Koda SUV is Strong Like Bear, Forces Alaskans to Play the Name Game
Call it a friendly occupation.
The Czech Škoda brand chose a tough-sounding name for its upcoming Kodiaq SUV, but the Alaskan town (and bear, and island) that inspired its name was left with one “k” too many.
Something had to change. So, the townsfolk went to work bringing the two names into line for one day only, as Škoda’s cameras rolled.
The marketing campaign for the Volkswagen-owned brand’s new SUV is lighthearted but also a bit odd, considering no one in North America can actually purchase a Škoda.
Even if it never sees the Rocky Mountains or Great Plains, a rugged SUV needs a fitting name, so it’s not surprising Škoda crossed the Atlantic and a continent in search of the right moniker. The name “Yeti” was already taken by the company’s own crossover, so opting for a giant bear was preferable to another hairy man beast.
The seven-seat Kodiaq (pronounced with the hardest of q’s by the residents of Kodiak) is built on a stretched VW Tiguan platform, and is expected to become a big seller in Europe.
Watch Kodiak’s name change unfold here:
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After the next big downturn, which is going to happen soon, VW would be wise to market & sell low-cost Skoda vehicles in the North American market. Debt across households, corporations and governments is at record highs (outside of a very specific outliers, such as WWII, in inflation-adjusted $), and the Federal Reserve has had interest rate effectively at 0% for 7 1/2 years now. The deleveraging following the next cyclical downturn is going to be so ugly, most people will not believe that two such massive financial/economic crises could happen within their lifetime, let soon within the same decade.
I learned from this commercial I am in no way cut out for living in Alaska with those weathered, frozen people. Thanks Skoda.