JAPANESE CARS AND THEIR MEANING

Japanese cars has come to stay and dominate the Nigeria automobile market, they are prefer to the European cars for many reasons, one of them being that they are affordable to both the middle and little above middle class. The big names of Japanese car companies that have become legendary and saturated the Nigeria market include  Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Mazda etc.

Well, I can boldly say that the Japenese language can only be spoken by only a fragment of some linguistics in Nigeria. but do you border knowing what the name of the car you ride means in English?. Below are the names and the origin;

TOYOTA トヨタ
The real name is 'Toyoda' which means ‘fertile rice paddies’ in Japanese. Toyota Corporation is founded by Toyoda family. In this name ‘Toyoda’ uses 10 japanese strokes to write, whereas in ‘Toyota’ 8 strokes were used. Japanese considered 8 is the lucky auspicious number. Including the fact that they don't like names associated with farming. So they took and trade marked that name- 'Toyota'

LEXUS レクサス
The Japanese Language doesn't have the sound L in its name, so where does the word Lexus emanages from? The answer to this puzzle lies on the fact that Lexus didn’t start in Japan, or even exist there until 2005. Toyota established the marque with the aim of competing favouraby with thier rivals such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, with a specific eye on succeeding in the American market. Competing theories say the Name is either a blend of “luxury” and “elegance,” or code for “Luxury EXports to the U.S.”

HONDA 本田 / ホンダ
The name Honda has it origin from Soichiro Honda, who established his own motorbike company which later turned into the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan. The name itself means “original rice paddy".

NISSAN日産
 The meaning of “Nissan” is easy to understand as it has a direct meaning. The kanji 日 “ni” means “sun,” which also happens to be the first character in Nihon 日本 “Japan,” which is why Japan is referred to as the land of the rising sun.
The second kanji 産 “san” means “production.” combining the two words; the Japanese pronunciation “ni- san ” literally means “made in Japan"

MITSUBISHI 三菱
Mitsubishi is a compound Japanese word, “Mitsu” meaning “three” and “bishi” meaning diamonds, is quite literally describes the Mitsubishi logo, which is made up of three red diamonds on a white background.

MAZDA マツダ
Mazda Motor Corporation is also derived from a founder’s name, Jujiro Matsuda. The name “Matsuda” literally translates to “field of pines.” Translating the name to English it was however spelt “Mazda,” which got inspiration from the Zoroastrian god of light and wisdom, Ahura Mazda.