For the past week, I’ve been driving around in the latest Chinese car to arrive here in the UK – the Lepas L8.

You can read my full review soon, but I’ve also enlisted my 27-year-old daughter, Gemma, to give me her views on the car. There’s plenty that we’ve both been impressed with – style and value are just two things that stand out – but there’s one thing we both agree on: the name.

Despite the italic script on the back end – and the cars themselves both look a bit Porsche-like – the name Lepas is going to take a while for us to get used to. It’s pronounced ‘le’, as in let, and ‘pas’, as in pasta, although I’m sure even Lepas retailers will be saying it in different ways.

Apparently, the name is a combination of leopard – referencing the leopard-like design of the car, obviously without the spots – and passion. You can draw your own conclusion on that. But it didn’t score highly with some of the other youngsters I spoke to, although one did say it sounded a bit French, which wasn’t a bad thing.It just goes to show how difficult it is to name a car these days – and there are enough tales of brands getting it wrong.

Anyone remember the Mitsubishi Carisma, which just happens to be one of the dullest cars I’ve ever driven? Or why the Nova name couldn’t be used for Vauxhall/Opel’s small car across Europe because it means ‘no go’ in Spanish? There are quite a few rude examples I won’t go into, but strangely, we never got the Mazda Bongo Friendee over here, while GWM Ora swiftly dropped the name Funky Cat. I’m not a cat lover anyway.

Build Your Dreams sounds like something I would’ve created at school. Did they get ChatGPT to come up with that?

So, what about some of the other new brands we’re seeing these days, and what do youngsters think about them?

Leapmotor was one that came in for criticism, with two people coming up with the genius idea of simply dropping the ‘motor’ part of the name. “Leap would be quite cool,” said one, while another thought it suggested a positive future but couldn’t understand why they had added ‘motor’. A marketing agency would’ve charged them thousands for that bit of valuable insight.

I can remember sitting around a lunch table with the BYD folk at the launch of their first car in the UK, the Atto 3, and warning them to take the words ‘Build Your Dreams’ off the back of their cars. Thankfully, they listened.

“Build Your Dreams sounds like something I would’ve created at school,” said one person. “Did they get ChatGPT to come up with that?” asked another.

That was a familiar theme, with youngsters questioning whether these multinational car companies had actually used AI to come up with their names.

Omoda was another one that bemused young people. They didn’t buy the explanation that the ‘O’ stands for oxygen and ‘moda’ stands for fashion. One said it reminded them of Imodium, while another said it simply doesn’t sound like a car. The word, they felt, needs to look ‘sleek’.

Jaecoo got more approval – as it seems to be doing with car buyers in the UK – but Chery split opinion. As my daughter said: “If it’s good enough for Apple…” although another young woman thought naming a car after a fruit was simply wrong.

Apparently, it’s supposed to be a play on the word ‘cheery’, not ‘cherry’, but that was totally missed. And if that’s the case, why is Chery sponsoring Bournemouth Football Club, whose nickname is the Cherries?

Denza was also deemed to be a ‘meh’ made-up word – not great for a brand with premium aspirations – while the upcoming iCaur brand also came in for criticism.

“It sounds like they’re trying to copy the iPhone but not spelling it right,” was one comment. There may be some legal reasons behind that misspelling

Without prompting, familiar brand names were praised, especially when there seemed to be some proper thinking behind them. Mercedes-Benz is a combination of people’s names, while MG – from Morris Garages – was also viewed more favourably. As BYD has found, initialisms work well – as BMW, FIAT and SEAT have also found. Even MINI could be easily understood, as could Tesla – although one youngster did say it was a good job the company wasn’t called Musk.

There are plenty of dormant brand names out there, many of which are periodically revived. Aren’t we due the threat of another TVR or Jensen rebirth again soon? And there are plenty of names, especially among old British brands, that I’m surprised more Chinese manufacturers haven’t plundered. It’s worked well for MG.

Brand names are so important. I’ve been through the process myself, when a company I was working with was split off from its parent company and we had to come up with something else. And yes, there was a very expensive agency employed to help us do it.

What all the youngsters I spoke to agreed on was that if they didn’t like the brand name, they wouldn’t buy the car. They are that brutal. And the guys and girls I spoke to were all either car owners or potential future car owners.

So, what do you think? As always, I’d love to know. Are there brands you wouldn’t buy because of their name? Or brands that you think are ripe for revival? Share your view in the comments here.

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