These Cars Sure Could Use Better Names

By Auto Parts Warehouse on November 7, 2014

Cars spend years in development before they ever see the light of day. With all that time, you’d think car manufacturers would be able to think of great or at least appropriate names for their new vehicles. The thing is that doesn’t always happen.

Here are some examples of cars that could use much better names:

Volkswagen Thing

Source: Wikipedia

This thing (hehehe), primarily developed for military use, was called the Kurierwagen in Germany, the trekker in the UK, the Safari in Mexico, and the Pescaccia in Italy. Why they decided to call it the “Thing” when it was sold here is beyond us.

Ford Probe

Source: Wikipedia

We think Ford was trying to make people remember the space program when they decided to name this the Probe. What happened instead was it reminded people of what aliens from space might do to them if they got abducted. The car’s shape did not help things…at all.

Daihatsu Naked

Source: Wikipedia

The idea was to expose the car’s nuts, bolts, and hinges to make it appear rugged and, you guessed it, naked. How or why they even thought of that, we have no idea.

AMC Gremlin

Source: Wikipedia

Merriam-Webster defines a gremlin as “a small imaginary creature that is blamed when something (such as a machine) does not work properly.” That’s all you need to know.

Ford Ka

Source: Wikipedia

It’s a small car with an equally small name that doesn’t really make much sense. Even Ford’s own media office apparently doesn’t know what the correct pronunciation of “Ka” is. Okay.

Hyundai Veloster

Source: Wikipedia

To be honest, we quite like the Veloster. It’s a fun and quirky ride that actually looks nice. Still, we ask, what in the world does Veloster mean?

Volkswagen Touareg

Source: Wikipedia

This SUV is named after the Tuareg, a nomadic, Berber-speaking people who live in parts of Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria. That’s fine, to be honest. The problem is that no one actually knows how to pronounce it properly. VW even spent money on ads to help people pronounce the name correctly.

Subaru BRAT

Source: Wikipedia

Sure, it’s short for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter, but that’s not what comes to mind when you hear the word brat.

Ford Escort, Mazda Laputa

Source: Wikipedia

These cars have names that don’t exactly have nice connotations, the Escort in English and the Laputa in Spanish. Let’s just leave it at that.

And there you have it, a bunch of cars that need much better names. Do note that we like some of the vehicles listed above, which is why we hope they got names that were a little nicer. As always, this list is not complete. There are a lot more cars out there that also need better names, and if you spot any, just send them in!

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