[Dante]

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.

Nice one man that's a punjabi tone. Mruttee... .

[Abhay]

Most car names (now in India) but also world-over are taken from Spanish or Italian languages (basically the words have Latin roots) hence the presence of so many "vowels" at the end.

"Most" italian/spanish nouns end in o/a depending on being masculine/feminine.

[girishglg]

Another story of car names ending with vowel 'o'

Most of you would know this but sharing this anyways for those who don't. Do you know why M & M calls it XUV500 as XUV Five Double O

As Mahindra stated earlier XUV500 is an SUV for Generation X hence 'X' replaced 'S'. Being the 5th Mahindra SUV, internal code SUV W201 was finally christened XUV Five Double O as it is similar to other Mahindra rides such as Bolero, Scorpio, Xylo and again Verito all end with an "o".

Apparently it is a lucky charm for the Mahindras ever since they launched vehicles with names ending with an "o" starting with the first one -Bolero!

[carwatcher]

Can someone throw some light as to why the Thar is not named in the typical Mahindra style ending with 'O'.
Posted the question sometime back on Thar test drive thread but didn't get the answer.
I guess it has to be some interesting story.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Can someone throw some light as to why the Thar is not named in the typical Mahindra style ending with 'O'.
Posted the question sometime back on Thar test drive thread but didn't get the answer.
I guess it has to be some interesting story.

Thinking of it, "Tharo" (read it in bihari/gujarati style) Probably because DB sir was concentrating on making it a better performing vehicle than just being better sounding.

[carwatcher]

Team-BHPians think alike.
I got the same answers last time as well. Read the back to back posts.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post2752558

The original question got lost in sarcasm.

[bivision]

After reading this interesting thread, I thought of collating meaning/origin of the car names from internet, for those cars that are non-English or combination of words (excluding obvious English words, or alphanumeric character based names). I will post my finding shortly.

[bivision]

I am compiling here origin/meaning of popular car names running in Indian market, for BHPians’ light read.

Names can be categorized in four types:
1) Obvious English or common words – Indica, Esteem, Swift, Wagon, Urban Cruiser, Sonet, Venue, Aura, Scorpio, Thar, Punch, Safari, Duster, Fortuner, Carnival, City, Jazz, Amaze, Polo, Kicks etc
2) Phonetically English words - Dzire(=Desire), Innova (=innovation) etc
3) Alphanumeric combinations – XUV*00, i10/20, EV6, WR-V etc
4) Non-English or uncommon English or derived names. Below are lists of those with origin/meaning.
Disclaimer: Data sourced from Wikipedia. For other sources, links are added. For few, I left it blank for which reliable sources are not found.

Maruti:
Alto: "alto" is a musical term. A musical part or section higher than tenor and lower than soprano, formerly the part that performed a countermelody above the tenor or main melody.
Baleno: means "lightning" in Italian.
Ertiga: coined from "R-tiga", a pronunciation of "R3" in Indonesian where "tiga" means "three" while "R" stands for "row", referencing its three-row seating capacity.
Ignis: The word "ignis" is Latin for "fire"
Vitara Brezza, Grand Vitara, Brezza: the name "Vitara" is derived from English word "vital," as in "vitality," while the name "Brezza" means "breeze" in Italian.
S-presso: the name S-Presso is inspired from the coffee drink – Espresso which Maruti believes resonates with its target audience's lifestyle. Link
Eeco: --
Ciaz: The "Ciaz" name stands for "Comfort, Intelligence, Attitude and Zeal", or "City from A to Z".

Hyundai: Mostly named after places
Santro: from Saint-Tropez, a French city famous for fashion, because the company wanted to project it as a ‘fashionable’ car.
Nios: The name 'NIOS' means 'More' Link
Creta: named after the Crete island in Greece. The name is also intended to suggest connections with "creative".
Tuscon: named after the city of Tucson, Arizona. Tucsón [tukˈson], is derived from the O'odham Cuk Ṣon [tʃʊk ʂɔːn], meaning "(at the) base of the black [hill]"
Verna: --
Kona: named after the western district of the island of Hawaiʻi. The company stated the name "reflects the lifestyle of modern customers"
Elantra: from the word “elation;” reflects the vehicle's ability to lift one's spirits when driven. Link
Alcazar: refers to castles and/or palaces built in and around Spain between the eight and 15th centuries. Link

Mahindra:
Bolero: --
Marazzo: derived from a Spanish word of Basque origin which translates into 'shark' in English. Link
Alturas: means 'heights' Link

Tata:
Nexon: --
Altroz: inspired by name of bird species, Albatross.
Harrier: named for the eastern marsh harrier, a bird of prey
Tigor: -- (Derived from Tiger?)
Tiago: a common Portuguese masculine name, was picked from suggestions solicited online.

Toyota:
Glanza: German word meaning 'Radiance'. Link
Camry: derives from the Japanese word kanmuri (ja:冠, かんむり), meaning "crown".
Hilux: a combination of "high" and "luxury". Link
Vellfire: derived from "velvet" and "fire" to emphasize "smooth" and "passionate" as characteristics of the vehicle.

Kia:
Carens: based on the concept of 'Car + Renaissance', which signifies the beginning of a new era of cars. Link
Seltos: derived from "Celtos", the son of Hercules and Celtine in Greek mythology.

Nissan:
Magnite: is a portmanteau of the words "magnetic" and "ignite".

Volkswagen:
Vitrus: from Latin and means valor, courage, manliness, character, excellence and worth. Link
Taigun: --
Tiguan: is a portmanteau of the German words Tiger ("tiger") and Leguan ("iguana")
Vento: 'wind' in both Italian and Portuguese.