The origins of famous car names

On By George Poland
The origins of famous car names

Everybody’s familiar with the different car names that are on the market but do you know where your favourite car brands got their names from?

 

Aston Martin

Aston Martin has two parts. “Martin” comes from one of the founder’s surnames and “Aston” comes from the Aston Clinton Hill Climb race that took place in Buckinghamshire.

 

Audi

Audi’s founder August Horch didn’t want to name Audi after his surname because his name was already being used in A. Horch & Cie. Motorwagen Werke.

In German, Horch means “listen”, so August Horch decided to use the Latin translation of his surname instead which is “Audi”.

 

BMW

BMW’s roots began in plane engineering where they were named Bayerische Flugzeug-Werke - or Bavarian Plane Manufacturing.

However, in 1917, the manufacturer changed its name to Bayerische Motoren Werke - or Bavarian Motor Work. This was shortened to the famous BMW initialism that we know today.

 

Dacia

The Dacia brand was born in Romania with the company aiming to provide reliable and affordable cars to the Romanian population.

Dacia was the name that the Romans gave to the region that is now Romania.

 

Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari founded Ferrari in 1947.

Ferrari derives from the word “ferraro” which means “blacksmith”. This makes it the Italian equivalent of the English surname “Smith” and much like “Smith”, Ferrari is a very common surname in Italy.

 

Fiat

Fiat has two meanings. Firstly it is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino – or Italian automobile factory of Turin. The word “fiat” also means “let it be done” in Latin.

 

Hyundai

In Korean, Hyundai roughly translates to “modernity”. The name was chosen to highlight the company’s ambitions to create cutting-edge cars.

 

Jaguar

Originally named the Swallow Sidecar Company and then later SS Cars, it is thought that Jaguar changed its name in 1945 to prevent people from thinking that the company had any connection to the Nazi SS.

 

Jeep

The Jeep name derives from the military abbreviation GP, which means General Purpose Vehicles. Jeep has a long-standing legacy for creating 4X4s, SUVs and off-road cars.

 

Kia

Kia’s name contains two words. “Ki” means “to rise from” and “A” which is a common way to depict East Asia. When put together the name roughly means “to rise from Asia” which sums up Kia’s objective to sell cars across the globe.

 

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz comes from two people. Karl Benz was the founder of the company that worked with Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler. The company originally went by the name Daimler-Benz.

Once Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler passed away, Emil Jellinek joined the company and helped to create the Mercedes 35hp in 1900. This new car was named after his daughter, Mercedes Jellinek, which means “mercy” in Spanish.

 

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi name is about the company’s three-diamond logo. “Mitsu” means “three” and “Hishi” means “water chestnut” which the Japanese use to describe a diamond shape.

Together the two words are pronounced Mitsubishi.

 

Nissan

Nissan changed its name from Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha - or Automobile Manufacturing Co. Ltd, in 1934. This was when Nihon Sangyo Co. Ltd. became the 100% investor. Nissan is just the abbreviation of this company name.

 

Subaru

Subaru is the Japanese translation for the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus. The 6-star constellation inspired the iconic logo.

 

Tesla

Tesla is named after the famous Serbian-American engineer, Nikola Tesla. Tesla was the first man to create the alternating-current motor.

 

Toyota

Toyota began as a company that made looms, not cars. Toyoda Automatic Loom Works set up a separate motor division in 1933 and held a competition to create a new company logo.

The Toyoda family then realised that by tweaking the name to Toyota, just 8 brush strokes were needed instead of 9. This lucky number 8 was thought to bring luck and prosperity to the company.

 

Volkswagen

Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by Hitler’s Nazi government. The name means “The People’s Car Company” and was a reflection of the government’s push for German nationalism at the time.

 

Volvo

Volvo stems from the Latin first-person conjugation of the word “volvere”, which when directly translated means “I roll”.