- Uno (Fiat) is a dud in Finland;

- Pinto (Ford) is a small penis in Portugal;

- MR2 (Toyota) sounds in French as 'merde';

- Omega (Opel) was not a succes in Italy because it associated with death or the end;

- Serena (Nissan) was not a hit in Germany because it is also a trade mark for sanitary towels;

- Croma (Fiat) was associated in the Netherland with the Croma trade mark for frying-fat;

- Gingo (Fiat) was stopped by Renault's Twingo (so Fiat sticked to Panda);

- Pajero (Mitsubishi) is not used in Spain where the car is called Montero; a pajero is a jerker in Spain;

Robbemondt sketches the careful process of choosing the right name, which starts at the marketing- and designdivisions of carmanufacturers, making lists with attractive names that seems to fit the car and the public for which the car might be attractive. In most cases the next step will be an international research together with trade mark agents the possibilities of registration of the chosen name as a trade mark and domain name. At the same time a linguistic research can be necessary to exclude name blunders.

An explanation why name blunders seem to occur in circles of car manufacturers finds Robbemondt in Bas Kist's (Shieldmark.Zacco) book 'Merkenmissers: de eeuwige strijd om merk en portret' (Trade Mark Error: the Eternal Fight for Trade Mark and Portrait): 'Cars are in most cases - more then other products - introduced worldwide. The risk of blunders is higher which can cost a company a lot of money.'

The choice of a particular name seems to depend on the characteristics of the car model. Robbemondt mentions for example Touareq (VW) for an SUV, because the touareq is the name of a Maroccan tribe (the name of the car should reflect the well-known habit of that tribe to wander about).

Figures and letters or combinations thereof are also popular in the car industry. According to Robbemondt the main reason for car manufacturers to do this is to get a focus on the emotion of a trade mark and its emotional value instead of a particular car model. BMW for example works with figures. Diederik Reitsma (spokesman for BMW The Netherland and interviewed by Robbemondt) reveals: 'If you tell to someone that you drive in a 3, everybody knows that it's all about a BMW. Furthermore a figure is timeless. A name that sounds good right now, can sound comical in a few years. A figure is also functional. At BMW you do not only know the car model but also at the same time it's performance.'

Anne Laarman (Algemeen Octrooi- en Merkenbureau - also interviewed by Robbemondt) prefers a name for a car: 'The emotional impact is very important for a product like cars. A well chosen name can strenghten the emotional value and therefore the image.'

Toyota - concludes Robbemondt - was right in choosing Prius for its first hybrid car in the world: in Latin it stands for something like 'to be the first of its kind'.

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