Nominal democracy
Page 43
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To find a suitable name for a new vehicle is becoming increasingly difficult as titles are appropriated and the names of obsolete models remain unregistered by individual manufacturers. Moreover, a title must be internationally acceptable.
I seem to remember a British manufacturer's being rescued from a monumental faux pas by a foreign representative who pointed out that the name proposed for a new model was an extremely rude word in his language.
To select a title for the Super Mini Austin Morris marketing and legal men sifted more than 8000 names and left the final choice to the group's 40,000 employees, who voted for Metro.
The procedure when Leyland Motors was seeking a title for the successor to the Comet lorry was a little less formal and democratic. Over dinner in London, Tom Dawson, the compa ny's dynamic publicity manager, asked me for ideas. As we racked our brains I remembered Sherpa Tensing, who had distinguished himself on Mount Everest.
"What about Sherpa?"' I asked.
Tom savoured the word for a moment or two and pronounced it palatable.
In the event the new model was called the Super Comet. Damp Squib would at least have been more original. The name Sherpa remained on ice for many years, to be served up with a successful rival to the Ford Transit.
With Leyland's long • history of animal names, Giraffe would be appropriate for the T 45 (which could easily be confused with a Russian tank), as the company is certainly sticking its neck out with this model. It would also forestall any future attempt by Tony Benn to I all it the NEB 1