marketed in the US as the Rabbit. This was a follow on the well loved VW Beetle and hinted at the car being fast, which it was compared to other Malaise era American cars.

[@stanwbaker]

The American market in that time would have rioted or fallen to apoplexy about a car named after a faux bourgeois game that could not carry multiple sets of clubs.

[@P_RO_]

Fast? One of the slowest cars I've ever driven or ridden in was the VW Rabbit diesel with an automatic trans, an absolute slug for acceleration. The 4 speed was a little faster and if driven gently delivered 40+ MPG om the highway. Not too many wanted them back then but they're highly sought after now by the used-veggie-oil crowd because the conversion is so simple and easy. The engines wore out fairly quickly but you could get a ring-and-bearing kit for ~$80 back then and do the whole job in one day in your backyard with a minimum of tools needed. A LMAO story about the diesels: I can't remember the year, but at a National VW super-meet, a VW Rabbit diesel with an automatic won the drag race event even though it was the slowest car entered. How? They were "bracket racing" and the guy who owned it was perfectly consistent with his dial-in time. When the slowest car entered wins a race something is very wrong indeed- that ain't racing folks.

[@darwinskeeper421]

@@P_RO_ I was thinking in terms of the gasoline powered Rabbit, which was fairly quick at the time, remember that this is when the V8 Mustang only put out 134 hp and weighed over 3000 lb. Gasoline powered, stick shift Rabbits were also faster than the VW Beetle was in its stock form.

[@darwinskeeper421]

@@stanwbaker Really? Golf was fairly popular among the American middle class at the time, and I'd wager that the majority of the Beetle's fans were middle class Americans who didn't want to a large detroit chrome-barge, and not the counterculture types the car is popularly associated with. Also, with the Deutschmark/Dollar exchange rate being what it was, the Rabbit was forced to be a more upmarket car, so golf loving middle class drivers would have been its core market.

[@stanwbaker]

@@darwinskeeper421 The Rabbit was built to a price in Westmoreland Pennsylvania.

[@brokenursa9986]

I get a chuckle out of cars with people names. Sometimes I can take them seriously, like the Nissan Silvia or Volkswagen Karmann, but others are just hilarious and baffling to me, like the Nissan Cedric or my personal favorite, the Opel Karl.

[@kailahmann1823]

"Karmann" was just the coachbuilder for those cars. "Opel Karl" (and also "Opel Adam") sounds silly, but at least have some historic background. Those Nissan names however seam to be totally random.

[@Romiman1]

Yes, the Opel Adam indeed is named after Adam Opel, simply the founder of Opel...

[@Psycandy]

Subaru Touring Bruce - named after Bruce Willis

[@danhogan4093]

A bit off topic but in the sixties and seventies Hodaka made dirt motorcycles. One model was the Wombat, the racing version was the Combat Wombat. Very catchy as I remember it fifty years later.

[@Dave_Sisson]

Wombats are famous for being built like tanks, nothing can damage them. So a combat wombat must be extra tough?

[@danhogan4093]

@@Dave_Sisson I don't know but I think it was ment to be funny, thanks for the comment.

[@robertmills3682]

Okay, I have decided, you are required to continue making videos forever. You are not allowed to stop 😊

[@61rampy65]

Fully agreed!!

[@stanojevicnatasa2514]

Best story about naming a car was with Edsel, when Ford executives hired poet Marianne Moore to name a car, she proposed stupid stuff like Utopian Turtletop, Resilient Bullet, Varcity Stroke, Mongoose Civique... They sent her some money, a bouquet of roses, a "thanks but no thanks" letter and she continued stalking Ford people with some 400 letters with more than 800 equally stupid ideas.

[@jeffrobodine8579]

Oldsmobile sucking a lemon.

[@darwinskeeper421]

I like the name Funky Cat, it gives the impression of the car being cute and fun. It also matches the styling. This might not work well for a high end car, but it works well for an entry level EV.

[@UberLummox]

No offence to you. but it seems utterly ridiculous to me! 😄 Very trite, even. Especially to US ears.

[@RingDingPing]

I agree, it sounds funny and dynamic

[@enisra_bowman]

it is an unusual Name in the Sea of Numbers or Made up Names and better name it Funky cat than give a Name that come from a Cat that walked over a Keyboard

[@bandombeviews6035]

I’d stick with the cat idea, but maybe something less obvious. Like call it the “Tabby” or the “Calico” or another breed of cat.

[@IAmAnAdowablePanto2190]

I get the feeling that after Edsel's failure, AMC, Chevrolet, and Plymouth decided to go borrow some of Edsel's cars's names. Some Edsel names AMC and Chevrolet used: Edsel Citation -> Chevrolet Citation Edsel Pacer -> AMC Pacer Edsel Villager -> Plymouth Villager I said this, because Chevrolet, AMC, and Plymouth aren't own by Ford. In the 21st century, Ford and Lincoln decided to use Edsel's cars's names, as well. Edsel Ranger -> Ford Ranger Edsel Corsair -> Lincoln Corsair

[@billmcdonald4335]

The cheap Chinese drone market has taken it to another level. Two of my favourites: The King Kong [now LDARC - much better] ET100 The Happymodel Snapper 7 Gotta love it.

[@vulekv93]

There is a chinese shotgun shell holder called, I kid you not, an "Elite Spanker"!

[@Boric78]

@@vulekv93 Brings a whole new meaning to getting spanked.

[@yi_hou3092]

I thought King Kong was public domain?

[@schinkenspringer1081]

Dick Ass is a chinese Break component Manufacturer

[@Boric78]

@@schinkenspringer1081 LOL

[@bruceselenka7181]

I think Ford really missed the boat with the Mustang MachE. They should have used the Maverick name (which had been a car name) for the E car and brought back the Ranger name (which had been a small truck) for the small truck. Just one man's opinion.

[@mintyprojects]

I was always disappointed with the Ford Maverick. A great-sounding name (memories of Top Gun) slapped on a rather pathetic 4x4 that was just a rebadged Nissan. Or vice versa.

[@5610winston]

@@mintyprojects You've apparently forgotten the 1970 Maverick, a popular compact (in the context of the time) replacement for the Ford Falcon.

[@mintyprojects]

@@5610winston It's not a car I am familiar with. I don't believe that model made it to the UK. We only had the Ford Maverick / Nissan Terrano.

[@5610winston]

@@mintyprojects The word _maverick_ meant (originally) a stray or orphaned calf, unbranded and up for grabs in the American old west. At some time it came to mean a rogue or nonconformist, and eventually a card sharp played by James Garner on television. The American Ford Maverick was a build-it-cheaper semi-fastback two-door sedan with a 170-cubic inch (200 optional) Ford Falcon six, respectively pitifully underpowered and woefully underpowered. Eventually Ford added the 250 cubic inch six as an option, bringing performance up to barely adequate and a 302 V8 which might even be considered "rousing" when compared to a Rambler American station wagon. After a year or two, Ford also offered a stretch-wheelbase four-door sedan version. The base models were decontented to the point of barely meeting minimum government standards for legal road use, with a standard three-on-the-tree manual transmission (floor shift was an extravagantly-priced option), I'm trying to remember if power steering and brakes were even available. There are videos on KZbin comparing the Maverick to the Plymouth Duster from Chrysler, and the Maverick takes the worst of it (as you would expect with Chrysler having produced the promotional film..

[@robertmorris6529]

@@mintyprojects or go back to late 60's , a compact 2 Door coupe or 4 Door sedan , smaller than Falcon .

[@andreasbenning]

I remember when the Honda Jazz first launched, it was supposed to be named Fitta. An imaginary nonsense name? Well.... here in Sweden that means... eh.... lady garden. And while we're at it, about Ford Tudor. In the very southern part of Sweden tudor is a word for..... eh.... lady buns. Thanks for uploading!! You're always so entertaining and educational! :)

[@andreasbenning]

@Kirk Wolfe - Indie Music Haha, yeah, I never meant that they actually named their cars after southern swedish boobs! Just an example on how some words have other meanings in different languages. 🙂

[@chiaraj1003]

The Ford Kuga is also a good one. Kuga means "plague" in Croatian

[@andreasbenning]

@@chiaraj1003 "Hey, that's a sick looking car!" 😄

[@TheInstructor66]

In Norway too! I am a driving instructor. One of my students (girl), told me proudly she had bougth a Jazz. I told her the story about the Fitta-name. She replied: my Jazz is pink, so it fits that name. After that she refered to her car as Fitta mi (my Fitta). 🤣

[@andreasbenning]

@@TheInstructor66 Det er kjempegreit!! 🤣 Lots of girls I know also say that they'd buy one if they were called Fitta, fits them perfectly they say. 😂 My sister briefly had a Renault Clio, she called it Klittan. (The clit) 😁

[@arnbo88]

I like the editing in this video @9:35. It goes from pre-war black and white...fade to black (WW2) and then emerges in colour for the awakening of the new car era.

[@Zyndstoff]

The letter H in the German "Fahrt" sits between the a and the r, not as shown in your video between the F and the a. ;-)

[@7cougar0]

Came here to see if anyone else noticed.

[@catriona_drummond]

Many German cars follow a numbers scheme that other brands have adopted, I call it the 3-5-7, because it kinda started with BMW. They have filled up the ranks between those numbers in the last decades but even Mercedes kinda runs with it C being the third, E being the fifth letter or the Alphabet. Yes, S is not the 7th, but every similiarity has to end as some point. Audi notched it up by a number, A4, A6, A8, but you still know what they are about. Even Mazda kinda uses it.

[@Romiman1]

The Mercedes class letters also have origins. C means compact, E means executive and S means "Sonderklasse" (special class). G is Geländewagen (offroad car), V is van, X is cross (for trail), A is a synonym for the class of cars, which the VW Golf belongs to (in Germany even really also named "Golfklasse").

[@jacekstaszewskimdt4944]

Indeed, back then, when Audi was just a rebranded Volkswagen, they used numbers like 50, 80 and 100. Then, they decided to join the ranks of premium - "let's get better than BMW, we'll number our cars one size higher!" That's how A4 is equivalent of three series, A6 of Fiver, etc...

[@Romiman1]

@@jacekstaszewskimdt4944 But back than, it was more the other way around. The 50 later was rebranded as Polo (Mk1) and the 80 as Passat. And there weren't any derivatives to the 100(200) and also from Audi to the Golf Mk1 ("rabbit") and of course to the air-cooled VW-models. But the issue with that Audi-numbers indeed make sense! :-O

[@danielulz1640]

Mercury also offered the Turnpike Cruiser for the 1958 model year. I love how the failed Edsel model names were reused. Ranger, Ford pickup trim package then small pickup truck; Pacer, AMC wide compact car; Corsair, Lincoln crossover SUV and Citation, Chevrolet compact car line.

[@5610winston]

Edsel may have overlooked the Henry J Corsair from Kaiser-Frazer.

[@danielulz1640]

@@5610winston seems like they did. Although, I think the Henry J Corsair was only available for one model year or less. Let us not forget the Chevrolet Suburban Carryall (later just Suburban) versus the Plymouth Suburban, Custom Suburban and Sport Suburban and they were contemporary models for years. And, what about the 1956 Desoto Fireflite Seville two door hardtop and the 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Seville two door hardtop!

[@ForeverHorrorLover]

Imo Edsel is such a nice name itself as well, but it makes perfect sense why it wasn't reused by anybody Such a shame :(

[@5610winston]

@@ForeverHorrorLover It could have been, but there were more issues than just the gilded nutmeg rep of the car. Edsel was not particularly popular on the production floor, not unlike Henry senior's attitudes toward labor unions.

[@crusinscamp]

Enjoy your videos. A favorite of mine was "Scamp". Now the first Scamps were a trim level of the Plymouth Valiant (another name I liked). They weren't so much a scamp as a grocery-getter. The name was recycled, along with the exact same badge in 1983 by Plymouth on their pick-up truck variant of the Dodge Rampage. As a Mopar guy I noticed the badge was literally the same badge used on the Plymouth Valiant Scamps of the '70s (Chrysler was going through some financial difficulties at the time, I always imagined them reaching into some dusty parts bin for the badges). I noticed because I had two '83 Plymouth Scamps at one time. They were a reasonably fun little car/pick-up truck and the Plymouth Scamp only had a one-year model run. Not a car name, but who could forget "fine Corinthian leather".

[@flipflopthong2]

The Scamp name appeared in Australia as a tiny Honda in the late 60s

[@stevecritchley2506]

@@flipflopthong2 Yes, if I remember correctly it had a 360cc motorbike motor and chain drive, and an aluminium body.

[@fireballfireball1067]

@@stevecritchley2506 I had one of those, they were 360 then 600cc. chain drive was the tiny sports car before the Scamp

[@stevecritchley2506]

@@fireballfireball1067 Thanks for the correction. Was that sports car the S600?

[@robertmorris6529]

@@fireballfireball1067 Honda Z , I called them ZOT ' s , looked like a girl's ankle high boot

[@georgeh6856]

When Acura was launched, at least in the USA, they had great model names like Legend and Integra. Then at some point they came out with the Acura Vigor. Ugh. Shortly after that, Acura switched to using letters instead of model names. (Yes, they are now bringing back the Integra name.) When car makers turned model names into alphabet soup, it was all just a bunch of BS to me.

[@railtrolley]

The Acura brand was never sold in Australia. The Honda models used the Legend and Integra names.

[@christopherconard2831]

I got the impression they were going for the BMW and Mercedes market. They each have a long history of alpha numeric naming.

[@P_RO_]

Acura was sold exclusively in Japan for 2 years as a model by Honda; it wasn't a separate marque. Wanting to put it in the US and world market Honda made it a brand name to distance it from the small cheap cars they were known for. The ploy worked...

[@peacefrog0521]

I remember the Acura Vigor, a 5-cylinder if I’m not mistaken. Every time I heard the name, in my head I heard it with a Kennedy-esque Massachusetts accent (I.e., “VIG-aah”). Because I always thought of the word Vigor as a word JFK would have used (I don’t recall if he ever actually did).

[@studebricker2845]

I shouldn't have been surprised that Studebaker was the first manufacturer to give cars unique names, since they were the oldest, if not the most preeminent, car company of the early 1900s. And yes, I am a fan, and Commander owner.

[@GSimpsonOAM]

There was the Mazda Bongo Brownie Birdwatcher. There was some logic to it though Bongo - Van Brownie - Has seats (people mover) Birdwatcher - Has windows in roof (to see birds?)

[@lucallegra]

Great video, names also show how car industry is attacched to local culture. I think Lancia should have been mentioned. They named cars after Roman roads in the 50s and 60s (Appia, Ardea, Flavia and so on). Something premium brand at the time did not do.

[@leonb2637]

Yea ! Another fine video from our favorite car history commentator. Car model naming is an interesting subject. You brought up the Ford model Probe. That had its roots in the naming of Ford's show cars in the 1960's and the 1980's. The Ford Probe was going to be the replacement of the Mustang using that name in the late 1980's. Traditional Mustang fans ended that idea, with the traditional RWD Mustang retained and continued to this day. With limited time to rename, they used the name for the show cars that led up to the Probe design in both generations.

[@jetsons101]

The longest American car name that I can think of is the "Rambler American Cross Country Super Deluxe." A neighbor has a 1960 sitting in his backyard, and it still runs.

[@gcfifthgear]

How about the Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham LS? Circa 1986

[@stvitalkid7981]

Let’s not forget about the Golf’s original name in North America, the VW Rabbit.

[@williamrutkowski]

... and to continue the animal theme, the Fox.

[@kailahmann1823]

which was the "Lupo" in Mexico because of then president Vincente Fox. In Europe however the "Fox" was the replacement for the "Lupo" (and a massive technical downgrade)…

[@oscargustavoarcosruiz8793]

The Latin American version of Golf was for many years, and with very bright colors, El Caribe (the Caribbean), apparently they thought golf being such an unpopular sport in Latin America the name would be counterproductive

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

So true

[@kimvibk9242]

The Fiat Ritmo was sold in the UK as Fiat Strada - and the old rear-engined Skodas, which has utilitarian alfanumeric names in most of the world (105, 130) were sold as the Estelle in that market. If anybody has other examples, please comment - I would be interested to hear.

[@Arturino_Burachelini]

I will forever remember the Gaylord Gladiator XD

[@fluttzkrieg4392]

Here in Brazil, we had the VW Gol, which was a domestically produced design based on the Golf and the most sold car model ever in the country, more than even the Fusca (Beetle). They literally just took one letter out and yet it's one of the most favorite words in our language: It's what we say when the team were rooting for scores in a soccer game.

[@dankananga]

In the mid-2000s, a Chinese car brand called Chana came to Brazil. Here, "chana" is one of our several slangs which we use for the female reproductive organ.

[@peacefrog0521]

In India, “Chana” is basically chickpeas. And yes I enjoy eating Chana very much 😅 😊 ;-)

[@valentinomanontroppo4675]

Croma was a pretty cool name (to us Italians) (for a mediocre car). It recalls the chromatic scale, rather than chrome. Fiat really nailed most of their names. The iconic commercial vehicles named after ancient coins.. the cars of the unique name series (tipo, uno, punto..).. the evergreen panda! And I always loved the name ritmo Cheers.

[@Jeroen74]

In The Netherlands, Croma is a brand of cooking butter. Allegedly the Dutch importer begged Fiat to the change the name, but they wouldn't budge.

[@valentinomanontroppo4675]

@@Jeroen74 the bossman Agnelli himself decided on that name, there was no way they'd ever change it

[@bobtepedino5661]

The 1926 Chrysler Imperial is the oldest image-descriptive car name I can think of.

[@strawberryhellcat4738]

Would the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost count? Produced 1906-1926 (officially given the name in 1925 when it's successor, the Phantom series was released).

[@bobtepedino5661]

@@strawberryhellcat4738 You're right!

[@uncinarynin]

VW used number codes but the nickname "Käfer"/"Bug"/"Beetle" stuck ... In F(H)ART you put the H in the wrong place, it would be FAHRT. Golf can be a multitude of things; apparently they thought about the gulfstream but of course it is also a sport and with the Polo they continued with that sports theme. In their SUV line they seem to prefer T-names (T-cross, Taigo, Tiguan, Touareg). Taigo might refer to Taiga, a type of landscape. Tiguan, a hybrid of tiger and iguana? Touareg, desert people of north Africa. As I'm actually a car-less railway nut, let me add that only recently the rolling stock manufacturers have started giving their products names, like the Siemens Vectron, Desiro, Mireo and Velaro, the Bombardier (then Alstom) Traxx and Talent. A series of unit trains by Alstom is named Coradia (not sure that means anything in any language). Stadler has a number of products with names like Flirt, Kiss, Smile, Wink, Tina, Tango, Butler, all designed to be acronyms (Flirt = Flinker leichter Intercity- und Regional-Triebzug). All those names came up roughly in the last 20-25 years, before that it was often just the class number of the railway mostly ordering them in the first place ... but that also has to do with the transformation of the railway industry, which no longer is just building products designed by the engineering departments of the state railways, but sell a standardized product to a multitude of customers.

[@CoimbraBertone]

one thing that Ed didn't mention in the sporty side of thing is naming cars after racing/race tracks. Chevy Monza, Bentley Mulsanne, Ferrari Daytona, hell Pontiac decided just to confuse everyone by naming cars Le Mans and Grand Prix...and then using them in NASCAR

[@nickmaxfracasso8376]

Although the Ferrari Daytona wasn't actually called that, it was called 365

[@alexanderboulton2123]

When I think of naming puns I think of the Geo Metro, whose name is the most interesting thing about it

[@vwestlife]

That story about the Chevy Nova is purely mythical. It was probably made up by someone who took one year of Spanish in school and thought they knew more about naming cars that the entire marketing department of the Latin American division of General Motors. But the prevalence of the myth might have caused GM to initially avoid using the name Buick LaCrosse in Canada, because of its similarity to Québécois slang for "masturbation" or "scam". However, beginning with the car's second generation, Buick began using the name LaCrosse in Canada as well, because they realized that people are perfectly capable of differentiating between local Quebec slang and the internationally known sport of lacrosse, which is played in Canada. Plus there are marketing advantages to using the same name internationally, especially since the majority of Canadians live near the U.S. border, so they would've heard and seen the LaCrosse name used in U.S. media anyway.

[@heide_witzka2861]

It should be noted that Citroën was slow to notice the double meaning of DS. Similar puns were subsequently made with the model designation of other Citroën models as well: In French as in German, the economy model "ID" associates the word Idee/Idea ("idée"); the letter combination of the DS successor "CX" stands in French for the flow resistance coefficient (German: cw). Thanks for the great video!

[@paulmclaughlin4092]

An honorable mention should have gone to the crazy lengths Ford went to try and get a name for what ended up as the Edsel model, and maybe the Ostentatienne Opera Sedan from MOHS

[@themoviedealers]

The MOHS vehicles deserve a video of their own. I used to love seeing the MOHS Safarikar on display at the auto collection at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Vegas. I went there many times. Long gone I think.

[@jcumpston7449]

Ford Tudor, there was also the Fordor. I wonder if the FORDor came first?

[@mbryson2899]

Trim names can often augment the name, e.g. Mercury Gran Marquis de Sade, with its all leather accommodations and all those special seatbelts.

[@firstsmoofy]

Ed, I've followed you from the beginning. I always enjoy your informative, well researched presentations.

[@tolkien777]

You know I've always loved Japanese car naming schemes , as odd they can be Some commonalities within Toyotas schemes , Crown , Carina , Corolla , Cresta , Corona , that being things related to helms or headwear and the Soarers sporty marque, iconic names like the Skyline and Silvia, and even the underrated name- the Nissan Cedric (which means dearly loved), aswell as sporty names like Leopard and luxury like Cefiro (soft gentle wind) on Nissans behalf and even realted to the Space race , the Mazda Cosmo Over the years there have been some odd choices for Japanese car names , Charade (didn't go well in the US because it brought imagery of a lie, or "charade"), Carina ED (the ED stands for Exciting Dressy ??? 💀) And the Autozam Clef ...an odd choice aswell as Naked , Scrum , Tank , Elf or even one of the weirdest - Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard ??? Aswell Japan has had more practical names , of the likes of Eunos 300, Toyota Mark II , Autozam AZ3 , Nissan-Infinity Q45 and so on And that's why I like Japanese naming practices , some are goofy , some are good representations of the car or period of themes the car is made to portray...and some are just practical plain names but there's a balanced preportion of all

[@shaunw9270]

Always wondered why the hell Nissan named a car Cedric!

[@shaunw9270]

Funniest thing I remember growing up were the wheezy asthmatic rust buckets that Austin had the bright idea to name Allegro.

[@tolkien777]

@@shaunw9270 Allegro, "a movement in brisk speed" , a definite false advertisement 😂

[@shaunw9270]

@@tolkien777 Indeed ! 😅

[@stanwbaker]

@@shaunw9270 It was after literary character Cedric Errol., aka Little Lord Fauntleroy.

[@joermnyc]

Nothing bests “The Excellent” for a car name.

[@michaelcroos4713]

You will love this... Back in the early 50's, America was making inroads in the Caribbean with their retail markets. One product was SANKA, an instant coffee by Nestle's. Unfortunately, the brand had a name that did not work out on many islands of the Caribbean, including Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao... On those islands, SANKA means "butthole".

[@captlazer5509]

The Chinese car names are the most original thing about the vehicles, as the designs look very familiar.

[@AtheistOrphan]

The Austin (BL/Rover) Metro was initially called the ‘MiniMetro’ because train manufacturer Metro-cammell objected to the name. (Just in case people confused a tiny hatchback car with a bloody great train!)

[@glen1555]

Granada Television (original slogan "from the North - Granada Television "), wanted Ford of England to change the name of its Zodiac replacement from Granada to something else. As though car buyers are going to confuse a big Ford with a company that rented out colour tellies and made a popular long running half hour drama series

[@kevinbarry71]

My favorite name for a car ever was the Daihatsu Charade. The name literally means, absurd pretense.

[@unclemarksdiyauto]

Of all the carmakers models, I think the S-CEO HBJ6474Y has a nice ring to it! (Not!) Weird names. Thanks for your research into this topic! As always, a great video Ed.

[@kimallen4132]

I used to have a Starion and would get the giggles every time I drove it! 😂

[@SiqueScarface]

Russian car names can also be quite cryptic, so cryptic, that their importers in other countries abandoned the name of the car altogether and came up with completely new names. That's why the VAZ-21043-02 was sold as Lada Nova abroad.

[@LuckysMotorcycles]

I’m expecting the “Kia 4Q “, any day now .

[@mythosallen32]

I always thought that the golf was named after the game. The GTI seats are usually a plaid pattern and the shift knob resembles a golf ball.

[@0cer0]

They developed the line in both directions: Golf and Polo are lawn sports, Golf, Passat, Bora, and Scirocco are strong winds.

[@michelmartin3064]

They started with wind names : Passat, Scirocco,and Golf, wich is altogether a wind and a sport, but with the success of the Golf, they stuck to the sports theme with the Polo. But later models came back to winds : Bora, Vento, Corrado. Today, except for the « historic » names (Golf and Passat) they have forgotten the idea to name their cars with wind names.

[@esteban1487]

A lot of alliteration by anxious announcers placed in powerful posts!

[@YeeSoest]

My entire life I wanted to make and design my own sportscar and name it XLR-8 Only sold in english speaking markets When Cadillac built the XLR and from the sides at least it looked dramatically like my XLR-8 sketch I was CONVINCED they had stolen my sketches... From the scribble pages I still had in my backpack. Sneaky fu...

[@digitalrailroader]

You mentioned the Cadillac DTS, and yet you didn’t mention it’s platform mate that was named after a beautiful alpine city in Switzerland! (I am of course talking about the Buick Lucerne!) EDIT: you might not see it, but a few of the Cadillac names actually have a hidden meaning: DTS=Deville Touring Sedan, STS=Seville Touring Sedan, CTS=Catera Touring Sedan

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

Talking about the DTS... That would make for an amazing name in Portuguese (and other Latin languages) as it is the acronym for.... Sexually Transmitted Disease.

[@emilyadams3228]

@@TheAllMightyGodofCod It would go viral.

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

@@emilyadams3228 for sure!

[@mbryson2899]

A family a few doors down once owned both a Probe and a Vibe. We chuckled, they grinned.

[@danpatterson8009]

All I know is that my old Nova elicited shouts of "Eh, no va!" from the Mexican gentlemen down at my local car wash.

[@rogersmith7396]

They called the P 47 "the Jug". I could see a car named Jugs.

[@brokenursa9986]

Sadly, they decided to actually take the name seriously, and used the P-47’s official nickname, Thunderbolt, for the muscle variant of the Ford Fairlane.

[@rogersmith7396]

@@brokenursa9986 Unfortunate as my favorite movie is "Mother, Jugs, and Speed".

[@calebw8673]

One interesting thing I see when it comes to car names is the Buick Electra, which could be used for future EVs.

[@gcfifthgear]

Buick has in fact registered "Electra" as a trademark for its future S(YOU)Vs

[@L4sleeko]

I've always been intrigued by the name Biscayne. Though a low model Chevrolet, it always sounded so exotic to me.

[@gcfifthgear]

At the time the Biscayne was introduced, it was one of Chevy's "resort" names. Delray, Biscayne and Bel Air were glamorous names (a beach and a bay in Florida and a suburb of Los Angeles, respectively). You may remember former President Richard Nixon's summer home was at Key Biscayne, Florida

[@kc1423]

"...the jungle, that are trim levels." This is a damn good metaphor. Ed, you are VERY good at writing. and this isn't even your first language!

[@kellingtonlink956]

The last car certainly is a mouthful. Congratulations on taking on quite an exhausting topic…. Where to begin (good job) or where to stop (good ending). You did great. Thanks for the video.

[@esteban1487]

Great episode, Ed!

[@Prairieshutterbug64]

Another great video Ed. Thanks!

[@trolleychai]

Megane is the French cognate of the English name Megan... 50 years ago I knew a young lady from Quebec with that name.

[@darwinskeeper421]

I didn't know that Laputa meant prostitution in Spanish, my mind was going to the Miyazaki film "Castle in the Sky" which involved the search for the flying city of Laputa.

[@estebanmorales6487]

Oh, it's funnier than that, actually. "La puta" is quite the swear, somthing you would exclamate when you whack your thumb with a hammer while trying to drive in a nail. Not quite promissing for a car...

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

The Name Laputa was taken from a Jonathan Swift story in his Gulliver's Travels series.

[@freeculture]

"The Bitch" or "The Whore".

[@overkill9_83]

That movie is kind of a joke in Spanish speaking countries. Even Ghibli fans consider it "The movie you can not take seriously"

[@andoletube]

It should be mentioned that a lot of cars had different names in different regions of the world - this was to avoid the problem of trying to find a name that sounds good in every language.

[@benjaminrobinson3842]

Interesting fact: What North Americans know as the "Z car" was sold as the "Fairlady" in Japan. The executive who named it supposedly happened to be a fan of the musical "My Fair Lady."

[@althejazzman]

@@benjaminrobinson3842 You've been watching Big Car, right?

[@steved3702]

@@benjaminrobinson3842 The Cedric got a lot of flak for using such a dowdy name. Probably why they went to numbers and letters. Interestingly the letters often related to the Japanese names: Cedric became the xxxC, Bluebird the xxxB, Silvia the xxxSX and Sunny the xxxY (presumably since S was used by the Silvia, so they went to the other end of the word).

[@neolancer]

Daewoo Cielo (Heaven) & Espero (I Hope). The MU Wizard was named in EU (and USA?) "Trooper" , and sold by Opel with the name of "Frontera (Frontier/border)". Seat had names from Spanish Cities since they separate from FIAT: Ibiza, Málaga, Toledo. Lada and some Russian automakers made their cars with numbers (2141, 2103), Peugeot have registered the Zero number between two digits different to zero (305, 604, 309)... etc.

[@DJL78]

Little known fact. If it wasn’t for the 80’s nighttime soap opera “Dynasty” Lexus would have been called Alexis.

[@muznick]

The best Chinese names can be found on Amazon. They seem to grab a handful of letters out of a bag and arrange them in random to create their product names.

[@steved3702]

Scrabble!

[@FunctionalHistories]

Best moment...made me giggle. 15:32 Great video, Ed! Thank you so much for the EDucation! -Vic

[@Donald_Shaw]

Excellent Ed... simply excellent video. Thanks so much for posting your great videos.

[@seed_drill7135]

The most efficient Dodge Omni's were the "Miser" trim. My Latin explained that Omni Miser translated roughly as "totally wretched", which she said was a rare example of truth in advertising.

[@gringov625]

Excellent episode 👍🏼

[@leecrt967]

Don't forget the Buick Reatta. A name that sounds like a cross between a yachting event and some Sub-Saharan gastrointestinal disease.

[@Blaklege63]

Ed. You are a greatly under appreciated channel.

[@1995ToyotaCresta]

I like how at the end he's like: HB, J6, 474... *WHY?!*

[@rwall514]

I want a Daihatsu N A K E D.

[@clarksonoceallachain8536]

Could even have the higher end trim The naked turbo G

[@gerardoguerrero2471]

History episodes aré simply the best, making the wait worth It!!!! Perhaps the best car channel ever!!!! Congrats

[@paulsemeraro]

What a great video! Thanks EAR! Very cool, very funny 🙂

[@adidragan]

If you want to talk pretentious names, have a look at caravans, they are king of pretentious and ostentatious names, stuff like Premier Adventurer ExcelsiorLine XL, so some crappy small plastic fantastic 2-person towed caravan...

[@OLDS98]

Ed: you do such a great job on your videos. I always get so caught up in your videos because you spend time on the videos and do extensive research. I smile a lot watching your videos when you talk about GM and Ford( Lincoln and Mercury ) and share what you have learned. As we know sadly the Alero and Intrigue failed. Oldsmobile should have used more well known Oldsmobile names for their new models. Intrigue should have been Cutlass and Alero should have been Omega or Calais and Aurora should have been Toronado. Those are just my thoughts. Thank you for another good video. I enjoy especially when you mention global brands and names too. You know there were two Caprices at one time? The Holden and Chevrolet versions. Both are GM brands.

[@gcfifthgear]

As you no doubt know, Oldsmobile dumped its old names for new as part of the "Not Your Father's Oldsmobile" image change. The Alero, in fact, replaced the last Cutlass, which was a clone of the 1997 Chevy Malibu. Some even considered renaming the Oldsmobile division "Aurora"--you may recall that the name "Oldsmobile" appeared on the 1995 Aurora only on the car's radio dial...

[@OLDS98]

@@gcfifthgear I understand your response and appreciate your comments. I need to clarify a few things. Intrigue was supposed to be the Cutlass Supreme, but they decided on Intrigue as a change of direction. That car was on the W Body platform. The Cutlass you refer to was based on the Chevrolet Malibu as you stated. That Cutlass that ran from 1997-1999 was to replace Cutlass Ciera. The Alero filled the segment that was held by the: Oldsmobile Calais, Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais and the Oldsmobile Achieva. The Alero was on the same platform as Pontiac Grand Am. The Alero replaced all of those models in the same segment not the Cutlass Supreme or Cutlass name. The 1997-1999 Cutlass was a place holder until the Alero arrived. They did consider renaming the Oldsmobile division as Aurora, but that did not happen thankfully. The second generation Aurora was not supposed to be the Aurora. It was supposed to be a car called Antares or Anthem. It was supposed to replace the Eighty Eight. The 1995-2000 Oldsmobile Aurora they said replaced the Toronado and Ninety Eight. I do not think it did personally. I could see the Toronado. That plan that changed Oldsmobile was not the this is not your father's Oldsmobile campaign. The plan to update the brand was called the " Centennial plan" to celebrate Oldsmobile's 100 years in 1997. As far as the radio in the Aurora, it was not on the dial, but on the radio face plate. I know because I own a 1996 Oldsmobile 98 and a 1992 Oldsmobile Toronado. The Aurora shared parts with the Ninety Eight and Eighty Eight and LSS in the 1995-1999 time frame.

[@Brickyard4738]

Haha this one was funny! Great video. The LaPuta had me cracking up.

[@BitchinSpectre]

My dream car is a Packard Proctor... but I'd take a Studebaker Comptroller, they're basically the same, most of the post merger most Packards were badge jobs.

[@themoviedealers]

Look up the list of potential names for the (Ford) Edsel. There were some real head scratchers on there. The one I remember is the Utopian Turtletop.

[@5610winston]

Mongoose Civique

[@JackBWatkins]

I don’t know which is harder, naming rock bands or naming cars. Maybe it’s time to switch band names and car names. Would you drive a car named “Kiss” or “The Who?”

[@brokenursa9986]

I would absolutely drive a car called the “Destiny Potato”.

[@JMFuller]

I like this idea. Porno for Pyros, Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax, Garbage, Orgy, Slayer. I guess we would have to choose names more carefully. Although, Scorpions would be a cool name. We could use some names as paint colors. Black Sabbath, White Zombie, Pink Floyd, Green Day, Deep Purple, Red Hot Chili Peppers.😆😆

[@jimurrata6785]

​@@JMFuller there was the short lived Merkur Scorpio here in the States. (late '80's)

[@JackBWatkins]

@@jimurrata6785 was Sting the lead singer?

[@jimurrata6785]

@@JackBWatkins he _was_ when I saw the Police at MSG in the '80's

[@abbeyhall4624]

Nice one Ed! Very entertaining of you

[@jaycarlson927]

Your research for your videos is top notch!

[@AtheistOrphan]

Couple of car name titbits: The original name for the Austin Champ was ‘Nuffield Mechanisations Gutty’ Rolls-Royce were going to name a car ‘Silver Mist’, which sounds delightful, but unfortunately Mist means ‘Dung’ in German.

[@Detah_]

Don’t even get me started on JDM car names since in Japan the more English bs is plastered all over your stuff the cooler it is as a result a lot of these cars have really weird broken English names like Honda Life Dunk, Honda That’s, Toyota Cresta Lucent Super Four G, Mitsubishi RVR hyper sports gear, and Suzuki Wagon R RR Stingray.

[@fireballfireball1067]

And the Subaru Touring Bruce

[@clarksonoceallachain8536]

Daihatsu naked turbo G Daihatsu opti beex aerodown Daihatsu mira gino walkthrough Daihatsu hijet jumbo sporza NISSAN BIG THUMB

[@coffeebert6644]

As always - great video

[@dsdonovan]

Another great video!

[@holygooff]

The mighty boy :D