Animal Planet had a rather interesting programme last night, well, it was interesting to me anyway. It’s about how the naming of car models came about. Too bad I didn’t know it was on, so I missed the start of it.
Jaguar does come from the animal itself and hence the logo on the car is always found on it. Someone once told me that she didn’t like such cars because the seem to have large nostrils when you look at them head on. It’s meant to be designed this way because of its orgin from the fastest running mammal on earth. The car also performs like the feline.
One company had held a car model naming contest to name their new model launch. Now, if only they still do it now, the cash prize would be very useful indeed. Wait, maybe they still do it but internally. Dang.
[via Flickr uploaded by Larazoni]
Mustang, the other name for horse, came about much later. The logo is of a running horse. Horse power is a measurement for engines because when they first designed the engine, they wanted to encourage people to buy. That was the start of the automobile era and everyelse was convinced that only horses had the power to run fast. It’s a description of how powerful the engine is.
Cars with animal names started to pour in after the Marmon Wasp was first entered in a race and the driver won. Birds such as Thunderbird, Firebird, Roadrunner and even snakes such Viper, Cobra were involved in the naming process.
Now, here’s the history of how the giant car manufacturers came about their names. Yes, Mercedes is a girl’s name.
Maybe I should have called instead but I don’t like calling because customer service people tend to speed up their sentences and I can’t catch anything. I like such things to be in print. If there’s anything that I’m not sure of, I will call. Apparently, they are aversed to emails except flooding your email with their promotions. 
Must I exchange with DD? 
