Top ten most unfortunate car names

Today is National Name Your Car Day, when many motorists around the world choose a nickname for their vehicle to which they hold a strong emotional connection.

Most car owners decide early on whether it's a boy or girl car, and then pick a name that best reflects it's colour or personality.

But, what about the name of the model that its makers gave them? There are undoubtedly a host of cool sounding titles such as Porsche Carrera (Spanish for 'race'), Ferrari Testarossa (Italian for 'red head') and Chevrolet Corvette (named after a small warship).

However, not all models are blessed with names that help them roll off the production line. Here is a list of the top ten most unfortunate car names to somehow have made past the drawing board.

10. Nissan Moco

Nissan Moco

It's a good thing that the Nissan Moco was only marketed in Japan, as it actually translates to Nissan Mucus in Spanish. Not only that, the car also comes in a ill-looking shade of green, making for a double disaster. It ran for 6 years under the unfortunate name, before it was renamed.

9. Opel Ascona

Opel Ascona - Image Credit: Rudolf Stricker

A family car which was produced between 1970 and 1988, the Opel Ascona is another sufferer of being lost in translation. The German model embarrassingly means female genitalia in Northern Spain. Can any car survive the Spanish language?!

8. Chevrolet Nova

Chevrolet Nova - Image Credit: OSX

The answer to our previous question is: no. Chevrolet Nova translates to "it doesn't go", not exactly the best way to sell a mode of transport. Although some will tell you that this misinterpretation is a myth, there is the fact that the Argentine-made Nova experimented with names including the Chevrolet 400 and Chevrolet Chevy. Did GM realise their mistake?

7. AMC Gremlin

AMC Gremlin - Image Credit: Gerry Dincher

Now this one is a bit more obvious if you're familiar with the Christmas horror comedy film. However, little did American Motors Corporation know that just over a decade later the 1970 model, which was named to sound either "cute or controversial", would be forever viewed in the same light as strange creatures that transform into small, destructive, evil monsters.

6. Studebaker Dictator

Studebaker Dictator - Image Credit: Don O'Brien

Another marketing decision that, in hindsight, was a bad choice given the 1927 production year. The USA manufacturer couldn't have predicted what was to follow with the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany, which lead to the discontinuation of the name 'Dictator' in 1937. Studebaker would later rename the model was the Commander.

5. Renault Wind

The Wind - Image Credit: M93

It is little surprise to learn that the small two-seater Renault Wind sportscar was only produced between 2010 and 2012 when realising what 'passing a little Wind' may mean.

4. Skoda Yeti

Skoda Yeti - Image Credit: M93

It may have been awarded Family Car of the Year by Top Gear Magazine in 2009, but some have still found a way to take away the Skoda Yeti's innocence. Naming a car after a creature describe as abominable, defined as to cause moral revulsion, very bad, and terrible isn't what you would usually look for in a family car.

3. Ford Probe

Ford Probe

The Probe was doomed from the start, when its production came from the result of angry Ford fans successfully demanding for a new Mustang development, which was to be a variant of the Mazda MX-6. The MX-6 then became the peculiarly named Ford Probe. The focus was on making the car sound out of this world, rather than an unwelcome intruder.

2. Renault Fuego

Renault Fuego - Image Credit: Rudolf Stricker

Car names really are lacking in buzzwords that give off a safe vibe, aren't they? The Renault Fuego is another marketing blunder by the French manufacturers, as they fell into the Spanish vocabulary mousetrap with Fuego translating to 'fire'. Not exactly what you want to think of when stepping into a vehicle.

1. AMC Matador

AMC Matador

We could possibly forgive AMC for their gaffe seeing how they weren't able to foresee the future with the Gremlin, however, we can't look past the use of using a word that means 'killer' in, yes you guessed it, Spanish.