Volvo, Lexus, Infiniti, these overseas car brands have long been known to everyone. But when they first entered China, their names were not as familiar as they are now. In fact, for various reasons, these brands have changed their Chinese names. In addition, over time, the previous names have been forgotten by everyone.

Volvo, a luxury brand originating from Nordic Sweden, has brought a luxurious and low-key brand impression to many people with its safe and elegant design. However, it is precisely such a brand that pursues style that it was transliterated as "rich" when it first entered China.

"Volvo" is actually the transliteration of VOLVO, but Volvo may have thought that the term "Volvo" was too superficial, so it later changed it to "Volvo". From the current perspective, Volvo's name change is obviously quite successful.

Lexus sales have surged in recent years, becoming the most watched luxury brand besides BBA. It is for this reason that the name of Lexus's predecessor is still mentioned by people, and many people still call it "Lexus" despite their difficulty in breaking the habit.

The name change of Lexus is mainly based on the naming system of Toyota Group’s unified transliteration. This is mainly reflected in the naming of car series. For example, Camry was renamed Camry, Corolla was renamed Corolla, Overbearing was renamed Prado, and Land Cruiser was renamed Land Cruiser. DeCruiser... Although the name change of Lexus is not a big deal, the name changes of the following Toyota models still feel a bit random and lack of aesthetics.

The Infiniti brand has never been very well-known in China. Perhaps because of the word "英" in the name, many people initially thought it was a European brand, but it is actually a luxury brand of the Nissan Group.

When Infiniti entered China in its early days, it was directly named the English translation of Infiniti - Infinite. Although it was the original intention of the brand, the word "Infinite" had already been registered as a brand trademark by other companies, so it had no choice but to change its name to Infiniti.

There are quite a few brands that have been forced to change their names because their trademarks were registered in advance. The Sichuan Automobile Mustang and Ford Mustang, which have caused a lot of commotion, are the best examples. Since Sichuan Automobile Group registered the "Mustang" trademark earlier, Ford was not only unable to continue to use the "Mustang" trademark, but was also accused of infringement and compensated Sichuan Automobile Group for its economic losses.

Now, the official name of Ford Mustang can only use the English "Mustang", while the registered Chinese name is "Masdan". In fact, there is no problem in this controversial case. Who is called "Mustang" obviously depends on the registration time and cannot be determined by reputation and history, and this also serves as a wake-up call for other overseas brands.

Similarly, the famous Lotus Cars also encountered such a dilemma. When entering China, the official Chinese name "Lotus" surprised many car fans. How did the Lotus sports car that was so lofty in their hearts become such a mess?

In fact, as early as the last century, an electrical appliance company in Guangdong had already registered the "Lotus" and "Lotus" trademarks and has still used them to this day. Lotus obviously did not take the wrong path of Mustang and directly chose the English transliteration of the brand as its Chinese name.

When you think of Tuosule, what car do you think of? Many netizens may think of the elderly scooters produced by a small workshop. But in fact, this is the domestic company name of Tesla, a well-known electric vehicle brand.

Since the company name "Tesla" has been registered, although "Tesla" can be used as a trademark, the company name can only be transliterated, so "Tuosule" became Tesla The registered name of the company. In fact, the editor wants to say that there are many different transliterations, but the Chinese characters must be chosen well...

Having talked about so many brands, I believe it is an eye-opener for everyone. Some brands and models have catchy names, but there must be many unknown allusions hidden behind them. With the continuous emergence of various brands and trademarks, how to name new cars is actually testing the "cultural level" of car companies.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.