With the automobile industry in a shambles, and two of three major U.S. car manufacturers in bankruptcy, it’s easy to forget that these behemoths were once tiny start-up companies.
[img]578|left|||no_popup[/img]Like some of the great success stories that have become common lore in Silicon Valley, most car companies had humble beginnings. The prototypes literally were built in some guy’s garage.
Behind the brand names that we now take for granted, were actual inventors and innovators who could be likened to Apple’s Steve Jobs or Microsoft’s Bill Gates. They were grease monkeys that turned their passion into profit.
History Lesson
The overhead valve engine was conceived and invented by David Buick in 1903. Later that same year, he started selling his hand-built vehicles under the banner of the Buick Motor Car Co. The fledgling company was taken over by William C. Durant in 1904, the famed industrialist who is credited with founding General Motors.
Durant kept Buick on as a board member until 1908. In reality, Buick never made much money from his innovation. Ironically, at the time of his death in 1929, he allegedly couldn’t have afforded to buy the car that bore his name.
Anyone who’s ever been to New York and seen the building that bears his moniker knows that Walter P. Chrysler retained the naming rights to his car company. But the now nearly defunct company, which soon will hoist its standard under the Fiat brand, was once known as the Maxwell Motor Co.
Fiat is actually an acronym for Fabbrica Italiani Automobili Torino, or as some have jokingly dubbed it “Fix it again, Tony.” In the same vein, guys who drive Chevrolets often claim that Ford is short for “Fix or repair daily.”
Saab, which stands for Svenska Aeroplanaktiebolaget, or Swedish Aeroplane Ltd., hearkens back to the aircraft manufacturing origins of the automaker. Sweden’s other car company, Volvo, founded by Gustaf Larson and Assar Gabrielsson in 1925, is actually Latin for “I roll.”
After Henry Ford was forced out of the original company that bore his name, the new owners re-named their motor works after the French nobleman who was credited with founding Detroit in 1703, Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac. After he was canned, Ford went on to set up a second company that quickly gained success when it started churning out the world’s first affordable mass-produced vehicle, the Model T.
Some car names are simply bizarre and were doomed to the scrap heap before they ever rolled off the assembly line. None is more infamous than Ford’s own Edsel.
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Ford named the brand after Henry Ford’s only child. Like G.M.’s Saturn, it was conceived to be a separate brand with its own unique styling and features. In the end, it was more akin to the comic flop Istar; it bombed before it ever made it out of the showroom.
Some names like Daimler, Ferrari or Honda have become synonymous with quality. With other names, you had to wonder what the automakers were thinking.
A prime example is the Aztek. The Aztek was Pontiac’s aborted attempt at the first “crossover.” While the idea for this type of vehicle eventually caught on, the Aztek may have been doomed for extinction like the civilization for which it had been named.
Even the Spelling Was Wrong
It didn’t matter that aging sex symbol Sean Connery was reported to have sworn by his. This Pontiac probably was cursed simply because it misspelled the name of the ancients to which it was trying to pay tribute.
Does anybody remember Luv? That was Chevy’s failed entry into the highly competitive light truck market. It’s hard to imagine what self-respecting construction worker would show his face at a job site driving a Luv. With bright ideas like that, it should come as no surprise that G.M. failed miserably in this market.
American carmakers aren’t the only ones with stranger than fiction contributions to car name sweepstakes. Japanese automaker Daihatsu had a car called Naked. Honda had a small truck it titled Life Dunk. Mazda had the Bongo; Mitsubishi manufactured the Pistachio; while Volkwagen actually named one of its cars the Bimbo.
My all-time favorite is Toyota’s Deliboy. I can only conclude that it was specially conceived to serve the vast market of pastrami delivery businesses that call New York or L.A. home.
With all of these wacky names, obviously something got lost in the translation.
If either G.M. or Chrysler actually emerges from the crucible of bankruptcy, don’t be surprised if some marketing genius convinces one of the automakers to promote new a hybrid called The Survivor.
John Cohn is a senior partner in the Globe West Financial Group, based in West Los Angeles. He may be contacted at www.globewestfinancial.com
