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Interesting Trivia on Car Names in India

2nd July 2023, 15:06 by Ananth Iyer

It may seem like there's some deep-rooted meaning behind Mahindra ending all its car names with the letter 'O'. However, it was purely due to the fact that two Mahindra vehicles, the Scorpio and Bolero became immensely popular.

For most of us, the automobile journey started off by being able to name any car on the road. That’s how important car names are! A good name may not be able to save a bad car from its eventual fate of being a flop, but it will surely be stuck in the minds of car enthusiasts for a long time. So, here’s a list of some interesting car name trivia, and mind you that this is just a start. Requesting you to please contribute with additional points on car names. Do check out the Fun & Interesting Trivia on the Indian Car Scene thread too.

Most popular alphabet for car names - Surprisingly the letter 'C' is the most popular when naming cars followed by the letter 'S'. The letters 'A' and 'T' are the next most popular letters.

Mahindra’s obsession with the letter ‘O’: It may seem like there's some deep-rooted meaning behind Mahindra ending all its car names with the letter 'O'. However, it was purely due to the fact that two Mahindra vehicles, the Scorpio and Bolero became immensely popular. They just thought it was lucky and carried on with it as a tradition.

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Iconic names - We’ve had some really iconic car names that will be remembered for a very long time. Some of them are Fortuner, Thar, Safari, Scorpio, Ambassador, City, etc.

New Generation, New Name - Manufacturers have sold a car and the new generation car alongside in the market with different names.

Skoda Octavia - Laura

The Octavia was Skoda’s first car in India, and it did quite well for itself. When the second-gen car was being introduced, Skoda used the Laura name and sold both generation cars alongside each other with the Laura being priced at a premium. This didn’t work out that well for Skoda and the Octavia numbers dropped, leading to it being discontinued. Skoda then brought back the Octavia moniker with the third-gen car.

Hyundai Accent - Verna

Hyundai introduced the internationally second-generation Accent in India. Interestingly, it was called Verna in South Korea and Accent in India. When the new generation Accent came to India, it was rebadged as Verna and the previous generation Accent was sold alongside. Hyundai decided to carry on the Verna name for the upcoming generations of its C2 segment sedan.

Using Nostalgia - Bringing back a car name that has worked in the past is a good strategy. However, it does not work every time.

The Maruti Zen managed to create a niche for itself during its time. The Zen Estilo in no way resembled the old car and people didn’t relate to it the way they did with the original Zen. As a result, the car was a flop.

The Tata Safari had a cult following in its time. After considering various names for the 7-seater Harrier, Tata decided to bring back its tried and trusted nameplate.

Maruti Grand Vitara is a legendary name in Indian Motorsport history. While the car was discontinued, it carried on the legacy in the international market. Maruti introduced a sub-4 m SUV and named it Vitara Brezza. Its next generation dropped the Vitara name and Maruti introduced an all-new product with the Grand Vitara moniker.

Keeping it in the family - We’ve seen manufacturers stick to the names of successful products. Here are a few examples -

The Hyundai i10 was a strong performer in its segment. Hence the following generations carried the name with Grand i10 and then Grand i10 Nios.

The Toyota Innova has seen massive success in the Indian market. This led to its successors being called the Innova Crysta and most recently, the Innova Hycross.

Mahindra took a similar approach to the Scorpio. Since the new generation Scorpio was a major revamp, they decided to name it ‘Scorpio-N’ which is just brilliant.

The Toyota-Tata Harrier - When Tata wanted to showcase the 7-seater Harrier at the Geneva motor show in 2019, they couldn’t use the Harrier name. Since the Harrier name is trademarked by Toyota globally. Hence, Tata called it the Buzzard concept at the motor show, which was later called Gravitas. In 2021, Tata decided to bring back the ‘Safari’ moniker.

Ford - Mahindra Scorpio - Similar to the previous point, Ford had been selling the Scorpio sedan in the European market. So, when Mahindra wanted to sell their Scorpio in Europe, they had to rename it since the trademark was with Ford. Hence, Mahindra sold the Scorpio as 'Goa' in Europe.

Zica – Zika fiasco - Tata’s small car was codenamed ‘Kite’ during development. While naming, Tata finalized the name Zica which was short for “Zippy Car”. Then out of pure misfortune, the launch of the car coincided with the outbreak of the Zika virus. In order to avoid any negative impact due to the similarity of the names, Tata decided to call the car ‘Tiago’ after Thiago - son of Tata's then brand ambassador, Lionel Messi.

Names with a story

Premier Padmini – Was named after the 14th-century Rajput princess Padmini (also known as Padmavati).

Skoda Kushaq – The name Kushaq is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Kushak’ which means ‘King’.

Skoda Kodiaq – The name comes from Kodiak Island, Alaska which is home to the largest brown bear.

Pattern names

Volkswagen names some of its cars after different winds - The Polo refers to ‘polar winds’, Vento means 'wind' in both Italian and Portuguese, Passat means ‘trade wind’, Jetta is German for ‘jet stream’ and Golf refers to ‘Gulf stream’.