You can generally tell a lot about a car by its name:  is it fast, is it trendy, is it powerful, and yes, is it green.  For example the Leaf and the C-Zero are ostentatiously green, communicating clearly to buyers that they are getting an environmentally conscious car.  Aside from the Leaf, which in my opinion takes the gold in this category, the Chevrolet Volt recently purchased by Jay Leno is a close second for effective and eccentric electric car names.  Trendy names may prove essential for electric rental cars and hybrid luxury rental cars to emerge successfully.

 

Examples of electric car names that fit the niche:

•    Chevrolet Volt, Vauxhall Ampera: Sister cars from GM, plug-in hybrid
•    Nissan Leaf: Hatch-back all-electric stunner
•    Smart fortwo electric drive: Electric variation on the city car
•    Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid: Variant of the green star, the Prius hybrid
•    Tata Indica Vista EV
•    Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Citroen C-Zero, Peugeot iOn
•    Chevy Volt:  Electric hybrid
•    Vauxhall Ampera

 
So why do vehicle names matter?  The answer lies purely in vehicle marketing.  The task for manufacturers is to sell not just the hybrid car or SUV, but the entire concept to the public.  Cars marketed doing sexy things with sexy people tend to show a desired lifestyle, and adding green to the picture could spark some interest.
The name game often goes awry in the vehicle world, like the classic example of the Chevy Nova, which did not sell in Spanish-speaking countries because it sounded like “no va” or “doesn’t go”.  Nice.
 

 

Follow links for more on luxury hybrids and green luxury, or to check out our fleet of exotic rental cars.
 

 

 

 

 

Post by Imagine Lifestyles Luxury Rentals