Hawking Cars Starts With Taming Names
Which of these car names doesn’t belong?
Mustang, Viper, Tercel, Camaro, Impala.
If you picked Tercel, thinking that it’s a Japanese word used by a Japanese auto maker (the other cars are American), guess again. The odd one out is actually Camaro--a meaningless word, at least in English. All the other words signify animals.
That’s right: A tercel is an animal--a small male hawk, to be exact. Toyota executives say that’s how the car’s name was born: The company wanted a tag that reflected the free-soaring spirit of one of its popular compact models.
Not that the average person knows what a tercel is, although a wordsmith might know it by its other spelling, tiercel. In fact, to many of us, a lot of car names mean nothing at all, leaving only vague impressions of power, hardiness, class, adventurousness, sleekness, dependability, even aggression.
And that’s precisely what car manufacturers, who spend thousands of dollars to come up with just the right names for their products, are aiming for.
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“Names are very important,” said Tom Rhoades, a Ford spokesman. “They’re designed to imply something particular about that vehicle.”
To be sure, many of the automobiles on the streets today sport names that actually can be found in the dictionary. These cars are mostly American brands, which might explain why their labels are so straightforward.
No one needs to be told what a “Bronco” (Ford) or a “Voyager” (Plymouth) is. Or what “Intrepid,” “Stealth” and “Contour” (all by Dodge) mean.
Japanese cars, on the other hand, often have names that are more suggestive, that don’t represent actual words but blend elements of real words to conjure up images suitable for each model.
When Toyota decided to introduce a luxury line, the company turned to an outside agency that specializes in names. Toyota executives wanted something that would bespeak not only refinement but also the idea that the cars were on the cutting edge, outfitted with the latest in automotive technology.
The result, of course, was the Lexus fleet. Lexus had the right feel, with some of the same letters as luxury and with a technological ring to it, like the scientific-sounding word nexus. (Actual model names for Lexus cars, as with almost all foreign luxury vehicles, use a combination of letters and numbers, such as LS400. Market research has shown that consumers consider such alphanumeric names classier than word names.)
Toyota does not usually hire outside firms to generate names. Ben Mitchell, a long-range market planning manager for Toyota’s U.S. headquarters, said the company starts with an internal task force to brainstorm names. The initial list can include hundreds of possibilities.
Then the winnowing process starts, using such criteria as how easy the word is to pronounce--note that few cars have names of more than three syllables--and what images it connotes. Internal and external surveys narrow the list further; so does legal research, which makes sure that no other products carry the name.
“This is one of the challenges when we use real words, because most of them have been used,” Mitchell said.
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In the end come names like Avalon and Tacoma, two of Toyota’s most recent models. Avalon, for its top-of-the-line sedan, was picked for its connotations of spaciousness and comfort. Tacoma, for a pickup truck, suggested the great outdoors.
Perhaps one of the best-known car names in recent years is the Miata, Mazda’s sporty little two-door coupe. Credit Mazda product manager Rod Bymaster with the idea.
“One night I was sitting here and looking through the dictionary for ideas, and I came to the word meed, “ said Bymaster, who works at Mazda headquarters in Irvine. “Meed was derived from an Old High German word, miata, which basically means reward.”
Not everyone is impressed with such achievements, though. Some names have invited ridicule by the likes of comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
“The Integra. The Supra. Or the Impreza,” Seinfeld said dismissively on his sitcom last November. “Yeah, well, I hope it’s not a lemona, or you’ll be hearing from my lawya.”
