Five car companies that should change their names

Tuesday, 12 February 2019

Car companies spend decades and millions of dollars building up their brand, but sometimes it just doesn't work out the way they want.

Here are five manufacturers we reckon would be better off dropping their names and starting again with another one that they already have anyway.

Holden to Chevrolet

This is not so much a suggestion for Holden New Zealand, more for head office in Australia where the company has ham-fistedly thrown away decades of good will by handling the end of Australian manufacturing so poorly and alienating many of their hardcore fans.

Sure, chucking away decades of brand recognition is a big move, but Chevrolet is at least as evocative and far more global, meaning that there won't be so much of that nasty shock that a lot of people get when they realise their Holden is built in Korea, the USA, Germany or… well, anywhere other than Australia really.

SsangYong to Double Dragon

SsangYong New Zealand set a precedent for this when it changed the name of its ute from 'Musso' to 'Rhino'.

Musso means rhinoceros in Korean, so why not go one step further and translate the company's name into English as well? After all, SsangYong is lucky enough to have a ridiculously awesome English translation, as it translates into 'Double Dragon'.

Not only is this a brilliant burst of nostalgia for anyone who grew up playing the video game of the same name in the 1980s (prime new vehicle buying age now…), but how cool would it be to tell someone you drive a 'Double Dragon Rhino'?

Renault to Samsung

This one is a no-brainer. Renault cars are already sold under the Samsung brand in South Korea. Technically the company is called Renault Samsung Motors, but the word Renault doesn't appear anywhere on their cars.

The Samsung name also has a far better appeal to younger people, people of all ages recognise it, is associated with modern, high-tech quality products (yeah, yeah, Galaxy Note 7 fires aside) and it's not French - all things Renault can't say.

And the round Samsung logo looks better on the cars than the Renault diamond does too.

Just like this photo for us, the switch to Chevrolet would require no real effort from Holden.

Audi to Auto union

Okay, so there's nothing actually wrong with the Audi name, it's just that Auto Union is WAY cooler.

There would be downsides - no one who isn't a car nerd would recognise the history of the name - but the Audi four rings logo is actually the original Auto Union logo anyway. Plus it is WAY cooler.

Would you want to tell people you drive a Double Dragon Rhino? We would.

Audi was one of the four original brands that made up Auto Union, along with Wanderer, DKW and Horch, which was the first company started by August Horch who started Audi and both names mean 'Hark' or 'Hear' in English… actually, you know what? It's too complicated, just stick with Audi…

Mini to Riley

BMW still own the Triumph and Riley names, so why not free itself of the 'that's not a Mini; it's too big!' whiners and switch to Riley.

A Samsung car? It works in South Korea. And, no, their batteries don't burst into flames...

A big Riley would be easier for people to deal with than a big Mini. Some of those model names could make a comeback as well.

Audi's four rings logo is the original Auto Union logo, so why not?

After all, one of the last Riley cars was the Elf - a Mini with a boot and a big chrome grille - so the precedent is there, plus they could then let their cars get as big as they wanted, because Riley made cars of all sizes.

Also they could revive some brilliant Riley model names like Kestrel, Lynx, Adelphi and Gamecock. Okay, maybe not that last one.