[KkVaidya]

I remember the Tata SUMO being short for Sumant Moolgaonkar, the then CEO of TELCO (Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co.)
The name was befit to the vehicle.

[aviator1101]

Mitsubishi Pajero is quite a funny name. For the same reason it's sold as Montero in other countries especially Spain.

[Iconoclast]

Originally Posted by GTO

The luxury German marques avoid using names like Polo, Civic, Innova etc. which can mean different things in different languages. They stick with an alphanumeric naming style that can be deployed across the world, in almost all countries. E.g. S500, 530d, A6 etc. This is the simplest & the best IMHO.

Whilst I agree with what you say; this might also have something to do with the fact that in case of regular mass market car manufacturers; cars targeted across a broad range of customer segments are made - for e.g. a Hyundai makes i10 right up till the Azera (though not sold here). So I guess this necessitates each nameplate/brand to have its own distinct identity and positioning and hence marketing, advertising, communication etc. So the thinking is that whilst the umbrella brand (Hyundai, Honda, VW etc.) would have a certain identity; OEMs clearly focus more on individual nameplates and their identity.

In case of the luxury car makers on the other hand; OEMs focus largely on building the larger umbrella brand and reinforcing the positioning across the range; we see this in the German luxury carmakers or even the likes of Lexus/Genesis. Whilst I absolutely understand that the range of cars manufactured by these are also very wide and the buyer profile for 3 Series might be very different vs 7 Series; both sets of buyers are essentially buying the umbrella brand and what it stands for.

Hence when someone buys a mass market car; people would say he bought a Nexon/Creta/City and not Tata/Hyundai/Honda.

But when someone buys a C220d/A4/330i; they will say he bought a Mercedes/Audi/BMW.

[AutoDowntowner]

wow, because of this post, I remembered a very old anecdote & I am just smiling now.
It was 2003 when I was doing Automobile Engg in Mumbai. My room partner-1 saw a car named Ford Scorpio on the streets of Dadar and told us about such car when he came back to our hostel room. So my another room partner-2 started laughing at him & said 'how is that possible when we already have Mahindra Scorpio'? No.1 tried to convince no.2 a lot about it but he was just laughing at him. I intervened & said that it is possible that Ford Scorpio can exist in some other country, but still no.2 was not accepting it.
They both went into betting upon this topic for some big amount.
Time passed, we all forgot that topic. After few weeks I was sitting at our college's SAE library reading some old automobile books & I stumbled upon a page which had a photo of Ford Scorpio. So it was 2003 with no cell phone with me. I ran to our hostel room & told my both room partners about the book & that page number. I asked them to come with me to the library. So no.1 immediately agreed to come to library as he was about to win the bet, but no.2 started making some excuses. And he never came to the SAE library until our course in the college was finished . Today's generation with smartphones might find this funny but I still really enjoy those moments.

[Santy19]

Toyota has a very strong affiliation with the word ‘crown’, for example they sell a sedan named “CROWN”, in Japan, North America and even Pakistan.
Then they have their global sedan which sits below Crown in their product portfolio “CAMRY”, its name is derived from “Kanmuri”, which means “crown” in Japanese.
Moving down the order we have “Corolla”, which mean “little crown” in Latin.

Its also believed the word “LEXUS” is an acronym for LUXURY EXPORT US
Nonetheless, Lexus naming is very conventional where,
LS = Luxury Sedan
IS = Intelligent Sedan
ES = Executive Sedan
GS = Grand Sedan
HS = Harmonious Sedan
SC = Sports coupe
RX = Radiant Crossover
LX = Luxury Crossover
NX = Nimble Crossover
GX = Grand Crossover

Only thing that annoys me is numeric suffix which used to signify the engine capacity in the yesteryear is gone and now its just a false representation. Not just with Lexus but also with Mercedes

[marsbhp]

Originally Posted by Santy19

Toyota has a very strong affiliation with the word ‘crown’, for example they sell a sedan named “CROWN”, in Japan, North America and even Pakistan.
Then they have their global sedan which sits below Crown in their product portfolio “CAMRY”, its name is derived from “Kanmuri”, which means “crown” in Japanese.
Moving down the order we have “Corolla”, which mean “little crown” in Latin.

They also had a model called "Corona" sold mainly in the JDM and was positioned below the "Crown". The word "Corona" is again Latin for Crown.

From the Wikipedia page on the Toyota Crown:

The Toyota Corona (Japanese: トヨタ・コロナ, Toyota Korona) is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota across eleven generations between 1957 and 2001. On launch, the Corona was Toyota's second-highest product in their range, just below the Crown. The Corona was marketed in the JDM at Toyota's Toyopet Store dealership channels, and the Corona was one of Toyota's first models exported to other global markets, followed by the smaller Toyota Corolla.

[anjan_c2007]

Ambassador model suffixes by Hindustan Motors (HM) are discussed here.

The first model was just named Ambassador. Even the brass with chrome plating OHV badge affixed to older Ambassadors (1958 onwards as it came with the Morris 1476cc, 40 bhp side valve engine till early 1959) was aftermarket. From early 1959, the Ambassador was fitted with it's BMC B Series, OHV 1489cc, 50 bhp engine. Some called it the OHV but this was'nt a company name. But nowadays the oldest ones are called Mark 1, to distinguish the later Marks that Ambassador obtained from HM by virtue of its longevity.

The Mark II was ushered in during November 1963. Incidentally, moving off topic Jawaharlal Nehru then India's PM was gifted the first ever Mark II manufactured, which was black.

Next, we got the Mark 3 in June 1975 that came along with the declaration of emergency in India. It had a Deluxe variant by mid 1978 that was not badged but had extra features ( no AC or PS or PW all pipedreams then) and was priced slightly higher than the standard model.

Around 1978, the Ambassador was offered with an optional 1760 cc OHV engine to facilitate owners fit an AC as aftermarket accessory. There was no badge on the car. This engine was offered for the Mark 4 too but sometime around 1980-81 it was withdrawn falling a victim to "average kya hain?" or "kitna deti hain?" syndrome.

By February 1979, the Mark 4 came along and was marketed as Standard ( no badge) and it also had its non badged Deluxe variant.

Interestingly the Mark II had its Roman II, that HM dropped once for all for the Mark 3 and 4.

Around early 1980, the Mark 4 Diesel with a Diesel badge below Mark 4 on the rear boot appeared. Hence the Mark 4 now had four variants of which only the Diesel had the appended badge below its Mark 4 badge.

Around 1983-84, a new variant badged as the Ambassador Regent was introduced that was priced above the Deluxe model. This model was soon withdrawn due to lack of demand. It offered metallic factory shades.

By 1990, Mark 4 gave way to the Nova. The Nova had Deluxe and diesel variants that had Deluxe and Diesel DX badging. Also around 1992 the Ambassador ISZ 1800 with the 1817 cc, 75 bhp Isuzu petrol engine came along. Auto India road tested this car and called it a wolf in sheep's clothing as it was quite peppy for its times. But the old BMC, OHV engine block of 1489 cc for the diesel and petrol variants too continued.

Then around 1994-95 the DSZ 2000 with the 1995 cc, 55 bhp Isuzu diesel was launched.

Hence there were these many engine options available for the Ambassador to keep bureaucrats, politicians including the Prime Minister and on the other end of the spectrum, the taxi drivers too contented.

By the turn of the millennium the archiac 1489cc BMC diesel was upgraded and sold as the HM Stride engine. But there was no Stride badging. The brochures mentioned Stride, listing the upgradations.

In 1998 the Ambassador also got a Classic badging for both it petrol and diesel variants.

In 2003 came along the Ambassador Grand. It was offered only with the Isuzu petrol and diesel engines, but by 2007 the archiac HM Stride diesel (HM's donkey in metal) was also added. CNG option was also introduced but I feel it was not badged.

By 2004, the Avigo an upmarket option was introduced that was sold till 2010. It came with the Isuzu petrol and diesel engines only.

Despite all the upgradations, hoopla and new model introductions by HM post the turn of the millennium, sales were nowhere as expected post 2010, as despite so many upgraded features Ambassadors were nowhere near the competition.

The last variant to be introduced by HM was the Ambassador Encore in September 2013. It was the age old, BMC B Series diesel again that was upgraded to BS IV norms with AVL Austria's technical inputs and was known as the Stride II. An intercooler TC was added that upped its power to 45 bhp.The BS IV workhorse and best selling (for HM) diesel variant came too late after the norms had been ushered in. By then, sales of some 400-500 cars a month were mostly confined to the Kolkata taxi market and also to cater to government orders all over India. Very few private buyers opted for Ambassadors.

HM declared a lock out on 24.05.2014 when the mighty Ambassador's innings came to an end.

[subie_socal]

Originally Posted by Omkar

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

You forgot to add Chevrolet Beat and Spark. The latter which was the older generation. Chevrolet has some confusing naming schemes in the car industry (due to lotta brands under GM).

I'll share one about my car, the Ritz. Now most of you know, its called the Splash in other markets and Suzuki couldn't use the same name due to Ford having trademarked the name in India. Well fun fact, The Ritz/Splash was also sold as a badge engineered Vauxhall, specifically the Vauxhall Agila B. Now if you're wondering what Vauxhall Agila A was, it was the WagonR (the plus model, as the regular model was a Kei car).

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Ambassador model suffixes by Hindustan Motors (HM) are discussed here.

By the turn of the millennium the archiac 1489cc BMC diesel was upgraded and sold as the HM Stride engine. But there was no Stride badging. The brochures mentioned Stride, listing the upgradations.

HM had decoded the term Stride as Sturdy and Improved Diesel Engine. The power output was marginally improved.



Besides I have forgotten to mention about a variant introduced in 1988. It was the Economy model that came with black painted tail light cover, bumper, headlight ring and even bumpers. The instrumentation was spartan with the speedo and two gauges. As usual it was only badged as a Mark 4. The very few economy models sold were popular with taxi operators (white number plates then).

[beejay]

Tata nano was a really apt name. And in lower case. To add, it looks like a n too.

[bhaskar.guru]

This is a great recount of some great cars in India! Thank you for this trip down the memory lane and also some interesting trivia!

[Hawkeye269]

Originally Posted by GTO

The luxury German marques avoid using names like Polo, Civic, Innova etc. which can mean different things in different languages. They stick with an alphanumeric naming style that can be deployed across the world, in almost all countries. E.g. S500, 530d, A6 etc. This is the simplest & the best IMHO.

True, but trust the Italians to make something as straightforward as a numbering system for naming cars utterly undecipherable. Ferrari - that legendary marque behind the "Prancing Horse" symbol - like to name their models for the tech specs of engines found under the hood... but in a totally haphazard and inconsistent manner!

In it's earliest years, Ferrari used the unitary displacement of the car's engine (capacity divided by number of cylinders) as the model name:


Ferrari 125 S

125 S (1947) (the first Ferrari, or at least the first to bear that fabled moniker, was named after its 1500cc V12 engine): 1500 ÷ 12 = 125
159 S (1947) (developed from the 125 S with an increased engine capacity of 1903 cc): 1903 ÷ 12 = 158.58 ≈ 159
166 (1948): 1995 cc ÷ 12 cylinders = 166.25 ≈ 166
195 (1950): 2341 cc ÷ 12 cylinders = 195.08 ≈ 195
275 (1950): 3300 cc ÷ 12 cylinders = 275
340 (1950): 4101 cc ÷ 12 cylinders = 341.75 ≈ 340
212 (1951): 2560 cc ÷ 12 cylinders = 213.33 ≈ 212 (possibly avoiding the number 13 on account of triskaidekaphobia?)
... and so on.


Ferrari 500 Mondial

But it wasn't just the mighty V12s that followed this naming convention. The first four-cylinder Ferrari, the 500 Mondial (1953), featured a 1985 cc 4-cylinder engine (in case you're wondering, they just rounded up 496.25 to 500).


Ferrari 456

This type of designation continued until the 456 (1992) (5474 cc ÷ 12 cylinders = 456.17 ≈ 456) was replaced by the 612 Scaglietti (2004), a car penned by Pininfarina that continued the great Ferrari 2+2 tradition in fabulous style and which was named in honour of Sergio Scaglietti, the legendary Modenese stylist and coachbuilder responsible for bodying some of the most beautiful Ferraris of the 1950s and 60s. He was one of Enzo Ferrari’s closest collaborators, helping the Commendatore build the Ferrari legend. Incidentally, the 500 Mondial (1953) (see above) was the first Ferrari that Scaglietti was commissioned to build.


Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

Ferrari cheated a little with the 612 Scaglietti. You would assume it’s powered by a 6.0-L V12, which it isn’t, because it has a 5.8-L V12. The reason why Ferrari named it 612 is simply because they rounded it up a bit higher than usual.

Then there were a bunch of cars that were named by simply dropping the last digit of their engine's capacity:
400 Superamerica (1960): 4000 cc V12
500 Superfast (1964): 5000 cc V12
550 Maranello (1996): 5500 cc V12
575 Maranello (2002): 5750 cc V12
599 GTB Fiorano (2006): 5999 cc V12


Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

In the late 1960s, Ferrari introduced a new naming convention: the first two digits represented the engine capacity and the third represented the number of cylinders. This system debuted on the first production mid-engine Ferrari, the Dino 206 GT (1967) (which had a 2.0-litre V6). For the first time in history, a Ferrari was built on an assembly line.


Dino 206 GT

This method continued until the 348 (1989) (3405 cc V8).


Ferrari 355 Berlinetta

The arrival of the 355 Berlinetta (1994), the last Ferrari model to feature pop-up headlamps, ushered in a new naming system: the first two digits continued to refer to the engine capacity (3.5-litre), but the third digit now referenced the number of valves per cylinder (5).


Ferrari 360 Modena

Things became a lot more erratic thereafter: the 3.6-litre 360 Modena (1999) (the first production Ferrari to be constructed entirely in aluminium) and the 4.3-litre 430 (2004), were named by dividing their engine capacity by ten.


Ferrari 458 Spider

The 458 (2009) was named after its engine capacity (4.5-litres) + the number of cylinders (V8).


Ferrari 488 GTB

As a throwback to the formative years of Ferrari, the 488 (2015) received its name from the capacity of one cylinder (3902 cc ÷ 8 cylinders = 487.75 ≈ 488).

Along the way, true to Ferrari's somewhat erratic approach to naming their cars, there were a bunch of exceptions to the marque's then prevailing naming convention:

Ferrari revealed the 275 GTB (1964) with a four camshaft engine and it became known as the 275 GTB4 (1966): 275 refers to the capacity of one cylinder (275 cc) and 4 refers to the more powerful 4 camshaft engine.


Ferrari California

The Ferrari California (2008) revived the name used on the late-1950s Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder and the 1960s 365 California.

The 'F' in F12 Berlinetta (2012) referred to Ferrari and the '12' to the number of cylinders (V12).

Both the GTC4Lusso (2016) and GTC4Lusso T (2016) just have one number corresponding to the number of seats.


Ferrari 812 Superfast

The 812 Superfast (2017) was named after its rounded power output (789 bhp became 800) and the number of cylinders. Incidentally, this is the most powerful and fastest road-going Ferrari ever built (with the exception, of course, of the rear-engined special limited-series 12-cylinders)



Ferrari Portofino

The Ferrari Portofino (2017) (not to be confused with the Lamborghini Portofino concept car introduced at the 1987 Frankfurt Auto Show) references one of Italy’s most beautiful towns and was chosen by Ferrari because "Portofino is renowned for its charming tourist port and, over the years, has become internationally synonymous with elegance, sportiness and understated luxury."


Ferrari Roma

The Ferrari Roma (2020) coupé, which is based on the Portofino, "is a contemporary representation of the carefree, pleasurable way of life that characterised Rome in the 1950s and '60s" according to Ferrari. A convertible version of the Roma was unveiled in 2023 to replace the Portofino.

And, finally, here's a short primer on the special editions:


Ferrari F40


Ferrari F50

Both the F40 (1987) and F50 (1995) refer to the 40th and 50th anniversary, respectively. The reason why Ferrari celebrated their 50th anniversary earlier was because the US emission laws were planned to get tightened.


Ferrari Enzo

The Enzo (2002) wasn’t called the F60 because there was too much of a gap between the year it was unveiled (2002) and the 60th anniversary off Ferrari (2007).


Ferrari F60 America

The F60 name was, however, used for a Formula 1 car as well as for the F60 America (2014), which celebrates the 60th anniversary of Ferrari in America.


Ferrari LaFerrari

Last but not least, the LaFerrari (2013), Italian for "The Ferrari", meaning this is supposed to be the definitive Ferrari. The company's first ever production car to be equipped with the F-1 derived hybrid solution – the HY-KERS system – which combines an electric motor producing over 150 CV with the most powerful incarnation yet of Ferrari’s classic V12, with 800 CV at 9000 rpm.


Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta

To mark its 70th anniversary, Ferrari came out with LaFerrari Aperta (2016), a spider version of the LaFerrari ("Aperta" means 'open' in Italian).

Image courtesy: www.ferrari.com and Google Images

Note to mods: I realise this thread was initially meant to discuss trivia relating to car names in India and not car names of marques sold in India, but this post took a life of its own... especially when I started adding pictures of some absolute stunners!

[JunkyardHunter]

Fun fact - The name Crysta was originally used in 2011 for a special edition of the Innova (link https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post2464149 (Now, an Innova "special edition". Edit - And one more...)
Have any of you seen these on the roads?

[sandeepmdas]

The Toyota Cressida and Celica were also named after words from the western mythology. Cressida is a Greek female character while Celica phonetically means celestial in Latin.

Read somewhere that the Lexus name was derived from Alexander (the Great). The originally suggested name was Alexis.

Long before the days of Toyota Kirloskar and even Team-BHP, there was the Lexus range of home appliances from Usha International.

The first Maruti car and van had no names; people simply called those: Maruti car and Maruti van. Then came the (all new) 800 in 1987 ? Then came the van with rectangle headlamps and a name: Omni. I think this is probably the first example in auto industry where a car was named 2 years after its launch.

The pics of this Maruti van are from Autocar.

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

The first Maruti car and van had no names; people simply called those: Maruti car and Maruti van. Then came the (all new) 800 in 1987 ? Then came the van with rectangle headlamps and a name: Omni. I think this is probably the first example in auto industry where a car was named 2 years after its launch.

The pics are from Autocar.

Thank you for the post. I do remember referring to these cars back in childhood just as you mentioned, based on manufacturer and shape, without any real names