Honda has a great track record when it comes to naming its vehicles: just remember Civic, Accord, Beat, Prelude, or Odyssey, all of which are memorable names for cars that have been adapted for their individual product. However, a good track record does not guarantee good results in the future – just look at the brand's choice to sell a car called “e:Ny1” in Europe and China.
The new e:Ny1 has a strange name, but everything has an explanation: the letter “e” indicates the model as electric or electrified, “Ny” is synonymous with “New you” and the letter “1” means that this is the first model of this series New.
Honda has already realized the mistake, because the name is already on the waiting list for replacement, as the specialized website “Car and Driver” revealed on Tuesday.
The letter “e:Ny1” may seem like a clever play on the word “anyone,” but it's actually a confusing jumble of letters and numbers meant only to refer to an electric vehicle (e:N) produced in partnership with brands in China.
According to Autocar, the brand will ditch the “e:N” prefix on all its electric cars in the Chinese market because customers “simply can't pronounce it.” The new system will switch to a simpler naming convention of one letter and one number, making “e:Ny1” a simple “Y1”. Unfortunately for customers, this decision was taken after the launch of a car called 'e:NS2'.
The move is good news for Honda customers in China and Europe, but the era of confusing electric car names is far from over: Jaguar still offers a gasoline-powered E-Pace and an electric I-Pace, and Mercedes sells a sedan called the EQS and an SUV called the EQS SUV. Side by side, Toyota even sells a car called the bZ4X.
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