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Old 18th February 2014, 20:25   #91
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

Is this the reason that the Luxury car-makers (not the super luxurious ones), name their Cars simpler: S Class, A4, 3, etc. To do away with this regionalism vs global thing entirely.

Also, as stated quite a lot here already, the infatuation of the Indian consumer with foreign products is a major factor. Would you prefer a Volkswagen Sehaj vs VW Vento.

And given the openness of Language, common words eventually make it into the language itself, called Deshaj shabd in Hindi.
So, words like Scorpio, Duster, Safari, City, Accent, are effectively 'neutralized' Hindi-ones.
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Old 18th February 2014, 20:49   #92
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

I agree. Some words mean different things in regional languages.

For instance, You could say that Skoda replaced its D segment offering with the Octavia because it wasn't selling well in hindi speaking states in the north.
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Old 19th February 2014, 09:44   #93
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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Originally Posted by deathwalkr View Post
And surprisingly it is as simple as bharat mentioned. Have a product targetting a pan india segment, it would be quite tough to find a name appreciated by all other than in English.
May be I am not so well informed and which is why I find it difficult to appreciate what "Alto", "Santro", "Jetta", "Passat", "Celerio" etc denote. I bet half the taxi driving segment doesnt know what "Bolero" and "Xylo"mean? Wonder how they appreciate these names.
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Old 19th February 2014, 10:09   #94
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

As someone wise once said...what's in a name?

That said there seems to no end to this discussion which is just going in a loop.

@Interest: Point is, it is just a name for a non living entity. Companies sell said entity to a national consumer base. English is what is easy to come up with love it or hate it. Sure i studied Hindi to be our national language and all that but in reality, i am pretty sure i for one would be comfortable in English rather than Hindi and so would speakers of Hindi when they talk to me :P

Let us take pride in the products the car companies are manufacturing here and not by the names they give it.
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Old 23rd February 2014, 12:32   #95
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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What makes something sound cheesy? Why cant Hayabusa sound cheesy? Why cant Zen, Omni, Santro, Punto, Nano sound cheesy? I bet it is only because these are foreign sounding and its a different matter altogether that we dont understand what any of these words mean. Would an Indian car named "masti" sound cheesy to foreigners?

On a different track, havent we always looked down upon people using hindi/local language slangs in conversation while we quite openly accept people using the F words and all sorts of english slangs?
No, I disagree. Japanese words and names can be way cheesier - remember that Toyota Waku Doki campaign? Ever heard of the Bongo or the Sambar?

Paraphrasing Vidya Balan in the 'Dirty Picture' in the auto world only 3 things matter - The Product, The Product, The Product.

You think the name matters? Just check with any owner of a Skoda Laura!
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Old 23rd February 2014, 21:40   #96
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

It is threads like these which stoke the hindi versus other regional language divide fire. If our Gurgaon teambhpian wants to name it in Hindi, then, I being from AP would like them to be named in Telugu. Will our Gurgaon guy like this? Then those from Tamilnadu, may say, Tamil names please. Those from Kerala may say Malyalee name please. Where will this end?

Just leave the present trend. Incidentally, very few carnames are in English. All Honda cars are in English then there are Swift/Ritz. Actually list of Spanish names is longer than English- Celerio, Bolero, Estilo, Alto, Quanto etc. Then there are many totally meaningless names like Santro, Getz, Innova, Ertiga, Liva ( an Englishman laying Liver ), Brio ( like someone burped ).

BTW, those cribbing English names and British rule etc. etc. would do well to note that today English is not just the language of England. It is universal language in which the whole world transacts business. I have seen many Indians taking pride in our English language skills but, trust me, new generation of Chinese and Japanese businessmen, I had the opportunity to interact with, speak much much much better English than we do. There expressions, use of correct words in a given context is surprisingly far superior to ours. I was told they learn English from native teachers, i.e. from Brits and American tutors.
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Old 23rd February 2014, 23:48   #97
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

Yes, sometimes very much!!!
I for once will never buy 'Asha' range of phones from Nokia.
The name just puts me off however feature rich that phone may be.
Did someone notice that our home grown brands i.e. Micromax, Karbonn, etc. and Bajaj Auto and even Tata Motors (remember Safari's Reclaim your life Ad) use phoren locations and phoren models for their Ads so as to create the premium image (and it works) while Sony, etc use Indian models.
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You think the name matters? Just check with any owner of a Skoda Laura!
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Old 24th February 2014, 02:00   #98
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

Naming has got to with the language in the indian context. In the history, kings families used persian as foreign language to communicate for the niche and elite quotient which distinguished them from the poor. Then English took over. It is not the same with many non english speaking countries.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferruccio View Post
Paraphrasing Vidya Balan in the 'Dirty Picture' in the auto world only 3 things matter - The Product, The Product, The Product.

You think the name matters? Just check with any owner of a Skoda Laura!
If maruti reintroduces kizashi and names it Agni, prithvi like our Indian Army, would it sell ? Quite a few Car reviewers have said skoda got it wrong right from the naming when it couldn't quite do what old octavia did. Personally, for me that name didn't matter. Neither would it for the wrong reason for south India.

OT : there was a pic joke of skoda laura and garlic. It was hilarious
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Old 6th March 2014, 17:37   #99
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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Originally Posted by interest View Post
May be I am not so well informed and which is why I find it difficult to appreciate what "Alto", "Santro", "Jetta", "Passat", "Celerio" etc denote. I bet half the taxi driving segment doesnt know what "Bolero" and "Xylo"mean? Wonder how they appreciate these names.
I feel its actually better for taxi guys not to know the meaning of the word. This keeps the name unique atleast and doesnt get any phrases attached to the brand name. Take for Example : Beat = "Beat beats everyone else" or even "Beat got beaten by everyone else". or Even Enjoy= say "whats there to enjoy" or "Enjoy is really Enjoyable" (Sorry Chevy guys for picking both Chevy names for examples). Just for Fun... FIAT became known as "Fix It Again Tony" in USA and till date has problem dealing with this phrase.

I think I would prefer a Unique or Abstract Car name any day over car-names with meaning.

Last edited by anu21v : 6th March 2014 at 17:45.
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Old 6th March 2014, 17:59   #100
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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.... FIAT became known as "Fix It Again Tony" in USA and till date has problem dealing with this phrase....
FIAT in USA? Are you sure? AFAIK, Fiat never sold any cars in US.
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Old 6th March 2014, 18:48   #101
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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FIAT in USA? Are you sure? AFAIK, Fiat never sold any cars in US.
Fiat has sold cars until early eighties I think. They made a comeback and now they sell the 500 there.
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Old 12th March 2014, 17:29   #102
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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FIAT in USA? Are you sure? AFAIK, Fiat never sold any cars in US.
It used to sell the most unreliable cars in USA till Hyundai Came to USA. Fiat ofcourse went out of market and made a comeback with Buying of Chrysler and bringing some of the Fiat Nameplates to USD. At the same time Hyundai Improved their quality (& design) drastically which improved its image and sales in USA.
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Old 12th March 2014, 17:46   #103
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

Who said there weren't Indian names on cars - Hindustan 14, Hindustan Landmaster, Hindustan Ambassador, Premier PADMINI etc are just a few of the names.

To extend the argument, why should you have a punjabi name? Why not a Telugu / Tamil / Malayalam / Kannada tongue twister of a name for a car? Or a judicious mix of each?
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Old 12th March 2014, 18:12   #104
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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To extend the argument, why should you have a punjabi name? Why not a Telugu / Tamil / Malayalam / Kannada tongue twister of a name for a car? Or a judicious mix of each?
They could rename the Skoda Rapid as Skoda 'Vegam'. Wonder how the response will be.

Last edited by vivriti : 12th March 2014 at 18:14.
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Old 12th March 2014, 18:21   #105
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Re: Why not Indian names for Indian cars?

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They could rename the Skoda Rapid as Skoda 'Vegam'. Wonder how the response will be.
Better still would be Skoda Mattuvandi. There would be a terrific response.
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