« Nintendo Trademarks Zii Brand Name, But Why? | Main | SAAB Car Naming and Branding Up in the Air »

December 18, 2009

Bad Car Naming and Branding Alive and Well in 2009

Every year the worst car names are discussed across the Internet and this year has a bumper crop. Amanda Wegerzyn at Cars.com weighs in with a hilarious, brutal post that trashes not only the entire Lincoln lineup ("What's the difference between the MKZ, MKX and MKS? Gimme a second to look it up because I honestly can't remember which is which.") as well as the Toyota Yaris for being "ridiculous and nonsensical."

She also skewers the Subaru B9 Tribeca: "Here we've got a family crossover named after a fashionable neighborhood in lower Manhattan and... a World War II bomber?"

Her lowest blow is saved for the Ford Aspire: "When Ford slapped the Aspire name on the back of this car, they were basically saying: 'Yeah, even our car knows you wish you were driving something cooler.'"

Go Retro takes a longer look back in time, hammering the Dodge Diplomat ("A misguided advertising attempt to make a soccer mom feel like she's royalty or something.") as well as the utterly un-PC MG Midget ("saying that you drive a Midget just sounds weird.")

She also hammers the Ford Probe, as does nearly every other car blogger ("I don't know about you, but anything that sounds like something that would be inserted into any of my bodily orifices during a medical examination or procedure is definitely a turnoff to me.")

Bill Classman reminds us of some classic horrible names, among them the Rolls Royce Mist (in German this means, um, well, read the blog), the Opel Ascona (read the blog) and the ill fated Honda Fitta (ditto).

But the most hilarious post comes from Jalopnik, who looks at some historically awful names (the
1920s era Studebaker Dictator was a pretty bad one), as well as some current bad naming choices, most of which come from Asia.

The "Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard" is pretty awful, as is the "Toyota Estima Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy."

But the "Nissan Homy Super Long" really takes the cake.

Technorati Tags: Lincoln MKZ MKX MKS, Subaru B9 Tribeca, Ford Aspire, Dodge Diplomat, Ford Probe, Rolls Royce Mist, Opel Ascona, Honda Fitta, Studebaker Dictator, Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard, Toyota Estima Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy, Nissan Homy Super Long

Posted by William Lozito at December 18, 2009 10:48 AM
Posted to Automotive | Brand Naming | Branding | Linguistics | Naming | Product Naming

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.namedevelopment.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4563