Only way is Up!
By: Simon Warburton - 20 July 2010 16:03
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I'm not picking on Volkswagen here. Automakers seem to be coming with up ever-stranger names for their cars... |
What's in a name?
Well, Volkswagen's new city car is to be known as Up! - and that's their exclamation mark not mine.
A VW spokesman told me today (20 July) the name "seemed to fit the vehicle" as it was "optimistic," which I suppose is right but does it fit?
When I worked in France, there was a ditty by Jazz & The Plastic Population that was number one for about a year that went "The only way is up," and I now can't get it out of my head after having successfully removed it all those years ago.
Up! is better than Down! I suppose, but really, are there just too many car names that don't relate to consumers?
Does it matter? My first car was a Triumph Dolomite, a name that seemed to be perfect for the vehicle - a combination of supreme confidence and er, some Italian mountains.
Cortina, Granada - what was it with mountain ranges that were all the rage back then - but they were solid and yet exotic names.
I'm not picking on Volkswagen here. Automakers seem to be coming with up ever-stranger names for their cars - CEE'D anyone? - but do consumers really care what the name is?
Maybe it's that exclamation mark that's really got my goat. Mind you, VW's concept five-door Up! gloried under the name Space Up! So maybe just Up! is at least an improvement. And it's not called G-Wizz.
!
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Comments on this blog post
That's Yazz, not Jazz, that you are remembering - maybe it was the French pronounciation that confused you?
ciderinsider said at 9:10 am, July 22, 2010