[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by amith.2974

I mean it in the nicest way possible when i say, this has to be the weirdest thread i have come across on t-bhp.

Makes for a refreshing change compared to the usual car threads. By the way, does Figo mean anything? Googled it and got nothing interesting straightaway.

[wildon]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

One common consensus that seems to be appearing is that most manufacturers want their car names to sound feminine, or it may be because of the language of origin (e.g. Italian) where most words tend to end with a vowel.

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Well what about car companies? Carmakers with names ending in vowels like Maruti, Honda, Toyota, Mahindra, Hyundai etc. sell a lot of cars. Whereas Ford, Fiat, VW etc. sell relatively few. I could be on to something here...

So to control all these females you need a male.
Vowel = Female
consonants= Male

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

In the English dictionary, the credit for the maximum number of words beginning with a particular letter goes to the letter 'S'.

No wonder why GENERAL MOTOR'S' ruled these females over the last 76 years. I think he lost his pick up now. So now the Female is on top. Toyot'a'
OMG where this going

[McLaren Rulez]

^ Its going in a very entertaining way! But seriously, should SUVs be given a more masculine name and therefore end it with a consonant? While small cars are more feminine and so should end with vowels? And cars like the Captiva are.. ahem.. in between?

[Edsel Rulez!]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

By the way, does Figo mean anything? Googled it and got nothing interesting straightaway.

Figo/fico means "cool" or "groovy" in Italian slang. The female form (figa/fica) is sometimes used in a complimentary way, but it's wiser not to, since it has vulgar connotations (think of an English four-letter word beginning with c and ending with t). That's probably why there is no car called the Fiat Figa. But it's quite possible that Ford or GM might launch one in all innocence someday.

[gomzi]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Today's cars (at least a large majority of them) have names that end with a vowel, most commonly 'a' and 'o' - such as
Astra
Corolla
Cedia
Optra
Verna
Versa
Indica
Vista
Innova
Tavera
Laura
Octavia

Indigo
Palio
Scorpio
Bolero
Xylo
Alto
Santro
Cielo
Sumo
Estilo

Omni
Safari
Maini

...
...
...

Can anyone offer any explanation for this? What forms the basis for selection of names for a car?

great offbeat topic, woke me up after the Sing GP!

I put a little bit of (drunk?) thought to it and I noticed when pronouncing the car names aloud the ones ending with a vowel roll off the tongue easier! Or maybe that was the JD talking.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by Edsel Rulez!

Figo/fico means "cool" or "groovy" in Italian slang. The female form (figa/fica) is sometimes used in a complimentary way, but it's wiser not to, since it has vulgar connotations (think of an English four-letter word beginning with c and ending with t). That's probably why there is no car called the Fiat Figa. But it's quite possible that Ford or GM might launch one in all innocence someday.

Well figa does sound like a rapper saying figure. Pretty obvious and does have a vulgar feel. But I wouldn't put it past GM or Ford to do it anyway

[susan3004]

Originally Posted by gomzi

great offbeat topic, woke me up after the Sing GP!

I put a little bit of (drunk?) thought to it and I noticed when pronouncing the car names aloud the ones ending with a vowel roll off the tongue easier! Or maybe that was the JD talking.

That seems to be the obvious reason. Names ending with these vowels are easier to spell and sound clear.

[herculesksp]

In India most of the female names end with 'a' or 'i'. We could probably say that female names end with vowels. In that case, thank heavens Maruti didn't end the 'definitely male' car with a vowel and chose to end it with 4.

Interesting and funny that the Baleno(which the SX4 replaced) is among the feminine named cars. So a male car replaced a female car? :P

[MARCUS_520i]

Originally Posted by wildon

Vowel = Female
consonants= Male

In that case, which gender do all the Mercs and Bimmers belong to??

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by MARCUS_520i

In that case, which gender do all the Mercs and Bimmers belong to??

Err.. Male? Since the main Mercs are something-class while the main BMWs are something - series.

[mpescatori]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Well figa does sound like a rapper saying figure. Pretty obvious and does have a vulgar feel. But I wouldn't put it past GM or Ford to do it anyway

OK, allow me to say something obvious and something not-so obvious, and end with something ob-nox-ious.

1) Car names are decided after a team of overpaid,underworked "consultants" who sometimes have little idea of what they're doing decide which name will be best suited to get the potential customer to like their car and want to buy one.
Examples:
Maserati always named their cars after strong desert winds: Khamsin, Bora, Merak...
Lamborghini after its Spanish successes: Jarama, Espada, Miura...
Austin after the dresses of its secretaries: Mini, Midi, Maxi...

2) The "problem" came when Japanes eand Korean manufacturers weren't happy with the excellent US and Asian markets, and wanted to expand into Europe;
sometimes, names which sound sexy in the USA (but mean absolutely nothing at all) are downright hilarious in Europe, or have embarrassing second meanings:
Examples:
-Suzuki Ignis; Ignis being a washing machine in Italy!
- Hyunday Sonata: "sonata" being not just a melody, but also meaning "woman stinking drunk" in Italian !!
- Mitsubishi Pajero/ Montero (Shogun in the USA) "pajero" meaning a teenager enjoying some "private time" with himself, and "montero`" (with highlighted accent) meaning
"I [hope] will have some S3X" in Italian slang !!!
- Toyota MR2, in French you read it "MeRDe" it sound too much like "sh!t"

3) Then, there's the case for a lawsuit for plagiarism, or a cultural uprising:
- Maserati Bora was a Porsche-beating supercar of the '60s;
- VW Bora is a VW Golf/Rabbit with a boot...
- Hyundai (or is it KIA?) Schuma is an evident hint to F1 champ M.Schumacher... to bad the car is a slo-o-ow family saloon, rather than a hot sports car...

Sometimes the "name calling" should be left to the National Importer... just to save them from an embarrassing situation.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by susan3004

Names ending with these vowels are easier to spell and sound clear.

Not too sure about that... Tata's SOMU is better recognised than the Sumo, the Omni is still called simply the VAN, Maruti continues to be degraded to MRUTTEE in North India, Hyundai never rhymed with Sunday in India, and BHPians much prefer SCORP to Scorpio.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Not too sure about that... Tata's SOMU is better recognised than the Sumo, the Omni is still called simply the VAN, Maruti continues to be degraded to MRUTTEE in North India, Hyundai never rhymed with Sunday in India, and BHPians much prefer SCORP to Scorpio.

I've heard it called the Suma instead.

The van is easier to remember than Omni for the average person.

As for Hyundai, I've no idea what the correct one is. Its called Hunday in the US, Haayundai in some parts of Europe and the regular Hyundai in Asia. Interestingly, I know a Korean chap and he calls it Hyundai, just like the Indian and Asian way of calling it.

And BHPians using Scorp is to shorten it. You don't hear them call it Scorpion!

[Edsel Rulez!]

Originally Posted by wildon

Vowel = Female
consonants= Male

Actually, in many European languages, a word ending in O is male while A is female. So Punto, Scorpio and Alto seem masculine, while Laura, Cedia, Linea etc. sound feminine.

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by Edsel Rulez!

Figo/fico means "cool" or "groovy" in Italian slang.

Is that so? I simply thought that "Go Fida" got shortened and inverted