Whats in a Name ? cap hpi has named the top ten most amusing car names, from Wind to Lettuce and more.

Automotive experts cap hpi have revealed the Top 10 list of amusing vehicle names following a poll amongst its team of expert Black Book editors.

Tim Bearder, Black Book editor, said: “Naming a car is really important for manufacturers in order to give it as much appeal as possible, it’s a key part of the vehicle marketing process. 

Whilst there is no hard and fast evidence that names have any real effect on sales or residual values it should be something that is taken into consideration. The team here has come across some weird and wonderfully named vehicles over the years ranging from obscure concept cars to mini vans and mainstream family cars.”

The list of amusingly named cars polled by cap hpi included:

1) Ford Probe

2) Panda Mamy

3) Renault Wind

4) Nissan Micra Wave

5) Reva G-Wiz

6) Robin Hood Lightweight

7) Ibiza E

8) Toyota Deliboy

9) Volugrafo Bimbo

10) Mitsubishi Lettuce

“Cars can have inspiring and aspirational names such as the Aston Martin Vanquish and the Ford Mustang. 

They sound desirable and particularly with high value vehicles and supercars can greatly enhance their appeal. It’s equally important to get it right for city cars, people carriers and mid-range family cars and saloons. 

The name should complement the look, feel and intended use for the vehicle. However, certain names do seem to tickle the funny bone and it’s sometimes difficult to imagine how these names came to be. In many cases it could just be a case of being lost in translation.”

Mew data shows that Black has become the colour of choice for the majority of the car segments.

Black is the new white for car colour according to latest data produced by automotive experts, cap hpi.

Across a range of different motoring sectors, statistics from the industry’s cap Black Book reveal that drivers are currently favouring black over any other colours or shades with consumers decidedly going ‘white off’ white cars.

The market analysis paints the following picture when it comes to most popular colours across the different motoring sectors:

• Black is the most popular colour in the convertibles market with 21.5% of overall market sales
• A third (29%) of coupe cabriolets sold are black
• Executive car sector gives black the vote (28%)
• Black also tops the sales chart in the large executive (28%) and luxury executive (24%) sectors
• 22% of the mid-range car market favours black
• 23% of the sports market is geared up for black
• A quarter (25%) of SUV sales leads are for black paintwork

Exceptions to the rule include the city car market sector with the most popular colours being red (18%) followed by white (17%) and black (16%). The MPV market favours silver (27%) as does the supermini sector (19%).

Philip Nothard , retail specialist at cap hpi commented: “Black is without doubt the new white. White had become the colour of choice over the past few years but black seems to be back with a vengeance. Black represents a safe choice for motorists as, along with silver and grey, these so called safe colours consistently maintain their value when sold as used.

“The subject of much discussion, many in the trade believe that the popularity of white was down to manufacturer marketing campaigns, whilst others thought it was a trend that started with other desirable products such as white laptops, smartphones and tablets.  Whatever the reason, white seems to have fallen out of favour and black is staging a bit of a fightback –black appears to be appealing to buyers’ financial sensitivities as it represents more of a safe bet in terms of returns later on down the line.”

For consumers buying a petrol or diesel car, the bottom line is that middle of the road colours make the safest investment and it would appear that this has never been truer than at present.  

Added Philip Nothard: “Black, grey and silver have always been in the top five most popular colours, so it’s no huge shock to see that white seems to have lost its crown. Our data shows that middle of the road cars in black are better at holding value than any other colour. Customers are always likely to settle for the safest option and it would appear that they are thinking about what they can get at trade-in time rather than taking any risks with brighter or whiter paintwork.”

CAP Black Book announces that the Tesla Model S holds it's value better than any other car.

Comes with a luxury price tag but holds its value better than any other car, says CAP’s Jeff Knight

Although the Tesla comes with a £60,000 starting price, Jeff Knight at CAP says the Tesla holds its value better than almost any other modern car on the market today. According to the motor industry’s CAP Black Book, the Tesla is the green motoring choice for the serious car buyer with a decent budget and a passion for investing in the latest electric vehicle technology.

“The Tesla is still, relatively, rare in the UK and most are bought new by passionate enthusiasts or business fleet buyers,” explains Jeff Knight at CAP. “This means that secondhand examples tend to be fitted with between £10,000-20,000 worth of optional equipment. This helps the Tesla hold its value on the used car market. At Black Book, we have held Tesla values static for a year now, which is highly unusual.”

Even though it’s a full electric vehicle, owners seem happy to make the switch from a fuel vehicle to Tesla. The Model S Tesla has a range of between 200 to around 265 miles, depending on the battery option of the vehicle and the nature of the drive. When it comes to charging, owners can opt to use a domestic supply or invest in an industrial charging installation at their home, partly subsidised by Tesla.

Tesla owners benefit from a growing network of UK supercharger points (currently 29) which work at the rate of 68 miles per hour of charge. These will take the car up to 80% charged in 40 minutes and 100% in 75 minutes, keeping drivers on the road.

Jeff Knight continues, “Many Tesla owners alter their lifestyle to fit the charging regime, because they are that passionate about the benefits of their vehicle. In the US, it’s not unusual for owners to call at the supercharger on the way home and sit in the car, using the free Wi-Fi to send emails as the car charges.

“People, clearly, love this vehicle, which means it holds its value. For anyone looking to buy an executive car with green credentials, but can handle the charging regime, a Tesla is one of the smartest investments in today’s market.”

Passat beats German rivals in the residual value fight.

PREMIUM CAR quality with a mainstream new vehicle price tag will spell success for the all new Volkswagen Passat in the battle of the ‘big five’ company cars, say independent experts CAP Automotive.

It’s a sector that is hotly contested by five giants of the company car world – Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Ford Mondeo, Mercedes C Class and Volkswagen Passat – which means every new launch is critical for a manufacturer.

Key to success in this market is driver appeal to attract company car choosers, together with competitive depreciation so that fleets can offer the best possible contract hire rates.

According to CAP the all new Passat wins on both counts, with premium car quality normally associated with prestige badges and lower cash depreciation forecast than for any of its German rivals.

CAP’s future used car value forecasting experts – whose ‘Gold Book’ residual value forecasting tool is the industry’s independent benchmark for tomorrow’s second hand prices – say new Passat will retain 37.4% of its value after three years and 60,000 miles.

It means the completely re-engineered Passat is expected to lose just over £13,400 over three years, compared with £15,880 for the equivalent Mercedes C-Class, £16,970 for the Audi A4 and £17,445 for the BMW 3 Series.

The strength of the Volkswagen brand – which is now knocking on the door of premium car status in the form of the new Passat – is revealed by the fact that CAP is forecasting a three year old car to be worth more than its BMW and Audi rivals at the same point.

CAP senior forecasting editor Dylan Setterfield said: “People might reasonably assume that a Volkswagen would generally be worth less as a used car than the equivalent models from more traditionally premium image manufacturers, like Audi and BMW.

“In reality, though, we are anticipating the new Passat to be worth £10,900 in the trade market, after three years, which is £325 more than our forecast for the Audi A4 and £725 above the BMW 3 Series.

“Volkswagen have kept to their ethos of evolution rather than revolution, with the new Passat. Even though everything has changed under the skin, there’ll be no question of unsettling the existing Passat fan because the outward changes remain quite subtle.

“It’s fair to say that this new model will keep the loyal Passat chooser happy while tempting those drivers who want a premium car without the premium new price tag to try a Volkswagen for the first time.”