A car's name should match its stature, its price, its character. Whoever named these cars got a little carried away.
10.) Daewoo/Pontiac LeMans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most grueling endurance races in the world, where cars, drivers, and teams are pushed to the limit. This slow FWD hatchback has nothing to do with that whatsoever.
Suggested By: Capt. Janeway's Imaginary Cat, Photo Credit: Daewoo
9.) TVR Cerbera
TVR named the Cerebra for Cerberus, a three-headed monster dog from Greek and Roman mythology, which was an appropriate name given how crazy the car was.
Obviously, they didn't google "Cerbera" and find out that it's actually a type of small, poisonous tree. Oh, TVR.
Suggested By: daender, Photo Credit: TVR
8.) Ferrari Mondial
There's a problem with the retro name of Ferrari's 1980s four-seater, as Patrick Frawley explains:
"The original Mondials were two-liter racers back in the Fifties, named to signify the company's world championships. They did pretty well themselves, too.
The '80s-'90s cars were champions of...well, nothing. Maybe a panty-dropping contest here and there. But this was really the low point of Ferrari's retro-name scheme."
At least the Testarossa fared better as far as retro naming is concerned.
Suggested By: Patrick Frawley, Photo Credit: Ferrari
7.) Dodge Stealth
Calling this car "Stealth" is almost as silly as Lamborghini naming the Aventador "Subtle." An E39 M5 is stealthy – this isn't.
Suggested By: Spacegrass, Photo Credit: Dodge
6.) Every BMW Gran Coupe
Coupes have two doors, not four. Someone at BMW didn't get that memo.
Suggested By: Toni_Cipriani, Photo Credit: BMW (Pictured: 4 Series Gran Coupe, not a 3 Series sedan)
5.) Suzuki Swift
Suzuki has sold many cars under the Swift nameplate. None of them are particularly Swift. Well, except for maybe the batshit, twin-engined 1992 Pikes Peak racer.
Suggested By: birddog, Photo Credit:
4.) Hyundai Excel
The only thing this Hyundai excelled in was being cheap. Other than that, the name is very ironic.
Hyundai has come a long way since this, though that might not be saying much.
Suggested By: Vexorg, Photo Credit: Hyundai
3.) Ford Aspire
From reader sm70- why not Duesenberg?:
"My mom always said it was because the owners aspired to own a real car...to be honest I can't think what else it would mean."
Oh well, at least it gave us a hilariously ironic print ad.
Suggested By: sm70- why not Duesenberg?, Photo Credit: Ford
2.) New MINI
The original Mini was named "Mini" because it was rather small. Even the first new MINI's under BMWs ownership were small, but they seem to have completely lost the plot.
Slapping a MINI badge on the front of any car doesn't make it a Mini.
Suggested By: drivingmsdaisycrazy, Photo Credit: MINI
1.) Geely Beauty Leopard
The Geely Beauty Leopard is neither beautiful, nor has anything to do with leopards, which makes it the most fantastically mismatched name in the business.
Suggested By: 472CID, Photo Credit: Geely
Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Top Photo Credit: Suzuki