Saturday, June 13, 2009

Volkswagen Continues Dumb Name Tradition


Here's Volkswagen's entry into the truck market. They're calling it "Amarok," an Inuit name for "wolf."

"This name fits the characteristics of our pickup perfectly, which will set new standards in its class," says Stephan Schaller, CEO of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

Sure, Stephan, you walking book of clichés. What else could you have said?

When you've already gone down the road of stupid names, (EOS, Golf, Jetta, Passat, Phaeton, Touareg, Routan) I guess you just have to keep going. Much better, I think, to go the "series" route, like BMW. But you pay extra for that.

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3 Comments:

  • “...for wolf.”

    Pretty sure GM never got that deep with the Pacer. Maybe that was their problem as a company, they didn't put that much into names.

    VW’s names felt like they were based on Ikea furniture. Add an umlaut to the Touäreg and that’s a bookshelf.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 at 12:15 PM  

  • I liked the names based on types of winds (Golf, Jetta, etc.). "Phaeton" was an attempt at class, though the word itself describes more of a style (such as coupe or cabriolet) and doesn't work very well as a brand name.

    I always thought Touareg was a cool name, but you have to know what it means (and how to pronounce it) for it not to sound random and silly.

    Reminds me of when Toyota decided to name their pick-up "Tacoma," much to the amusement of residents of the Seattle area. Tacoma the city is far from being a rugged rural retreat.

    Oh, and Bill? Pacers were made by AMC. ;-)

    By Blogger Andy Jukes, at June 13, 2009 at 9:11 PM  

  • @andy - yep. (For some reason though I thought GM had bought part of their AM General division.)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at June 14, 2009 at 3:59 AM  

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