The cars with terrible names that nobody should buy

Cars whose names Spanish turns into a joke

Asking for a Nissan Moco at a dealership requires self-control from both the salesperson and the customer. The name of the Japanese kei car, which literally means "nasal secretion," is just the tip of a list of models whose christening did not travel well across borders.

From Málaga to Greece: when the same name means something else

The list of linguistic blunders is long. Mitsubishi's famous SUV was sold in the Spanish-speaking world as the Montero, precisely because the original name sounded unmistakably offensive; the Ford Corrida evokes a double meaning in Spain that nobody in Detroit foresaw; the Seat Málaga recalls a Greek insult; the Toyota Isis became a problem when the acronym of the Sarracinic State tainted the brand; and the Lexus LFA, whose reading in Spanish produces a term the Japanese engineers did not need to know about.

There's more: the Hyundai Kona had to be called Kauai in Portugal, not for translation reasons but phonetic ones. And there are also names that should not be repeated here, because in Spanish they are a direct insult or a two-word expletive. It's enough to know the list exists and that some marketing executive should have consulted a dictionary before approving the budget.

Chevrolet Nova: the legend that won't go away

The most cited case remains the Chevrolet Nova. The Spanish reading "no va" ("it doesn't go") became the perfect explanation for an alleged commercial failure. Historians point out that sales in Latin America were not that bad, but the anecdote is already part of automotive folklore.

The sarracena is simple: if you're going to name a car, test first how it sounds in every language of the market. Or end up selling an SUV called Moco with a grin from ear to ear. Which is exactly what happens now.