For many years, a story has been circulating on the Internet about how one of the models of a famous car brand was renamed due to an unfortunate sounding name in Spanish. We decided to check the validity of such publications.

According to sources, the automobile giant General Motors once suffered a fiasco when trying to bring the Chevrolet Nova to the markets of Latin America. The sales level was incredibly low, and experts attributed this to the fact that buyers were confused by the name, because no va in Spanish means “does not go.” As a result, allegedly, the model had to be renamed Caribe.

This case, supposedly a typical example of a strategic naming mistake, was reported on by such online resources as Delfi, "Automania", "Driving", Car.ru, Autonews, Matador And kp.ua. An instructive story has also appeared in some books on marketing - in particular, “Black PR. Prohibited techniques of attack and defense", "Marketing from A to Z" And "Advertising communication"

Chevrolet Nova from General Motors appeared in 1962 and was originally called Chevy II. At the same time, the name Chevy II Nova was also used, but only in relation to the top modifications of this model.

1962 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova 400 Convertible. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In 1969 the manufacturer renamed the entire Chevy II line in Nova. The model was produced until 1979, and in 1985–1988 the name Chevrolet Nova in the American market was borne by a car based on the Toyota Corolla:

On the wave of success, the American manufacturer introduced the Nova line in 1972 in some Latin American countries - in particular, Mexico and Venezuela. In both countries the models were used high demand, and in Venezuela sales revenue surpassed all calculations and even, according to one of the leading American advertising magazines Adweek, temporarily made the Chevy Nova the best-selling model in the country. Only in 1978, a year before the closure of production at home, the car removed from the Latin American market.

Now to the question of linguistics. There is an international word nova, which comes from Latin and in astronomy means a new star. It used in the same meaning and in Spanish. Moreover, since Spanish is a Romance language, it contains many words related to nova in the general vocabulary: for example, “innovator” sounds like novador, and “new” - novedad. Therefore, the name Nova should not have offended the ears of Latin Americans or given them unexpected associations. For example, the Mexican state oil company PEMEX at one time sold Nova's own brand of gasoline.

As for the phrase no va, although it can be translated as “will not go”, “will not go” or “there won't be", a native Spanish speaker is more likely to say about a faulty car no marcha (“not working”) or no fire (“not on track”) In addition, the emphasis in this phrase is on second a word that complicates the association with nova (pronounced “nova”).

And finally, about the name Caribe, which supposedly replaced Nova in the Spanish-speaking countries of the New World. Two concept cars called the Chevrolet Caribe were built in 1966 And 1968 years based on the Impala and Camaro models, respectively. They were intended exclusively for auto shows and were not mass produced. And this was even before the Chevrolet Nova entered the Latin American market.

Thus, General Motors did not rename the Chevrolet Nova model for Latin American countries, especially since sales there were very decent. Moreover, the word nova could hardly evoke negative associations among Spanish-speaking motorists.

Cover photo: social media/Jeff Mangione