From Naked to Cats and vegetables… the cutest car names ever

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

So proffered the great William Shakespeare in his classic 1996 film, Romeo and Juliet (that’s a joke, people, I know it was a book first).

And it’s a strong quote, The Bard suggesting that it matters not what a thing is called, but rather it’s the essence of the thing that remains important.

Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motors (GWM) will be hoping ol’ Will’s philosophy rings true when it launches the GWM Ora in Australia.

Known in its native China by the altogether more memorable Ora Good Cat, Australia will miss out on the ‘Good Cat’ bit for, well, nothing. Similarly, the Ora Lightning Cat or, as it’s known in Europe, Next Cat, will arrive Down Under with the less than imaginative GWM Ora Sport. Ugh.

Shakespeare certainly nailed the sentiment with his rose analogy. Whether the GWM Ora captivates the hearts and minds the same way as a car named Ora Good Cat would, remains to be seen.

But GWM isn’t alone in producing cars with funky, memorable or just downright cute model designations. Here then, are some of our favourites.

Mitsi’s little Minica (mini car, geddit?) has been around since the 1960s – the first Minica rolled off the production line in 1962 – but it’s the sixth generation (1989-1993) where things took a turn for the cute, a new variant featuring a single door on the right side, two doors on the passenger side, and a liftgate.

What else would you call it but ‘Lettuce’? No, we don’t know why either.

A cute-as-pie kei car from Japan that lists among its features exposed hinges, external bolts holding it all together, and a name that arouses snickers among schoolboys.

A 658cc inline three-cylinder provided the motivation, with either a four-speed auto or five-speed manual sending power to either the front wheels only or all four wheels.

Production ran from 1999-2004 before it was replaced by the Daihatsu Cast Activa.

A small delivery van sharing some mechanical components with the more common KM30 generation Toyota LiteAce, the cutely named Deliboy was, according to Toyota, targeted at “small shop owners engaged in door-to-door delivery”.

Payload was rated at 750kg for the regular van with two seats, while a five-seater option saw that payload reduce to 500kg.

As for the name? As per Toyota: “The name evokes an image of an agile delivery boy…”

Setting aside that BYD is an acronym for ‘Build Your Dreams’, the Chinese carmaker’s rollcall of model names is largely unimaginative with such memorable designations as D1, F3, G3, S7 and M6 (hello BMW?).

But scattered amongst the alphanumeric nameplates, the BYD Dolphin and Seal evoke images of gentle marine life lolling about in the world's seas and oceans. For what it’s worth, the Dolphin is a small electric hatchback while the Seal is a compact electric sedan.

A bit of a misnomer, the GWM Haval Big Dog anything but in the land of SUVs. Classified a compact crossover SUV, the Big Dog was reportedly set for an Australian launch in late 2023.

Unfortunately, it’s looking increasingly likely Australia is now off the Big Dog’s radar. Not that we’re missing out too much, with reports suggesting the ‘Big Dog’ would be known locally as the ‘Dargo. Boring!

It’s sad locally delivered Oras will miss out on GWM’s excellent handbook of model names. Who wouldn’t love to park an Ora Good Cat in their driveway? Or a Funky Cat, or even Lightning Cat. For me personally though, make mine an Ora Punk Cat (pictured below). Yeah, that works.

Instead, our locally delivered Ora Good Cats will simply be known as GWM Ora while Aussie-delivered Lightning Cats will go by the decidedly unsexy and not-very-cute-at-all GWM Ora Sport. Boo.

As for the origins of the Good Cat name? Apparently GWM channelled the words of Deng Xiaoping, the former leader of the People’s Republic of China who reportedly once said, “No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat”.

No, not a typo. Instead, the Gol is a sub-compact car produced by Volkswagen do Brasil for the South American market. While it started life in 1980 looking like a distinct product with its own character, the latest-generation (G5, pictured below) looks suspiciously like VW Polo.

The Gol (named for the Portuguese word for ‘goal’) was Brazil’s best-selling car from 1987-2014.

Now in its third generation, the VW Gol has the distinction of being banned in Argentina (where it had been the nation’s best-seller since 1988) thanks to Volkswagen do Brasil refusing to fit the car with electronic stability control (ESC or ESP) as standard. Argentina mandated ESP on all new cars from 2022. Volkswagen do Brasil said, ‘yeah, nah’.

We think the 1990s era Gol GTI (pictured below), looks quite cool.

What are some of your favourite car model names? Let us know in the comments below.