History of cars and car companies will without a doubt fascinate you. But have you ever given a thought on how these car companies and certain cars got their names. It is very interesting to brood over the names of car making firms and their trademark vehicles.
Behind every Car and Car Company, there is an inventor and a founder or an entrepreneur. It has happened many a time that the inventors gave their names to their opus magnum. In the same way, most car companies are named after their founders. But there are a few car manufacturers that have got their name because of some other reason. Let us find out what the names of the car manufacturers have to say.
The word "Automobile" is a French word coined to mean a vehicle that moves itself. This word has been adopted by many in naming cars or vehicles. So, we have the Bugmobile from Volkswagen, steam operated Locomobile, the "free- wheeling" innovative Hupmobile and Ransom E. Olds" Oldsmobile et al.
August Horch founded the luxury car manufacturing company, Audi. As he was barred from using his own family name in his car business because of trademark infringement, he decided to name his car company "Audi" which is the Latin translation of "Horch" meaning "to hear"
"Volkswagen" is a response to German Dictator Adolf Hitler's call for a car for the common folk. Volkswagen means 'people's car' in German.
The naming of the Pontiac brand is a remembrance of the brave and headstrong American Indian chief, Chief Pontiac, who led an unsuccessful uprising against the British shortly after the French and Indian War
"Toyota", derives its name from the Toyoda Loom Works in Kariya, Japan. When Toyoda Loom Works begun to make cars, the Toyoda family changed the 'd" to a 't' to make it simpler and more elegant in Japanese script.
Michio Suzuki established the Suzuki Motor Corporation and the Honda Motor Company is named after its founder Soichiro Honda.
Walter P. Chrysler got the naming rights to the Maxwell Motor Company after he and another industrialist bought up shares in the firm over a two-year period.
Franz Josef Popp renamed the Rapp Engine Works as the Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH or Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) in 1917 to signal a new beginning in the automotive world.
Mahindra brothers in collaboration with Ghulam Mohammed established a franchise of Willys Jeeps and then baptized it as Mahindra & Mohammed, on 2nd October 1945. Post-partition, Ghulam Mohammed moved to Pakistan and the company was then re-named Mahindra & Mahindra.
Buick Motor Car Company was founded in 1903 by David Buick. Founder of General Motors, William C. Durant succeeded him and kept the name Buick for one of his company divisions and for the car.
Surprisingly, the man who practically created General Motors single-handedly never really liked the idea of a 'Durant' car. Moreover, General Motors began as International Motors Company. But Durant"s attorney advised him that it would be easier to raise capital under a new name and suggested the name General Motors Company
Louis Chevrolet's experience was similar to Buick. Industrialist Durant brought him into a new car-building venture. Unable to live up to the mark, Chevrolet left the company, but his name stuck to the new Chevrolet vehicles.
Henry Ford found his own firm, the Ford Motor Company in 1903 after he was fired from a company for spending all his time developing a race car, not a passenger car.
Ford"s former company was renamed as Cadillac, after Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac who founded Detroit city in 1703.
Edsel was conceived as a new, distinct Ford Motor Company brand, with its own models, badge and division. After considering thousands of suggestions, Ford named the new brand after Edsel Ford, Henry Ford's only child. The name Edsel was an immediate letdown. Ford stock fell 10 points on the day it was announced. One disenchanted executive predicted that the name alone would cost the new vehicle 200,000 units in sales. But all that didn't stop Edsel from entering the vocabulary as an idea or project fated to failure.
"Jaguar" has a different story to tell. It beat out a long list of dull animal names compiled by a British advertising agency in 1935.
Car company brands are also derived from acronyms. Fiat stands for Fabbrica Italiani Automobili Torino, which means Italian Automotive Works Turin. Similarly, Saab stands for Svenska Aeroplanaktiebolaget, or Swedish Aeroplane Ltd., hearkening back to the carmaker's origins as an aircraft company.
Robert Hupp named his two-seat runabout invention Hupmobile. He sold his stock in his Hupp Motor Car Company and established the Hupp Corporation. But investors in his first firm took him to court to make him drop the "Hupp" from his new company's name. Though his automotive glory quickly faded, his Hupmobile survived.
The word "Jeep" is said to have been taken from the word "GP" for "Government Purposes" or "General Purpose" as the vehicle served military and civilian roles during the World War II. The term was adopted by Willys-Overland Inc in 1950 to name the early four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Volvo is Latin and means "I roll". "Volvo" was born on April 14, 1927, when the first car, ÖV4 (nicknamed Jakob) left the factory in Gothenburg.
"BMW" is the acronym for Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or in English, Bavarian Motor Works. It's an independent German company and manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.
It's the world's largest premium car-maker and is the parent company of the BMW Mini, and Rolls-Royce car brands, and, formerly, Rover. It was founded in 1913 by Karl Friedrich Rapp in Munich (Germany).
The beginning of Hyundai Motor Company dates to April 1946 when founder, Ju-Yung Chung established Hyundai Auto Service in Seoul, South Korea at the age of 31 years. The name Hyundai was chosen for its meaning which in English translates to “modern.” The Hyundai logo is symbolic of the company's desire to expand. The oval shape represents the company's global expansion and the stylized "H" is symbolic of two people (the company and customer) shaking hands.
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