Brand culture failures: Car names translation problems

Of all products, cars have had the most translation problems. When people chuckled at General Motors’ Chevy Nova in Latin America, the automotive giant was perplexed. Until, that is, someone pointed out that ‘Nova’ means ‘It doesn’t go’ in Spanish.

Then there was the Mitsubishi Pajero sport utility that caused embarrassment in Spain, where ‘pajero’ is slang for ‘masturbator’.

Toyota’s Fiera car proved controversial in Puerto Rico, where ‘fiera’ translates to ‘ugly old woman’.

Likewise few Germans were enthusiastic about owning Rolls-Royce’s ‘Silver Animal Droppings’ car. To the English speaking world it bears the more romantic name ‘Silver Mist’.

And finally, Ford didn’t have the reception they expected in Brazil when their ‘Pinto’ car flopped. Then they discovered that in Brazilian Portuguese slang, ‘pinto’ means ‘small penis’.

Read more about most famous and funniest brand culture failures