Interesting/funny automotive industry info

[daveimme]

When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse

And we wonder why P-cars are all named with numbers, the Cayenne being the exception (that I know of)

[afx]

hehe... you forgot about the Boxter

[Stock93]

Dave,
Where do you even find this kind of stuff?

John

[daveimme]

Hey John, I'm 45, and with age comes a little wisdom, or so, we'd like to think, you know?

Actuallu, I found this in some daily e-mail joke I get.....I thought it was cool (and car related), so I am just passing it along.....certainly is weird, though.....

Hey....we're heading to Muenster for some dirtbike riding the weekend of April 11th...... I can't wait, man, since I've not really ridden since LL last Fall, except for a ride with the kids two months ago, so I'm looking forward to really having fun this time.

I found a motor for my drivers side window, but since I don't have the switch yet, I'm in no hurry to put it in, but do hope to find a window switch soon.....been spending too much money on the kids bikes, the 944 and all... AND, I got a 75 Chappy (530 original miles) that I'm selling so that I can supplement the $1000 I'll get for selling John's RM 80 to Keith (for cash and a little I owe him for when he fixed an XR 350 I had a few years back), so if you hear of a nice 125 MX bike for less than $1500, give me a holler.....John really needs one.

[Lawrence Coppari]

Then there was the foulup with the Cressida - Toyota.
Cressida was a Trojan woman of medieval legend who pledges herself to Troilus but while a captive of the Greeks gives herself to Diomedes So you can figure a Cressida is an unfaithful woman.

[andrewgoh]

Originally posted by daveimme
When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse

And we wonder why P-cars are all named with numbers, the Cayenne being the exception (that I know of)

This is an urban legend....however, it still makes an interesting marketing afterthought....read below:

http://spanish.about.com/library/weekly/aa072301a.htm
http://spanish.about.com/library/weekly/aa072301b.htm

[Stock93]

Dave,
I havent ridden since LL at all. My crankseals sprung a leak while I was there. I had about 1/2 a cup of premix in my magneto cover. I tore it all the way down and rebuilt it. I'm almost done with it. All I have left to do is put the clutch and some stuff in the sidecover back in then put the engine back in the frame. I lost my manual for it so I have been trying to figure out what washer goes where in the clutch cover. I sold the old 500 the other day to TimGrid from Georgia off road. I may or may not sell my bike when I get it back together. I dont have much of a way to get money for my P-cars being in school full time. I've also got my VW based rail buggy to ride off road. If you had asked me about an mx125 about six months ago one of my friends was selling a 99 CR125 in beautiful shape for that price.

Dave I didnt realize you were quite that OLD

John

[Baza]

How about this one one of Australias best selling 4x4's is the Pajero.
In Spanish Pajero means self gratifacation or in other words #anker

[coupe]

Here is another. Mitsubishi Starion. It was meant to be Mitsubishi Stallion. The Japenese mis pronounced the word to the American side, because there is no letter L in their alphabet.

By the time the Japs realized the mistake, it was to late, the add campaigns had started.

The americans had the Mustang, the Japs were aiming for the Stallion.

[Z-man]

Ok, while this is about cars, it's still OT: no Porsche or 944 content. As such, ** Moving to the OT Dungeon. **

Z-man,
OT-Dungeon master.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

actually, "no va" does mean "no go" in spanish, as 2 words, a conjugation of the verb vajar, to go

[Paco Anton]

The actual Spanish verb is "ir" = to go. "Vajar" does not mean anything. The meaning of "no va" is "does not go" or "does not work".

"Pajero" in Spanish was translated by one of my US friends as "Chicken choker" In Spain the Pajero is called Montero.

There are two Japanese cars called Nissan Moco "mucus" and Laputa "TheWhore", I guess they won't make it to Spain

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

i am connected, and corrected......geee, it has only been35 years since i used that stuff...........but i still remember the metric sizes of the bolts!!!! whats important.........?

[Paco Anton]

From the point of view of a non native English speaker, every effort to speak/learn/write in Spainsh is greatly appreciated

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

mil gracias! now how do i set the keyboard for those upside down punctuation marks?

[Paco Anton]

They come standard on my keyboard ¡¡¡¡¡¡ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ but I usually forget to use them. Do not know how to get them with your keyboard

Back in the old times, there was this old DOS command: "keyb sp" which changed the standard US keyboard setup to Spanish setup. I had to learn the location of relevant punctuation marks (for example "\") on a US keyboard to use when the keyboard was in US mode

[BlueSkyJaunte]

From a Spanish-speaker's perspective "Nova" means "No va" the same way "donut" means "Nut made out of do(ugh)" to an English-speaker.

My favorite localization faux pas is the following though:

Matsush ita Electric is promoting a new Japanese PC targeted at the Internet. Panasonic has developed a complete Japanese Web browser, and to make the system "user-friendly", licensed the cartoon character "Woody Woodpecker" as the "Internet guide." Panasonic eventually planned on a world version of the product.

A huge marketing campaign was to have introduced the product in Japan last week. The day before the ads were to be released, Panasonic suddenly pulled back and delayed the product launch indefinitely.

The reason: the ads featured the slogan "Touch Woody - The Internet Pecker."

An American staff member at the internal product launch explained to the stunned and embarrassed Japanese what "touch woody" and "pecker" meant in American slang.

-From EE Times, October 8, 1996

[widebody911]

Urban legends, one and all. Look 'em up on http://www.snopes.com

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Hmm...nothing on snopes about woody, woodpecker, or panasonic. Does anyone have the cited issue of EE Times?