Steering A Name
How do car
companies name their new models? A look at the art and science of auto
nomenclature
Have you heard of Trumpchi? No, it has got nothing to
do with US President Donald Trump. In fact, this popular Chinese car was
launched in 2010, long before Trump took over the reins. But, now, its company
GAC Group is planning a US rollout and it has a tiny problem to sort out — the
name.
Last year, Tata Motors too ran into a name problem.
As it was readying its hatchback Zica for a launch, the Zika virus was
threatening to derail the Rio Olympics. Not surprisingly, the company abandoned
the name. It rolled out a crowdsourcing campaign, finally zeroing in on Tiago.
Tesla, too, has an interesting backstory for the
recently launched Model 3. Founder Elon Musk, in fact, wanted to have a Model
S, a Model X and a Model E. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, just
shuffle the letters around and you get a naughty word. But Ford Motor, that
claims ownership of Model E trademark, played spoilsport. Tesla threw in the
towel in 2014, settling for a mundane Model 3. Musk didn’t get quite “SEX” but
something close enough: S3X. The century-old automobile industry is ripe for
disruption. Internal combustion engine faces an existential threat. With Tesla
as its cheerleader, electric vehicles or EVs promise a new clean era in the
gasoline-guzzling Motown. The centre of gravity has shifted to Asia, with China
leading the way. Amid this shift, the brand-naming ritual — loaded with history
and geography, legacy and linguistics — too is getting a 21st century makeover.
The naming journey began simply enough with Ford
Motor’s Model A, B and then the historic T (launched in 1908, it was the first
affordable car) in the early 20th century. Over the years, model-naming has
become a complex affair. The most popular are words that convey a feeling —
like (Maruti) Swift or (Honda) Jazz. Creating new words (like Toyota’s Camry)
that sound good but have no particular meaning is gaining traction. Some
companies are reviving old retired names too — think Cherokee.
Two trends, however, stand out. In the era of
constant updates, alphanumeric names — hitherto a preserve of luxury carmaker —
is gaining popularity. In India, M&M has rolled out KUV100, TUV300 and
XUV500.
“There is a certain amount of premium-ness to
alphanumeric brand names,” says Veejay Nakra, senior vicepresident (sales &
marketing), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M).
Dominance of China, in total car sales and among EVs,
is affecting nomenclature too. Mandarin has unique phonetic and grammatical
nuances. “Brand names at times don’t sound the same in Chinese language. Or,
meanings will have a different spin. This is forcing carmakers to rethink their
brand names in China,” says Kavan Mukhtyar, partner (automotive), PWC India.
A Century-old Journey
In the auto industry where speed, power and passion
are all important, model names are as much about science as art. Motown has
come up with names both imaginative and stupid, iconic and bizarre, historic
and funny. How about Daihatsu Naked or the punworthy Nissan Homy Super Long?
Or, Mitsubishi Lettuce and Mini Active Urban Sandal?
Some are historical accidents.
Iconic Willys jeep is believed to have been a
shorthand for GP or general purpose vehicle but became a cult brand name.
Volkswagen has a bias for wind names like Scirocco, Passat, Jetta, while
Lamborghini has a preference for bull names. Ford likes names beginning with F
like Focus, Fusion and Fiesta, especially for its core models. Some are simply
founders’ fancy like Nissan Fairlady, inspired by the Broadway musical My Fair
Lady.
Sports carmaker Porsche believes some dreams are
difficult to capture in words hence has a three-digit code like Porsche 911.
But French carmaker Peugeot has trademarked all numbers with zero in the middle
thus preventing Porsche from having 901.
There is a continental divide. European carmakers
tend to go for alphanumeric names, led by Mercedes Benz. Among its first cars
that came out in the 1920s was Mercedes-Benz 770K, named after its 7.7 litre
engine. Today, most luxury carmakers, including BMW and Audi, follow an
alphanumeric naming system. Audi uses A, Q, S and R followed by 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8: the greater the number, the bigger the size of the car. A denotes Audi’s
sedan range, Q stands for its SUV range and R for sportscars. Recently, Audi
added a complicated tweak to its model names adding two numerals to
sub-classify different performance levels of the engine.
It was in the 1930s and the 1940s, in the backdrop of
World War II, that automakers like Studebaker rolled out models like the
Commander, the President and even the Dictator. American companies started
using word names as a brand differentiator. But by the 1980s, many words were
copyrighted and companies went for neologisms like Toyota Camry and Mitsubishi
Starion. Automakers have a special fondness for letters like Q (Qashqai) and K
(Karoq) that have a rugged resonance and are especially relevant for the SUV
segment. Companies now often prefix letters ‘e’ and ‘i’ to connote electric and
hybrid cars respectively.
Meaning in Mandarin
It is easy to get lost in translation in China, so
automakers have to be extremely careful with names. Mandarin not only has over
40,000 symbols, it is also a tonal language which means the meaning changes
with the tone. Which is why literal translation into Chinese can be tricky.
Phonetic approximation is an option, especially if the word is easy to remember
and has a positive connotation. That is why Mercedes-Benz is called B nchÃ,
which means to speed, in China.
China’s size and scale — the world’s largest car
market sold 28 million cars in 2016 — means it gets a lot of focused attention
in automakers’ naming conventions. Global MNCs must have joint ventures with
local companies to operate in China. Among the largest selling models is
Baojun, owned by a joint venture of GM, SAIC and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile.
They have also created a China-specific brand called Wuling.
Similarly, VW’s Jetta is called Sagitar in China.
The India Track
Cars on Indian roads mostly carry their global names.
“The model name stands for a set of values. You can’t keep changing it,” says
Subhabrata Ghosh, founder, Celsius 100 Innovation Consulting. “At Toyota, all
car models have a global name and we don’t do any local name,” says N Raja,
senior vice-president, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
It is different at Mahindra & Mahindra. Till
Bolero, model naming was mostly about gut feeling, copyright and trademark
clearances. Linking model names with the character of the brand is a recent
phenomenon. Scorpio was the model’s project name but by the time of launch, the
hype and brand awareness around it was so high that M&M kept the name. “We
love the alphabet ‘O’. It works for us — Cheeto, Bolero, Scorpio. Recently, we
have developed some liking for alphanumeric names like TUV100, KUV100,” Nakra
adds.
Tata Motors has taken a slightly different
trajectory. When it forayed into passenger cars in the 1990s, insiders say that
Ratan Tata wanted to have ‘Indi’ as a prefix, resulting in Indica and Indigo.
But as Indian firms increasingly look at tapping the global markets, they are
moving away from India-specific names. “We are far more sensitive to a global
image and are considerably moving away from traditional names like Indica to
have a more global model name,” says Vivek B Srivatsa, head, sales and
marketing, Tata Motors.
With Motown India set to become the world’s third largest
by 2020, expect this global flavour to gain momentum.
Malini Goyal
ETM3DEC17
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