Friday 13 January 2012

Cars

Chairman, President, Dynasty, Prestige, Premium, Grandeur.  There’s nothing like a pompously named car to reaffirm one’s precious hard won pomposity and to indicate to the people on the street when they should defer to righteous self-importance.  Probably only available in black, occasionally in silver by special request, this growing strand of terribly serious, inflated care names seems unique to Korea.  A few classical exceptions, like Equus, Tosca, Genesis, add some exotic flavour to this large bubble of hot pride.  Not of course that I have much to crow about, coming from a country that gave rise to the Marina, Focus, Imp and Reliant.

1 comment:

  1. Ha. Out of my way, Imp! Your piddly little car is so tiny I can't even Focus on it!! North American firms have adopted a line of intimidating names such as Ram, Raptor, Wrangler, Avenger, Challenger, Charger... etc. (The other strategy is to take the names of noble Indian tribes, proud Indian chiefs, nearly extinct North American predators and horses.)

    ReplyDelete