Origin of car brands name
Škoda (Central Bohemian Region): after company owner Emil Škoda. The Czech last name means something like “Too bad!”.
Citroën (Île-de-France): after its founder, André Citroën, whose ancestors were Dutch fruit sellers and initially called themselves Limoenman, which later became Citroën (lemon).
Peugeot (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté): after its founder, Armand Peugeot.
Renault (Île-de-France): after its founders, Louis, Fernand and Marcel Renault. The word comes from the Germanic name Raginwald (ragin = council, wald = that rules).
Audi (Saxony): after its founder, August Horch, whose last name was translated into Latin and means “Listen!”.
BMW (Bavaria): It stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works).
Mercedes-Benz (Baden-Württemberg): after Daimler Motors Corporation dealer Emil Jellinek, who drove race cars under the name Mercedes (based on the name of his daughter, Mercédès). Mercedes comes from the Spanish merced (grace) and Benz comes from the founder of the company Benz & Cie., which was merged with Daimler. Benz is an affectionate form of Berthold or Bernhard, or an ancestry designation from the town of Benz.
Opel (Hesse): after its founder Adam Opel. Opel arose from the name Albrecht or Adalbert.
Porsche (Baden-Württemberg): after its founder Ferdinand Porsche. Porsche is either derived from the Slavic name Borislav (boru = battle, slava = glory) or from the Czech word bureš (farmer).
Trabant (Saxony): It was actually not a brand, but a model series produced by former car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring (S in the logo). The word Trabant means “satellite/companion” and was based on the Russian satellite Sputnik (with the same meaning), which was built around the same time.
Volkswagen (Lower Saxony): according to Hitler’s wish, who wanted a car for the general public. The name literally means “people’s car”.
Wartburg (Thuringia): It was actually not a brand, but a model series from the manufacturer Automobilwerk Eisenach, where the Wartburg castle is also located. I’ve been there!
Ferrari (Emilia-Romagna): after its founder, Enzo Ferrari, whose last name means “smith”.
Fiat (Piedmont): short for “Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino” (Italian Automobiles Factory, Turin).
Lamborghini (Emilia-Romagna): after its founder, Ferrucio Lamborghini, who was a Taurus (hence the logo).
Honda (Shizuoka Prefecture): after its founder, Sōichirō Honda. The last name Honda means something like “main field”.
Lexus (Aichi Prefecture): artificial word, whose meaning is not clearly clarified. It is said to stand for luxury and elegance.
Mazda (Hiroshima Prefecture): inspired by the name of the creator god Ahura Mazda and by the similar-sounding name of the company’s founder Jujiro Matsuda.
Mitsubishi (Tokyo Prefecture): means “three rhombi” and describes the logo, which goes back to the family coat of arms of the founder, Iwasaki Yatarō.
Nissan (Kanagawa Prefecture): originally an abbreviation of Nihon Sangyō (Japan Industries).
Subaru (Tokyo Prefecture): The original company was partially reunited after a temporary split. This is reflected in the name: Subaru is the Japanese name of the star cluster of the Pleiades and translated also means something like “to be united”.
Suzuki (Shizuoka Prefecture): after its founder, Michio Suzuki. The second most common last name in Japan means “bell tree”.
Toyota (Aichi Prefecture): Based on the founder Kiichiro Toyoda, who wanted to separate his private and his business life by changing -d- to -t-.
Dacia (Argeș County): reminds of Romania’s past as the Roman province Dacia.
Lada (Samara Oblast): Russian for “dearest”. The similar-sounding word ладья (lad’ya) is also the name of a medieval sailing boat widespread in Russia that was used to sail the Volga, which flows through the Tolyatti production site.
Hyundai (Seoul): means “modern”.
Kia (Seoul): Korean 起 (ki) means “to arise” and 亞 (a) means “Asia”.
SEAT (Catalonia): short for “Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo” (Spanish Society of Passenger Cars).
Saab (Västra Götaland County): stands for “Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolag” (Swedish Airplane Company Limited).
Volvo (Västra Götaland County): Latin for “I roll”.
Smart (Bern): It stands for “Swatch Mercedes Art (style)” and recalls the origins of the micro-car.
Jaguar (West Midlands): The name of the sidecar manufacturer Swallow Sidecars was changed to SS Cars in 1934 because of a dispute and again in 1945 in view of the Nazi crimes to Jaguar, which already existed in 1935 under the model name “SS Jaguar 100”.
Cadillac (Michigan): in honor of its founder from Detroit, French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. The logo is based on his family’s coat of arms.
Chevrolet (Michigan): after its founder, Louis Chevrolet.
Chrysler (Michigan): after its founder, Walter Chrysler.
Ford (Michigan): after its founder, Henry Ford, whose last name comes from German Furt (river crossing).
Jeep (Ohio): The origin of the word is not known. The brand could have been named after Eugene the Jeep, the pet of comic book character Popeye that had supernatural strength, or could derive from GP (for instance “General Purpose”).
Lincoln (Michigan): in honor of Abraham Lincoln, for whom founder Henry Leland voted.
Tesla (California): in honor of physicist Nikola Tesla.
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