What's in a Name? not much people would say, but actually, names are VERY important, ESPECIALLY when It comes to cars..... Don't buy it? what if Ford had tried to market the Mustang with it's corporate internal Designation of "SN95"? would it have sold as much??
Try to Imagine Buddy Guy singing "SN 95 Sally" and you'll get what i'm driving at.....
but honestly, car makers nowadays don't pay that much attention to car names...... look at europe, all the car names from there are basically Alpha-Numeric Soup: 545i, E63 AMG, 166, 407 etc etc....... not really very creative is it?
Japan on the other hand, has a long tradition of coming up with very interesting names for cars, most of which rarely (if ever) make literal sense in English..... this is supposedly because jap car names only have to produce a "harmonious sound" to be accepted...... (so we have names like Supra, Celica, Allion, Verossa, Tidia, Fuga etc)
but they also have a Knack of having some total Nutter Names..... and so without further ado..... taken from the Car and Driver account of the 1995/6 Tokyo Motor Show.... we have (All Real btw, no one can make THESE Up)
THE CRAZIEST CAR NAMES ON THE PLANET
Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear Cruising Active
Suzuki Every Joy Pop Turbo
Subaru Domingo Aladdin
Subaru Sambar Dias Astonish!!! (the "!"s are part of the name)
Mazda Bongo Friendee
Daihatsu Rugger Field Sports Resin Top
Mitsubishi Libero RVR Super Wild Gear...
Toyota Midship Runabout 2 Seater
Interesting? it gets better..... concept cars provide op for further madness.... Mitsubishi being the prime perpetrator.....
the HSR series were interesting performance concepts, but their names stood for "Harmonious Science Research Vehicle"
but that sounds normal in comparison to the GAUS and MAUS concepts which mean, respectively....
Global Adventure Utility System & Mini Active Urban Sandal (I am NOT making this up and please don't ask how Footwear got involved )
but the Grand Prize Award winner is Isuzu.... for variations of the vehicle known to us as the Trooper.....
These are domestic models btw, there are two of 'em.
the first is the Bighorn Izon which sounds okay.....
what takes the cake is variant number two, the MU Wizard.... sounds fairly sane right? but then we wonder, what does the MU stand for??
the Answer?
....................................
..................................
.................................
"Mysterious Utility"
Are these guys priceless or what??