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QUIZ!!

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  applejax 
#1 ·
Does anyone know how Mazda Japan think of the name"Atenza"?? :p
 
#12 ·
Replying to Topic 'QUIZ!!'

Sometimes names come first, meanings later, as in Bob Hall's answer on the meaning of the JDM "Eunos" name for the early MX-5.

QUOTE
Actually, Eunos (like many Japanese domestic names for cars as well as many consumer goods) was selected on the basis of how it sounded to and ease of pronunciation for Japanese consumers with no consideration of meaning till well after the fact, if at all. This is why some of the nomenclature sounds so strange to Western ears.  

In the case of Eunos, sounds were put together and evaluated in focus groups. The rationalization which came up with "Mass of Joy" was done well after the phonetic structure,determination of pronounciation, Romaized spelling and logotype design for 'Eunos' had been decided upon and the name registered.

Occasionally a real word gets mated with something which sounds good to the Japanese (such as another Mazda channel, Autozam); or a naming concept is decided upon with logotype and actual nomenclature selected to suit the concept decided upon (as what happened with Mazda's Enfini sales network); but more often than not it's the Japanese art of producing word salad at its finest. How else could anybody possibly come up with the name 'Platz' for the Japanese domestic version of the Toyoya Echo sedan?

Similarly to the Eunos example of the name being selected and then a meaning created for it, Japanese car company policy makes it common for an 'image sketch' of a new car to be released at the time of launch along with an explanation that what was distributed was one of the first sketches of the car. In fact the 'image sketches' released at intro time are usually done between the time the final design is frozen and the car is placed in production. Like Eunos 'meaning' "Mass of Joy", it's primarily for PR and marketing purposes and has little to do with the actual processes involved at the creative and developmental stages.

Of course the Japanese aren't the only people doing things this way. Have you ever found a meaning for "Exxon", for example?

bwob
__________
If you can't go fast with 90hp, 900hp won't help you[/b]
 
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