[Murugan]

Originally Posted by Mayavi

J.C and K.C Mahindra

Mahindra & Mahindra was originally Mahindra & Mohammed

Mahindra Newsletter

Mahindra & Mohammed was set up on October 2nd, 1945 by the Mahindra brothers along with Ghulam Mohammed. The company's main asset was a franchise for assembling jeeps from Willys, USA. The company underwent a change of name after Ghulam Mohammed migrated to Pakistan post Partition. He went on to become the first Finance Minister of Pakistan and Mahindra & Mohammed was renamed Mahindra & Mahindra. The Company commenced its steel trading business in association with suppliers in the UK during the same year.

[vasudeva]

Honda [after Mr. Soichiro Honda, company founder)
Accord ["for the harmony it creates with the driver"]
Acura [variant of Latin acurare 'precise']
Civic ["for the convenience of the world's citizens"]
Isuzu [after the Isuzu River, Japan] (company founded in 1916; assumed present name in 1949)
Mazda [variant of Matsuda, the founder's last name, perhaps suggested by Mazda, the Persian god of light] (founded in 1920; took present name in 1927)
Mitsubishi [Japanese 'three stones', reference to the family crest of the founder Yataro Iwasaki)
Galant [French 'gallant']
Lancer ['English mounted soldier who carried a lance']
Nissan [founded in 1933, name first used in 1934)
Datsun [Den + Aoyoma + Takeuchi, original three financial backers, + sun] (founded in 1933 when its first model name was DAT; in 1984, Nissan officially dropped the Datsun name)
Landcruiser (rough-terrain vehicle, jointly built by Toyota)
Maxima [variant of maximum]
Subaru [Japanese 'unite' and Japanese name for the Pleiades constellation]
Toyota [after Sakichi Toyoda, company founder, Toyoda was changed to T'oyota because the former is written with ten characters in Japanese, and ten is an unlucky number in Japan; Toyota is spelled with a luckier eight characters)
Camry ( 'crown']
Celica [Spanish 'celestial']
Corolla [Spanish 'crown of flowers']
Corona [Spanish 'crown of the sun']
Cressida [Trojan princess and heroine]

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Datsun [Den + Aoyoma + Takeuchi, original three financial backers, + sun]

Hmm. Reminds me of a joke doing the rounds many years ago about how the Datsun name came to be.

It seems the Japanese were good (and fast) about bringing new cars to market, but would be at their wit's end to find suitable names for them, especially names that appeal to the English-speaking world, who would be the target market.

So, they have this car all ready, except for the name and call up the Americans for some name suggestions. The Americans are like, "That soon ?" meaning "You guys came up with a new car that soon?".

The Japanese think that it was a name suggested and take it, after modifying it to the way they would pronounce it ie. Datsun.

[vintagepoint5]

William Robert Morris (Morris)
James Ward Packard (Packard)
Morris Garages (MG)
William Hillman (Hillman)

AUDI (In 1932 amalgamation of four independent Car Manufacturers to one company Audi AG). (Audi, DKW, Horch, Wanderer)

Source: Audi UK > About Audi > History

Mercedes named after daughter of Emil Jellinek, who was car enthusiast
and dealer, for details: Mercedes-Benz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by RPMPKDMFF

The HUMMER evolved from the military HMMWV/Humvee. The Humvee was developed by AM General for the US Military and was named HMMWV, short for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. Due to the diffuculty of calling out the name in both abbreviated or expanded form, it used to referred to as the Humvee or Hummer, later the HUMMER tag was reserved only for the civilian version.

Similar story about the legendary Jeep. It was originally designated as a General Purpose or GP (later evolved in Jeep).

[hillram]

Very Interesting info on this thread..learnt quite a lot of etymology of car names.

[Ravveendrra]

Ok my bits of Trivia -

Tata Sumo - is named after Sumanth Moolgaonkar the ex-MD of Tata Motors.

Toyota conventionally has model names beggining with 'C', e.g. Crown, Corolla, Celica etc.

Leyland named their vehicles after animals and their line-up was referred to as 'the menagarie' by wags.

Austin as well as Morris, named their cars after cities in the UK e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, etc. (Anyone wants to buy a HM-Kolkatta or a Premier-Mumbai?)

Plymouth is named after the port of Plymouth and was allowed to use the crest of that port in the badge of its cars.

GT in a name stands for 'Gran Tourer' or a touring car.

GTO in a name stands for 'Gran Touring Omologation' i.e. a racing car in street legal form built in sufficient numbers to obtain homologation.

Cheers,

[Gasolinejunkie]

A few bike names here – I believe the Honda Blackbird was named after the Lockheed SR71, the world’s fastest plane. And the Hayabusa was named after the peregrine falcon that preys on the Blackbird.
Honda Fireblade was actually a translation mistake from Japanese to English, it was meant to be called Lightening.

Anyone know what Pajero means?

[adityabenz]

how can you forget
Koenigsegg - Christian von Koenigsegg

[pranava999]

The name Mi.To has great evocative resonance for Alfa Romeo, since it was chosen as a sign of a deep-seated link between the past and future of the brand: between Milan, the city of design that brought the car's style into being, and Turin, which will be responsible for its industrial production. A decision that highlights the brand's strong desire to consolidate its Milanese roots.

Source : Alfa Romeo Mi.To alfa romeo mi.to, innovative, car, name, history, sign, link, past, future, brand, milan, city, design, style

[pranava999]

Here's a lovely and historical link to the origin of the 'jeep' name. Some lovely photos as well of the early jeeps

Jeep Name History

The first use of “jeep”, for instance. is shrouded in mist. Jim Allen, the author of a book called “Jeep,” concludes that it’s based on early World War II slang for "a new unproven recruit or a new unproven vehicle."

The legendaryJaguar name is considered one of the best sports car names of all time. It beat out a long list of lackluster animal names compiled by a British ad agency in 1935. In 1939, Ford struck gold with Mercury, the fleet-footed messenger of the gods. It tapped into Greek and Roman mythology for the name, just as it did for the similarly styled Lincoln Zephyr, the god of the wind, three years earlier.

Source: History of Famous Car Brands

[quickdraw]

I remember my Spanish teacher mentioning that a lot of car names are spanish.

Cielo, Astra etc etc to name a few.

[condor]

pranava999 : The first use of “jeep”, for instance. is shrouded in mist. Jim Allen, the author of a book called “Jeep,” concludes that it’s based on early World War II slang for "a new unproven recruit or a new unproven vehicle."

Jeep = evolution of saying "GP" ..
GP = General Purpose (vehicle)

[girishglg]

Moved to http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ml#post2557394

Mods please delete this post

[volkman10]

Audi registers new future model names


New registrations suggest Audi is readying high-performance versions of forthcoming Q2, as well as a Q9 SUV and a fuel cell-powered Audi A7.

The most notable is the registration of "SQ2", which would presumably be a high-performance version of the forthcoming compact SUV that could be called the Q2. Audi has previously previewed a concept version of such a car, in the form of the Crosslane Coupé, in 2012.

In a similar vein, "SQ4" - based on the planned rival to the Range Rover Evoque, the Q4 - has been trademarked.

Audi has also seemingly confirmed its plans to expand its SUV line-up further with an application to trademark "Q9", tallying with reports of of a large luxury model that would sit above the current Audi Q7.

The "f-tron" name has also been trademarked, suggesting that Audi may be considering a series production car that utilises fuel cell power.


Source: Autocar