Comment by joshmarinacci
2 years ago
Why in the world did GM make a car with the name Citation? Are there any good connotations of that word?
2 years ago
Why in the world did GM make a car with the name Citation? Are there any good connotations of that word?
>Are there any good connotations of that word?
Of course there are: "a mention of a praiseworthy act or achievement in an official report, especially that of a member of the armed forces in wartime" Don't focus on the North American usage of "a traffic citation". Citation is almost a contranym, which is a word that has at least two meanings that are opposites of each other, i.e. bolt, bound, buckle, cleave, clip, consult, ...
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_contranyms
There’s also the aircraft series:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Citation_family
Those are named after a race horse. Car may also be for the race horse. Or maybe the car’s named after the plane(s).
I would love to drive a Chevy Potoooooooo
Simple, it's so that every time someone reads "citation needed" on Wikipedia, it triggers the buy impulse.
Citation just means to be noted for something ("Cited for valour.")
But in the context of motor vehicles, the term is highly associated with infractions and monetary fines.
I mean, people like fast cars, so the Chevy Speeding Ticket should be a good seller.
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I think it's funny how GM came out with the "Cavalier" to compete with Honda's "Civic". Or that matter, there was a Chevy Cobalt (e.g. a "Kobold" is a demon that causes mine accidents) or an AMC Gremlin.
...But cobalt is both a color and an element...?
Sure, the name is derived from "kobold", but that's like saying you should never call anything good "terrific", because it derives from the root "terror". Etymology isn't destiny.
There's always the business-school legend about the failure of the Nova with the Spanish market.
> The statement refers to a popular anecdote in international business and marketing about a supposed blunder made by American automaker Chevrolet with the car model, "Nova."
> According to the story, when Chevrolet tried to market the Nova in Spanish-speaking countries, the car reportedly did not sell well because in Spanish, "no va" translates to "doesn't go". This led people to joke that a car named "doesn't go" wouldn’t be a popular choice.
> However, it's important to note that this is largely a myth. In reality, the Chevrolet Nova was relatively successful in Spanish-speaking markets. "Nova" as a word is understood to mean "new star" in Spanish, and it's unlikely Spanish speakers would naturally break up the term into "no" and "va", just like English speakers wouldn't naturally break up "notable" into "no" and "table".
> But the story remains popular as a cautionary tale of the consequences of not considering linguistic and cultural differences when naming products for international markets.
Dat Soon?
It's also the name of a brand of private jet, and of what used to be the most successful racehorse in the world.
I'd guess both the car and the plane owe their names to the horse.
Technically Chevrolet did but the entire thought process for that vehicle was questionable so the name is IMO a harbinger. This is not a place of honor.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Citation_family
Relatively famous business jet.
A few other GM vehicles have this issue, Chevy in particular. A well known example is the market failure of calling a car Nova (No-Va) in South America.
Except that's not actually true: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis...
You know, I've heard that rebuttal, but I've been told this anecdote of the car's notoriety by family members from Columbia and more recently from a friend from Argentina. So perhaps "no va" and "Nova" are pronounced differently, and perhaps the car did sell well, but the Spanish-speaking peoples most certainly did find the term "no va" in the car's name.
You should know what they say about the Mitsubishi Pajero, too!
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