From the diminutive (Austin) Ant to the sturdy (Daihatsu) Zebra, the automotive world has lengthy appeared to the animal kingdom for inspiration.
It’s a logical leap, actually: naming a machine after a beast infuses chilly metal with breath, character and intent.
However for each thoroughbred stallion or venomous snake that has graced a bootlid, there’s a creature that defies standard advertising logic. For each Cobra, there’s a Kitten. For each Ram, there’s a… Bongo.
On this zoological survey, we’ve scoured the archives to curate an entire A-Z menagerie of the motoring world. It’s a assortment that ranges from the legendary to the obscure, and the fierce to the frankly weird. Welcome to the Autocar ark.
A: Austin Ant
Within the late Sixties, Mini creator Sir Alec Issigonis turned to growing a small 4×4 that was meant for navy use however which might additionally spawn a civilian model. Small, powerful and designed for navy use? You possibly can see why Ant was the right title. Sadly, in 1968 British Leyland administration canned the undertaking, which was deemed to be too near the Land Rover.
B: Mazda Bongo
The Japanese one-box van that was launched in 1966 is called after not a drum however a striped African antelope. Enjoyable truth: the bongo is the world’s third-largest antelope and the one species of tragelaphus through which each sexes develop horns. The Mazda Bongo was by no means provided with horns. Solely a horn, operated by way of the steering wheel, or a dashboard button on older fashions.
C: Shelby Cobra
Initially a reworked AC Ace with a mighty V8 engine plonked in it, the Cobra has been surprisingly influential within the names of different vehicles. The inspiration for the title apparently got here to Carroll Shelby in a dream, like all one of the best concepts do.
D: Haval Large Canine
The story of Boaty McBoatface clearly by no means reached China: in 2020 Haval determined {that a} social media vote can be the right technique to discover a title for its new SUV. Large Canine received, beating Hiker, Battle Axe, Wolf and, er, Billow Journey. Haval brilliantly named the trim ranges after canine breeds: Husky is the entry stage, rising to top-tier Belgian Shepherd.
E: AMC Eagle
The Eighties all-wheel-drive US machine was a hybrid of Jeep operating gear and the physique of a Harmony saloon, and it was designed to tackle essential four-wheel-drive fashions from the likes of Subaru. The explanations for the Eagle title aren’t recognized, though Chrysler later turned it right into a stand-alone efficiency model that ran from 1988 till 1998.
F: Ford Falcon
The Falcon title was first hooked up to a luxurious Ford idea within the Nineteen Thirties, and it will definitely spawned the creation of Mercury. Within the mid-Nineteen Fifties, Chrysler unveiled a saloon automobile idea named Falcon. By 1958, reviews counsel each Ford and Chrysler needed to make use of the title for brand new small vehicles: all US mannequin names on the time wanted to be registered with the Vehicle Producers Affiliation, and Ford, er, swooped in simply 20 minutes forward of Chrysler to get its talons on the Falcon tag.
G: Volkswagen Golf
Wait, what? No, the Golf isn’t, as widespread custom holds, named after a sort of wind. It’s a tough translation of the German phrase for the gulf stream, however the suggestion really got here from Volkswagen’s then head of buying, Hans-Joachim Zimmermann. He was a eager rider, and his favorite horse was named… Golf. Which has simply usurped Snickers in a rating of essentially the most stunning issues that you just in all probability did not know have been named after a horse.
H: Lancia Hyena Zagato
Fierce little issues, hyenas. A becoming title, then, for a neat coupé primarily based on a rallying legend. That is clearly what Paul Koot thought when he dreamed up this smooth machine primarily based on the Delta Integrale. Zagato developed the Hyena, however Fiat would not formally again it, forcing Koot to purchase HF Integrales to transform. A deliberate manufacturing run of 600 ended with simply 24 made.
I: Chevrolet Impala
Who knew that so many automobile companies like naming fashions after breeds of antelope? This long-running US-market saloon was produced in numerous kinds from 1957 till 2020. The title was first used for a 1956 present automobile, which featured an impala-based brand. The selection was as a result of impala are sleek, apparently.
J: Proton Jumbuck
Jumbuck? It is an Australian slang time period for sheep, which you’d know should you’d studied the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda in depth. Anyway, since Australians love a ‘ute’, it is a becoming selection for the title of a front-drive coupé-style van. It was even provided within the UK, the place it attracted some loyal followers. In its native Malaysia, Proton selected to call it Area, which is way duller.
Okay: Reliant Kitten
The three-wheeled Robin is clearly essentially the most well-known Reliant named after a dwelling factor, however the Kitten is a neat oddity; a small, low cost automobile of which simply over 4000 have been offered between 1975 and 1982. It was primarily based on the Robin however had 4 wheels and an 850cc engine, and the title got here from a contest held for Reliant workers. It was inbuilt Bangalore in CKD package kind, rebranded because the Sipani Dolphin. Early inspiration for BYD, maybe?
L: Nissan Leopard
The Leopard was a performance-tinged luxurious automobile offered in Japan between 1980 and 1999. Amazingly, a furry noticed steering wheel cowl was by no means provided as a manufacturing facility choice. A missed alternative.
M: De Tomaso Mangusta
It is Italian for mongoose, earlier than you ask. Why title a automobile mongoose? Out of spite, obvs. Alejandro de Tomaso was angered when an settlement with Carroll Shelby to construct a brand new Can-Am racer fell aside. Shelby went on to staff up with Ford for the GT40, and the metal chassis developed for the undertaking was used for the 1967 Mangusta. And the title? Effectively, mongooses (mongeese?) would possibly look cute, however they’re vicious carnivores – they usually eat cobras.
N: Jeep Gladiator Nighthawk
When finishing an A-Z like this, you anticipate Q and X to be onerous. However N? There aren’t many animals beginning with N, however automobile companies have thus far missed the chance to call fashions the Natterjack, Newt or Bare Mole Rat. As a substitute, we’ll should accept a special-edition trim bundle for Jeep’s US-market pick-up.
O: GVT Ox
Oxen are valued working animals that may lug sizeable masses at a gentle tempo. A becoming title, then, chosen by charity World Automobile Belief for its Ox supply automobile. Designed by Gordon Murray, it featured Ford Transit mechanicals with bodywork that may be assembled flatpack-style, and it was meant to be used in Africa. The undertaking morphed into the agency Ox Delivers, which operates a fleet of vehicles – now with an electrical powertrain – for a haulage-as-a-service enterprise in Rwanda.
P: Fiat Panda
Technically, the Panda should not be on this record as a result of – shock horror – Fiat’s metropolis automobile is not really named after the bamboo-loving bear. It was provisionally named the Rustica, earlier than Fiat switched it to a extra evocative title impressed by Empanda, the Roman goddess of travellers. The title rankled the World Wildlife Fund (now the World Broad Fund For Nature), whose brand contains a panda, though a chunky charitable donation by Fiat smoothed issues over.
Q: Chevrolet Corvette ZRX1 Quail Silver Restricted Version
That is as tenuous as Elon Musk’s grip on actuality, however till a agency decides to name a automobile the Quokka (there have to be a crossover crying out for the badge) it is all we have. This was a special-edition Corvette named after The Quail automobile present, a part of Monterey Automobile Week and a nod to The Quail Lodge resort, itself named after the migratory fowl.
R: Plymouth Street Runner
The roadrunner is an actual fowl, however you are already pondering of the long-time foil of Wile E Coyote – and sure, Plymouth’s appropriately cartoonish 1968 muscle automobile is called after the cartoon character. On the time Plymouth paid Warner Bros $50,000 to make use of the character’s title and likeness for a brand – and bunged in $10,000 for a licensed Street Runner’s ‘meep meep’ exclamation for the automobile’s horn. Certainly one of the best $10,000 any automobile agency has ever spent.
S: Triumph Stag
For a interval, Triumph Motors assigned every of its tasks a four-letter codename, akin to Zest (TR4) and Bomb (Spitfire). A number of of them used animal names: Zebu (a South Asian humped cow) was the codename for the 2000, whereas Zobo (a cross-breed Tibetan pack animal) begat the Herald. Maybe properly, Stag was the one Triumph undertaking title that really discovered its manner onto the manufacturing model.
T: Sunbeam Tiger
One other V8 sports activities automobile that Carroll Shelby helped develop, the Tiger was codenamed Thunderbolt throughout its improvement, however earlier than its launch in 1964 it was renamed in honour of the Sunbeam that set a land velocity document in 1925. That V12-powered record-chaser, constructed by Henry Segrave, was initially generally known as the Ladybird earlier than it was renamed as one thing a bit extra aggressive-sounding.
U: Lamborghini Urraco
Lamborghini names most of its vehicles after combating bulls, which could be very useful as a result of we might select Urus or Urraco right here. We’ll go together with Urraco as a result of (a) the title, translating as ‘little bull’, is extra enjoyable and (b) you’d moderately see an image of an Urraco than an Urus, proper?
V: Dodge Viper
The wild American sports activities automobile was conceived as a contemporary equal of the Shelby Cobra, so the event staff needed a snake-adjacent title (and mongoose was not out there). Viper was chosen after designer Tom Gale met design legend Giorgetto Giugiaro and requested him for a cool Italian snake title. “He stated ‘Vipera’, and I stated ‘shit, thanks’,” Gale advised Motortrend.
W: Land Rover Wolf
The Wolf is the sunshine navy variant of the Defender that was launched in 1998 and has seen intensive service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The presumably apocryphal purpose for the title factors to an LR engineering assembly the place somebody warned the undertaking “might chunk us within the arse”, to which somebody replied “we would higher name it wolf then”. What bantz.
X: Lada X-Ray
The X-Ray Tetra is a small South American freshwater fish that’s uncommon for being largely translucent. Did that considerably obscure fish function inspiration for the 2015 Russian compact SUV? Nearly actually not. However critically, you attempt discovering a automobile beginning with X that is named after an animal. These items is not as straightforward because it appears.
Y: Skoda Yeti
Some will declare Skoda’s rugged crossover does not belong on this record, on the grounds that the yeti is a legendary creature that really does not exist. However the Yeti SUV very undoubtedly existed, and we’re unhappy it not does. And anyway, are you able to show the abominable snowman does not exist? Eh?
Z: Daihatsu Zebra
Primarily an enlarged Hijet kei automobile, the Zebra was produced by Daihatsu’s Indonesian subsidiary from 1986 till 2007. The title got here from the Automeccanica Daihatsu Zebra, a short-lived Greek-made model of the Charade. Daihatsu by no means defined why it selected the Zebra title, and disappointingly it by no means provided the mannequin in a striped black and white paint scheme.
