Have you ever wondered about the meaning behind the name of a car? After the successful launch of Vauxhall’s new supermini, the Adam (see below) ALA did and decided to investigate, with some interesting (and some bizarre!) results.
Here are our top ten:
1. Vauxhall Adam
The newest Vauxhall on the market most likely prompted various questions about its name when it launched. Although it may sound fairly pedestrian as model names go, this is fairly unique to British motorists. It undoubtedly made more sense to our European counterparts where Vauxhall is known instead as Opel, after its founder Adam Opel.
2. Volkswagen Touareg
Named after a nomadic group of indigenous inhabitants of the Saharan area of North and West Africa
3. Nissan Qashqai
Similar to the Touareg, the Qashqai is named after a semi- nomadic Turkic people living mainly in Southwest Iran. Reputedly the designers anticipate that the people purchasing the car would be “nomadic in nature too.”
4. Volkswagen Scirocco
Volkswagen named the Scirocco after a Mediterranean wind that can reach hurricane speeds when reaching North Africa, with similar inspiration taken for the Polo (Polar Wind), Golf (from the German for “Gulf Stream”), Jetta (Jet Stream) and Passat (from the German for “trade wind”).
5. Chevrolet LUV
Despite its slightly sentimental sounding name, the LUV truck is actually an acronym for the more functional sounding Light Utility Vehicle.
6. Volkswagen Tiguan
The word Tiguan is a blend of the German words for Tiger and Iguana. It was chosen by members of the public, with voters choosing it over other names such as Liger (Lion/Tiger) and Nanuk (meaning Polar Bear)
7. Volkswagen Sharan
One for the more regal motorists amongst you, the word Sharan is meant to be derived from a Persian word meaning “carrier of kings”.
8. Lamborghini Murciélago
Lamborghini’s emblem is that of the raging bull so it seems fitting that a number of its models draw their name from breeds of bull and bulls made famous in the bullfighting arena. The Murciélago, named after a legendary bull that had its life famously spared in the ring in the nineteenth century.
9.Lancia Ypsilon
Inexplicably, this model from Lancia is named after a letter from the Greek alphabet that translates into the letter Y in English.
10. And the best of the rest!
Volkswagen Thing
There have been a number of cars released only in Japan with odd English titles that can’t help but make us smile, namely the Honda Life Dunk, Mazda Bongo, Toyota Deliboy, Honda That’s, and the Volkswagen Thing.
