Vauxhall are stupid!
Vauxhall used to produce a little box called a Nova. It wasn't really very good, but it was cheap and reliable. It wasn't quick though, not even the SRi version.

Vauxhall realised this, and marketed the car very appropriately in Spain where "No va" means "Won't Go"

Sadly the Spanish interpreted this as poor reliability as opposed to low speed and refused to buy it, so it was given the name Corsa.

It cost GM a lot of money, and led to the GM cars being called by the same name across Europe, whether marketing as Opel or Vauxhall.

What a spectacular failure by their marketing team. Makes me laugh every time I think of it.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Thu 22 Apr 2010, 8:40, 18 replies)

You gotta love
the Toyota MR2 or as they say in France "M R Deux".

Otherwise known to our Gallic cousins as the Toyota Shit
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 8:48, closed)

Ditto the Mitsubishi Pajero - Spanish for wank, I believe...

(anvil, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 8:57, closed)

I seem to remember
that 'Pinto' is slang for a small penis. I forget which language.
(ConanTroutman thought we would free the vulture, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 9:07, closed)

brazilian.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 10:39, closed)

you mean portugeuse?

( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Thu 22 Apr 2010, 10:46, closed)

it's a dialect difference
but I suppose so. I meant more that it became an issue in Brazil as the Pinto was a US Ford model so not really for sale in Portugal.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 10:53, closed)

I was going to say that isn't the reason Vauxhall are stupid
but then it occurred to me that loads of people buy their shit cars, so maybe they aren't stupid after all.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 10:38, closed)

I used to buy a lot of Vauxhalls
but had many engine management faults on the Astras and Vectras

I then had a BMW, which I loved, but cost £3m a mile to run.

I now have a focus. Which is reliable.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Thu 22 Apr 2010, 10:50, closed)

I find vauxhalls to be horrible and plasticy
and the controls and everything all feel light and flimsy

I drive a Seat Toledo which is basically a VW bora, with an audi A3 interior and electrics done by the spanish. it is exactly as you would expect.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 11:05, closed)

It would, of course, be a lovely example of marketing idiocy.
Except it's entirely untrue. The Corsa A was only ever called the Nova as a Vauxhall, and all continental European GM cars are sold as Opels. So there was never a Vauxhall Nova, or Opel Nova, or any Nova, for sale in Spain.

The GM name alignment thing happened around 1995 and had nothing particuarly to do with the Nova, just marketing image alignment and general moneysaving.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 10:50, closed)

In the same way
the MkI and II Cavaliers were Opel Asconas (if my mind serves me correctly) and the MkIII was a Vectra. Only with the launch of the Vauxhall Vectra (essentially a MkIV Cavalier) was the name harmonised throughout.

Although the American Chevrolet Cavalier, also a GM brand, was nothing like the Vectras/Cavaliers over here.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 11:00, closed)

Yeah, Chevrolet like to fuck about.
Mind, they are all Daewoos now, aren't they?

It was the Vectra that was the model that sealed the name thing, yeah. 1995 was the first-gen UK Vectra.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 11:06, closed)

Chevrolet Nova in Mexico.
Back in the mid-to-late 1970s. Sold like a wet fart. NO VA. Der.

My grandfather had an early one, though, with an engine bigger than a cop car's, and that mutha would HAUL ASS!!! Big-blog V-8, I think, can't remember how many horses, but the speed limits on the interstates (motorways) were 85 or 70 back then, so no fucking-around with traffic snarls!

Too bad that he sold it before I was old enough to drive... *sigh* And that he drove it like an old lady going to church... But I'd ridden in it with the Fallen Uterus, and that bitch has the most leaden foot on earth, constantly jammed-up into the carburetor!
(AnntichristSCoulter, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 11:17, closed)

that's a completely different car, though.
It was sold in the central america under the same name, but didn't affect the sales at all.

www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 11:27, closed)

Sadly it is true, I think
I remember we covered it during Marketing segments of my Business degree. Unless, of course, the tutor was using a made-up example...

I remember Astras used to be Kadetts on the continent.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Thu 22 Apr 2010, 11:22, closed)

I'm afraid your tutor doesn't check his references or is just a bullshitter.
It's a well-known urban legend and it'll take you about 30 seconds on google to discover it's not true. Try finding an Opel Nova for a start.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 11:32, closed)

I was had then
and spent 13 years laughing at bullshit.

Mind you, I'm not convinced it's false. I may call Vauxhall marketing...

Well done, tutor!!
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Thu 22 Apr 2010, 12:27, closed)

Whenever I hear the name...
...I start singing "Blame it on the Vauxhall Nova" in my head, to the tune of "Blame It On the Bossa Nova", obviously.
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 10:58, closed)