The Mohaves and the Mohave-nots

by Frank Williams

November 7th, 2007 10:20 AM

There must be something lost in translation. The English-language version of Korea's Maeil Business web site is reporting that Kia will introduce a "premium large-sized" SUV in the U.S. next June. It'll have either a V6 or V8 engine (which would be Kia's first). So far so good. Then they give the original name of the vehicle as "Mohave," which we can only guess is their phonetic spelling of "Mojave," the concept vehicle on which it's based. BUT… now Kia is changing the name from that to "Borrego," after "a desert situated in eastern San Diego, California." The reason for the name change? "Because the word 'Borrego' is more familiar to Americans than the original name 'Mohave.'" I wonder if they got that information from their design center in Irvine, California, which designed the ~~Mojave~~ ~~Mohave~~ Borrego. If so, their marketing mavens need to get their heads out of Southern California and get in touch with the rest of the country before making such an assumption. Just sayin'.

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4 of 26 comments

Frank Williams on Nov 07, 2007

The actual new Borrego vehicle is yet another on-frame oversized SUV, not pickup truck.

Kia announced the Borrego as a body on frame SUV, not pickup.

Well... uh... yes, as the post states, "Kia will introduce a 'premium large-sized' SUV." The styling is supposedly based on the Mojave concept pickup, which is what is pictured.

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Tech98 on Nov 08, 2007

California place names are all the rage. Many of the attractive locations have already been used, but that leaves plenty of hellholes in the Central Valley up for grabs: How about the Ford Fresno? Buick Bakersfield? Lexus Los Banos (The Toilet)? Mitsubishi Manteca (Lard)? Kia Kettleman?

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Drifter on Nov 08, 2007
Giving vehicles geographic-linked names seems to be a popular trend lately. Let’s see… there’s Colorado, Sonoma, Sierra, Canyon, Malibu, Sedona, Rio, Santa Fe, Tucson, Veracruz, Lucerne, Tahoe, Aspen, Sebring, Dakota, Durango, Yukon, Milan, Montego, Reno, Avalon, Acadia… can anyone think of any more that are currently in use? How about Chevy Eutopia for the car that runs that run 40miles on batteries alone at 70 mph?

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Martin Albright on Nov 08, 2007
can anyone think of any more that are currently in use? Toyota Tacoma (I drive one.) As the folks at Edmunds said when it came out, it was undoubtedly intended to invoke the image of a rugged Western locale, but it was also obvious that the people who named it had never actually been to Tacoma, which has always been generally considered the ugly stepsister of Seattle. And lest the Tacoma (the city) lovers come out of the woodwork here, I was stationed near Tacoma from 89-91 (Fort Lewis) and quite liked it. It did have something of a pollution problem with the big paper mill on the North side of town (the first thing visitors from Seattle would encounter, which probably counted for much of Tacoma's sad reputation) but was otherwise a very charming small city. And the view of Mt Rainier from Tacoma is much more spectacular than from more distant Seattle.

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