[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by noopster

Agreed. For that reason I suggested "Zipp". Solid single-syllable name that suits a small fast car. And close enough to Zica that it still has some of the association retained.

They already have Tata Ace Zip, and they are looking for a 5-6 letter name.

[Rajeevraj]

I think this may have been triggered due to pressure from the Messi Camp. The Zika Virus is currently wreaking the most havoc in South America and it would have been probably bad publicity for Messi and a bad impact to his image. His management may have pushed Tata into this renaming. His coming on board as Brand Ambassador would have cost Tata heavily and the cost of renaming is probably less than the loss if Messi were to back out.

Other than that, just for India, I don't really see why Tata needs to go through this whole re-branding exercise just days from launch. As already mentioned in previous posts, we have our share of weird names and I don't think the name would impact the success/failure of the car in any way. Over a period of time we just get used to it. I also find it hard to believe that this is just Corporate Social Responsibility.

[damager21]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I think this may have been triggered due to pressure from the Messi Camp. The Zika Virus is currently wreaking the most havoc in South America and it would have been probably bad publicity for Messi and a bad impact to his image. His management may have pushed Tata into this renaming. His coming on board as Brand Ambassador would have cost Tata heavily and the cost of renaming is probably less than the loss if Messi were to back out.

Other than that, just for India, I don't really see why Tata needs to go through this whole re-branding exercise just days from launch. As already mentioned in previous posts, we have our share of weird names and I don't think the name would impact the success/failure of the car in any way. Over a period of time we just get used to it. I also find it hard to believe that this is just Corporate Social Responsibility.

I think Tata rightly is being super cautious and does not want to take any chance. They have spent crores building this car, don't want people to say that they are not buying Zica just because it sounds like Zika virus. Currently in India there are no reported case of Zika but who knows what will happen 1 month down the line. If it hits us badly then that would be a disaster for Tata.

Also, while they have spent a bit promoting Zica brand name, their decision to not launch this car with Zica name has given them a fair amount of free publicity. Also, the crowdsourcing they are doing to gather idea for naming the car from consumers is giving them more mileage.

2016 is an important year for Tata with some brilliant cars like Kite (Zica), Kite 5, Hexa and Nexon to be launched. Nothing can be left to chance, and for once we would want perfection from Tata in everything they do and that is what is reflected in this as well.

[CarNerd]

Since Zica resembles Zika (Virus), Tata can name it Tika (Vaccine in Hindi)
But on a serious note, I think Tata Flop should perfect

[damager21]

Tata has received sufficiently large number of alternatives through crowd-sourcing to replace the name 'Zica'. It is currently in the process of short-listing top names amongst all the suggestions it received.

10 short-listed names will be released next week on their website. In phase 2 starting next week for about about 7 days, Tata will ask users to vote for their favourite name through a poll. The name that receives the highest vote will replace Zica.

First week of March is when the new name will be unveiled with official bookings commencing at the same time. Launch will happen in the last week of March.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by damager21

10 short-listed names will be released next week on their website. In phase 2 starting next week for about about 7 days, Tata will ask users to vote for their favourite name through a poll. The name that receives the highest vote will replace Zica.

Oh man! This is so susceptible to social engineering it isn't even funny. Why would Tata think this as a good idea? If some Anonymous group decided to play with this, they are gonna pick the worst name of the lot and then pile on the votes till they win. Not to mention someone (read: rivals) could specifically ask some companies to register and vote just to push towards a specific non-catchy name.

Are Tata that angry with their internal team that they are leaving it to the choice of the masses?

[swift_guy]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Oh man! This is so susceptible to social engineering it isn't even funny. Why would Tata think this as a good idea? If some Anonymous group decided to play with this, they are gonna pick the worst name of the lot and then pile on the votes till they win. Not to mention someone (read: rivals) could specifically ask some companies to register and vote just to push towards a specific non-catchy name.

Are Tata that angry with their internal team that they are leaving it to the choice of the masses?

Agreed. More than the common man (i.e. masses), voters in this drama would be us limited enthusiasts and many other car companies. Giant market leaders can literally change the fate of Zica by choosing a less-catchy name. Tata's strategy may work against it.

[damager21]

Originally Posted by swift_guy

Agreed. More than the common man (i.e. masses), voters in this drama would be us limited enthusiasts and many other car companies. Giant market leaders can literally change the fate of Zica by choosing a less-catchy name. Tata's strategy may work against it.

Let's not forget that in the first place, Tata will be selecting top 10 names. So they will put up only those names with which they are comfortable. Secondly, the voting will be happening on their website and hence they will have access to all the data in terms of IP address of people who visited the site and who participated. I am sure they would be able to figure out if competition is playing foul. There is a high possibility that one may require to register or use social login before participating.

Lastly, given that this voting is happening on their platform, there is always a possibility that Tata has already selected the name and internally they can just inflate the number of votes for the name of their choice. Does not matter what competition is doing.

I am not saying that they will do this but they do have control.

[DriveOnceMore]

Tata always meets such unfortunate situation , but this time they are taking precautionary measure which is good indeed.

It is better to scrap some brochures n nameplates than scrapping of complete car project.

[AtheK]

also what actually would they lose, paper can easily be recycled. Some printing cost, which would be negligible.

Zica name has Z for zest and i for indica, all of badges can be easily reused.

I agree with their approach, they really need to get people involved. Zest being a great car has not done well, bolt never took off. This might just help them a bit more.

[sandeepmdas]

They wasted a very good name -IRIS- by applying it to a joke of a vehicle.

Now they can rename the Zica as Karma. Tata Karma.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

They wasted a very good name -IRIS- by applying it to a joke of a vehicle.

Now they can rename the Zica as Karma. Tata Karma.

Why can't they use the name Pixel?

[RSR]

The three names that have made it to the final round of voting have been chosen. They are:

1) Civet

2) Tiago

3) Adore

Choose your pick!

Voting is now open on their site (requires login with either Facebook or Twitter or Google).

This is a huge wasted opportunity as far as I'm concerned. They claim to have received 37,000+ names, and they've ended up choosing these three not-so-catchy ones. Even Zica sounds better than these three!

I heartily appreciated them for turning an unpleasant situation (with a name resembling the Zika virus) into a huge marketing opportunity, but they've managed to make a mess of it.

None of the three names is special in any manner. IMHO, a golden opportunity has been squandered!

[Chetan_Rao]

If those really are the choices, I've got a new one for them. Name it 'Whatever!' because that's the exact reaction it's going to get with names from that list.

[blackasta]

Tiago sounds the most suitable of the lot.
Civet is a nocturnal animal and Adore is just another verb.