I noticed in a previous thread that there seems to be differences in a lot of product names between the US and Australia (and for that matter GB, and Europe, and possibly Russia).

Quik here seems to be named NesQuick 'over there'.

Some genius in Toyota Australia's marketing department thought that the Yaris (aptly named really) was better named the Echo.

Why can't they just make things heaps cheaper on stationary and use the same names?

How about fast food? Wendy's here sells only icecream and hotdogs. I understand that Wendy's in Northern America is a hamburger chain. I've had a confusing conversation with exchange students arise from this. Thank god for the global hegemony of Maccas.

Quick was called Quick here. Then, Nestle bought it, and I guess at some point there was some kind of legal battle because a few years ago they changed the name to NesQuick.

Ford made the mistake of selling the Fiero in South/Latin America (oops).

Its all just a marketing gimmick!

In Response to Dynedain (#12493):

Ford made the mistake of selling the Fiero in South/Latin America (oops).

Quick! Someone bring up the Chevy "No Va".

Oh, wait. Too late.

In Response to zamphir (#12497):

As I hear it, the "Nova" incident is largely a big hoax played on marketting students in the name of having a cute story to tell. Sure, the words literally mean that, but Spanish is a Romance Language, and Nova is still apparently 'Nova' in both languages.

Does Australia have Acura? Or Infiniti? Or Lexus?

Or are these divisions unique to the US? I know they don't exist in Japan, but not sure about the rest of the world.

In Response to Phobos (#12502):

Lexus is american, but they are sold worldwide. Infinitis I've never seen, but you can buy second-hand imported Acuras from Honda wholesalers.

In Response to unFalln (#12525):

Hmm... if you can only buy imported Acuras, do they sell the Integra branded as a Honda there?

In Response to Phobos (#12531):

Ahh, the wonderful world of the 'Australian-fuel-friendly' Honda Integra Type-R. Who was ripped off? Australia!

I think Integras are actually made in Japan and rebranded/upgraded by Acura in the US, no?

In Response to mcgrue (#12500):

From my knowledge of other Romance languages, "Nova" means "new"; "No Va" on the other hand means "Doesn't go". I'm not too sure if this applies to Spanish... and I must say it does seem implausible that a car company would name their car the No Va rather than the more recognisable Nova.

In Response to tynic (#12470):

Interestingly, in New Zealand we have both the Wendy's ice-cream chain AND the hamburger chain. This of course creates no end of confusion!

On a different note, the nicknames used for MacDonalds varies from country to country. In Australia, it's Maccas (as you have demonstrated), in the US (to my knowledge) it's Micky D's, and I've heard a couple of other variants unique to various countries.

In Response to Dynedain (#12493):

Ford made the mistake of selling the Fiero in South/Latin America (oops).

Can anyone cast light on the urban legend that Punto is a rude word in Spanish? (In case this is a UK only reference, the Fiat Punto is an obnoxiously small car, sold by an ad campaign that encourages women to "Feel the spirit of the Punto".)

Cheers,
Graham

In Response to snipergirl (#12709):

In Australia we have Burger King and Hungry Jacks. Both have the same colors and logos and everything (except the actual words of course) but they run different ad campaigns and have different specials and things.

The standard things are the same except, oddly enough, the sauces you can get for the chicken nugget things: Burger King has BBQ whereas Hungry Jacks has (had?) the far superior Plum BBQ.

Given:

1. The plum sauce is really the main reason why I would turn up there drunk and wanting grease

2. The similarity of the 2 chains

3. The level of intelligence of the average worker there at the times that I show up in a less than coherent phase

there have been several drunken rants which have been as confusing to me as to to them.

In Response to tor (#12718):

And actually, the chicken nuggets themselves differ significantly. We have no Burger Kings in SA, just Hungry Jacks, so the first time I tried a Burger King chicken nugget I got a very rude awakening, because Burger King chicken nuggets are not nearly as good as HJs when you're drunk. They're fairly bland things with the texture of cornflower. Nasty. Also, Burger King employees are far less tolerant about idiots pulling out all the fake flowers in the indoor plant displays.

That plum sauce rocks. Man, that's what's important ... fake plum.

In Response to albionsoft (#12710):

"Feel the spirit of the Punto".

That's just dirty.

In Response to Dynedain (#12493):

It's actually Nestle Quik or NesQuik (no c) over here at least - my dad works for Nestle's. I actually know the story of how the Nestle Quik powder was 'invented' if anyone is interested. Not overly amusing or anything; just some random trivia I know. Not that it helps me at Trivial Pursuit or anything.

In Response to Phobos (#12531):

I remember seeing a Honda Integra in South America... I think it was Peru. This was back in 1996.

In Response to unFalln (#12689):

Honda rebrands many of its luxury/performance class vehicles as "Acura" here in the US. For example, the Honda Accord Euro-R is called the Acura TSX here in the US. Acura has discontinued the "Integra" name in the US and has replaced it with the "Acura RSX," however, in Japan it is still called the "Honda Integra Type-R." Unfortunately, JDM (Japan Domestic Market) cars are generally better equiped than their USDM (US Domestic Market) counterparts... not only are the engines more powerful but they usually include more accessories as stock that would be considered "options" here in the US (aero-kits, HID lighting, etc). Even our Northern neighbor receives a few cars which aren't available in the US (Acura 3.2TL A-Spec for example).

The reason I asked about the Integra in Austrailia is because I'm not sure how far the separate names span. If I recall correctly, the Japanese named 2004 Nissan Skyline (not to be confused with the Nissan Skyline R34 GTR) appears in the US as the Infiniti G35 Coupe.