Although I love the idea of reinstating a traditional British brand-name, I really feel that 'Austin' is just such a bad idea if you want to appeal to a young market. To me (I'm 25) as soon as someone says 'Austin' I think of Mike Myers lampooning britishness and that isn't the image of a sophisticated automotive car brand. I'd imagine 75%+ of my peers would probably make the same association - Austin Powers and its sequels are so widely known.
If you were going to use Austin, the car names would have to distance themselves from anything remotely laughable (whether rightly or wrongly - this will be buisness not justice). Quite frankly, any county names just sound... well... naff. Any past names will remind people of the bad British Leyland past and should also be avoided.
I think a good car name should do the following:
- Work well lyrically with the brand name - something that rolls of the tongue well.
- Hint at the car's strong points i.e. remind of luxury if it's going to aim at the executive market, sound exciting if it's meant to be sporty.
- Whilst aiming at the above, not be cheesy or obvious. e.g. Austin Flash or Austin Opulent UNLESS it's the BEST CAR EVER EVER EVER. Think about the Skoda Superb? I mean its definately a Skoda Amazing Value For Money but not really superb...
- Numbers can be good as they avoid pitfalls of laughable naming but have the disadvantage of being a bit non-descript.
As a thought perhaps we should list some good brand named cars from other companys and reflect why the name works?
For example (and this is regardless of the actual car mind): Ford Focus
The alliteration of the F and the puncyness of two syllabled 'Focus' makes it fairly pleasant to say.
Focus hints at precision both in (Ford hope!) design, construction and drive. It's a word that perhaps trys to shy away from the fact that this is a family car and tries to market it more as a drivers car?
