Origin of Names of Car Companies

All car lovers show an interest in the history or origin of car company, how it began, who founded it, where and why. But have you ever given a thought on the names of the car companies? In most of the cases, we have found that the originators of the car company gave their names to their companies. However, there are many car companies in the world whose names are derived from other sources. Let us find out the origin of the car companies names.

Soichiro Honda gave his name to his company that he started in 1948. In the same way, Michio Suzuki began the Suzuki Loom Works in 1909 that later became the Suzuki Motor Corporation. But the Toyoda family changed the 'd' to a 't' to make it simpler and more elegant in Japanese script when they began to make cars.

Tata Motors, Ford Motor Company, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche are named after their founders. As August Horch could not use his name in his car business, he translated his name to Latin. 'Audi' is a Latin word for 'Horch' which means 'to hear'.

The German dictator Adolf Hitler wanted a car for the common men. Hence, Volkswagen came into being as its name stands for "people's car" in German. William C. Durant founded the General Motors Company as the International Motors Company. He changed the name of the company on his attorney's advice. Durant kept the name Buick for one of his car divisions after David Buick. Moreover, this great entrepreneur named the Chevrolet brand after Louis Chevrolet who worked with Durant in a new car-building venture.

Maxwell Motor Company was renamed to Chrysler Corporation when Walter P. Chrysler bought up shares in the firm over a two-year period.

Indian car major Mahindra & Mahindra began as Mahindra & Mohammed on 2nd October 1945. It was formed by Mahindra brothers in collaboration with Ghulam Mohammed. The company was renamed to Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) in 1948, when Ghulam Mohammed left India and went to Pakistan.

The name of the luxury car maker Jaguar has a different story. It acquired its name from a long list of animal names. The name Jaguar was zeroed on to name the British car company.

There are car companies with names that are acronyms. Fiat is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiani Automobili Torino, Saab stands for Svenska Aeroplanaktiebolaget and BMW is an acronym for Bavarian Motor Works.