"Honda Life Dunk" & other prize names

[Taro Toporific]

The Best, Worst & Weirdest Car Names
Forbes / July 12
...Japanese automakers are the true champions of putting out the wildest car names.
Among the ones that put a smile on our face are the Daihatsu Naked; Honda Life Dunk; Honda That's; Isuzu GIGA 20 Light Dump and Mysterious Utility; Mazda Bongo; Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear and Pistachio; Nissan Fairlady Z and Prairie Joy; Rickman Space Ranger; Rinspeed X-Dream; Suzuki Cappucino; Toyota Deliboy and Toyopet... We think it's a shame that the Honda Life Dunk doesn't sell over here. Its goofy yet inspiring name would probably attract a fair number of buyers.

[Taro Toporific]

On your marques
FT.com / Arts & Weekend - Saturday Nov 26 2005
....Mitsubishi Motors has the same problem with its Pajero offroader, which sells as the Montero in Spanish-speaking countries and the US. Pajero literally means "straw dealer" but is also slang for masturbation....
...The Nissan Moco is unlikely to be successful anywhere that speaks Spanish. When the Japanese carmaker showed off its first entry to the minicar market, its small round green car prompted surprise from those who knew that 'moco' means 'snot' in Spanish.
But the Japanese, broadly speaking, appear to be happy to buy cars with foreign names that sound absurd in their native languages. The Daihatsu Naked, Mazda Bongo Friendee and Suzuki Joy Pop are never going to be sold in English-speaking countries. But the Honda Life Dunk almost sounds like a 1960s hippy van from California. Sadly, it won't appear outside Japan. The Nissan Cedric (apparently inspired by a medieval knight) was another unfortunate choice, with many blaming its name for its initial failure in export markets. "Its only serious problem was that it was given one of the most ridiculous names in the history of the motor car," says one devoted owner on his web site. There is an almost limitless supply of Japanese car names that sound odd in English. The Daihatsu Move Latte is described by one reviewer as having "the street cred of a shopping trolley" to go with its silly name, while the Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear and Honda That's appear to have been picked at random.
'We do tend to have wacky names, I must admit," says Takeshi Sumita, director of PR for Honda Europe. "They sound pretty exotic in Japan, but no one would dream of using them in Europe."
China is starting to adopt English words for cars without clearly understanding them, too. Brilliance Jinbei, based in north-east China, calls its flagship minibus the Jinbei Haise Underservant. "The limitless business essence deduces your excellence," runs its enigmatic advertising.
Perhaps the best example of linguistic misunderstanding is the tale surrounding the origin of the Starion for Mitsubishi's mid-size saloon. The car came in the wake of the Colt, and the story goes that the US sales manager suggested Stallion, but it came back from Japan as Starion because of a Japanese mispronunciation.... ....There are other pitfalls apart from language. Mitsubishi prompted protests from British second world war veterans when it launched the Lancer Evolution Zero Fighter, named after Japan's fearsome shipborne Zero fighters. Only a handful were sold in the UK, with the "Fighter" part of the name dropped...more...

[Mulboyne]

the Starion...Mitsubishi's mid-size saloon

It's a cult car in Britain:

Mitsubishi Starion Owner's Club UK

Since 2001, the club has operated an "OPEN MEMBERSHIP" system. This means if YOU own a Starion then YOU ARE ALREADY A CLUB MEMBER!!!

[cliffy]

My favorite is the Chevy Nova, in Spanish (not sure what form) No-Va roughly translates to don't work. Taro, is the 'Light Dump'(life dunk) gas powered by chance?

[Taro Toporific]

Moco-rear-logo-closeup.jpg

moco-mobile-full_.jpg

via