Real Meanings of car names in various languages

[Luciferous]

I had a laugh when I somehow came across a Yank Car show a while back comparing the Landcruiser with the Patrol and Mitsubishi Pajero.

What is pretty well known is that Pajero apparently Spanish for 'wanker', and one can only assume the japanese Mitsubishi didn't realise this when naming their 4WD. The voice over guy for the show however, felt it necessary to continue saying Pajero with a Spanish accent, hence making it a "Paherro". I think this guy thought that Mitsubishi deliberately named their car a wanker.

[go.pawel]

Lamborghini:
Miura - Don Eduardo Miura, famous bull-breeder
Gallardo, Jalpa - fighting bull's breeds
Murcielago, Islero, Urraco - famous fighting bulls
Jarama - a district in Spain renowned for breeding fighting bulls
Countach - I'm unable to translate it directly; in Piemontese dialect it is what a guy might say to express appreciation of a particularly attractive female (a bit offensive)

Others:
Testarossa - red head, the car had red valve heads
Veyron - Pierre Veyron, a GP racing driver, active 1933-53, won LeMans for Bugatti in 1939
Arnage - a famous bend at Le Mans circuit
Camargue, Corniche - provinces in southern France
Scaglietti - Sergio Scaglietti, famous Ferrari coachbuilder
Pininfarina - pinin means 'little' in italian, so it's 'Little Farina', a nickname given to Battista Farina, as he was the youngest of 10 siblings; the company's name was "Pinin Farina" written separately until 1961, when the presidenst of Italy allowed Battista to change his last name into Pininfarina in consideration of his achievements
Quattroporte - four-door in italian
Wiesmann, Koenigsegg, Vignale, Maserati, Frua, Zagato - last names
Ghibli - a strong wind in the Mediterranean that originates from the Sahara (known also as Scirocco - sounds similar, eh?)

[henk4]

cambiocorsa - type of transmission right? - i'm not sure

T

Cambio means change in Italy (handy to know when you need money). Corsa is "race", so what cambiocorsa, means changing gears like in a racing car. (Remember Ferrari was the very first to operate an automatic F1 box with flippers behind the wheel)

[Zondaboy1]

thanks guys
any one else curious about anything?

[Pando]

Quattroporte - four door right? - right, but in italian, not spanish as somebody said

Yeah, my bad. Cuatro Puerto would've been spanish, it sounds pretty much the same anyway.

[Pando]

I speak german and I don't think it has a special meaning. Koenig makes sence as 'king' but segg doesn't ring a bell...

So no luck there I'm afraid...

the "s" is part of the Koenig as in english "the king's". Can "egg" be translated to "blade" or "knifes edge"?

[2ndclasscitizen]

I'm pretty sure Koenigsegg is Knife's Edge. And Murcielago was the name of a bull that was allowed to live because of it's bravery, and on the Top Gear test of the roadster Hammond said it meant "bat", and i think Gallardo is where Murcielago was bred

[Pando]

I'm pretty sure Koenigsegg is Knife's Edge.

Egg would be the knife's edge or blade Koenig would still be king, hence King's knife's edge / blade.

[Etality^]

lol about Koenigsegg. Christian von Koenigsegg is the founder of Koenigsegg, and hes not a german, he is swedish.

[Pinin]

Chaika means Seagull, if anyone's interested.

[Esperante]

Isn't Camargue also a breed of horse?

[magracer]

The Mitsubishi Pajero was renamed Montero in most spanish speaking countries.

Lots of asian manufacturer car names are actually spanish (Cielo-Sky, Rio-river).

[taz_rocks_miami]

Carrera simply means "race" in Spanish.

Yes but the Porsche Carrera was named after the Mexican Pan American race, "Carrera Pan Americana."

Yeah, my bad. Cuatro Puerto would've been spanish, it sounds pretty much the same anyway.

Close, 4 doors in Spanish is Cuatro Puertas, in plural hence the S at the end. Puerto means "port".

[Cadillac Imaj]

Zonda is a name of a wind that blows from the Andes...

[henk4]

Isn't Camargue also a breed of horse?

Camargue is a region is the South of France, where they breed special horses.