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Mystery behind the names of automobile companies

Wrong everything is in a name. Otherwise these automobile companies wont have wasted their time to give such sophisticated names to their brands. Don't believe? You yourself check them out
The name came from founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyoda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan.
In 1884 Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business, making his first car, a Royce, in 1904. He was introduced to Charles Stewart Rolls on 4 May that year. The pair entered into a partnership in which Royce would manufacture cars to be sold exclusively by Rolls, and the cars would be called Rolls-Royce.
Nissan came from the company's earlier name NIppon SANgyo which means "Japan Industries".
MRF is the abbreviation of Madras Rubber Factory.
The cars were supposedly named after Ahura Mazda, the chief deity of the Zoroastrians, though many think this explanation was created after the fact, to cover up what is simply a poor anglicised version of the founders name, Jujiro Matsuda.
This German engineering works and truck manufacturer - MAN is an abbreviation for Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Company).
The Swedish company’s earliest work started with manufacturing of ball bearings for automobiles.

So, the name came from the Latin word volvo, which means "I roll". It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF, parent company of Volvo.
In 1932, Adolf Hitler ordered the production of a basic vehicle capable of transporting two adults and three children at 100 km/h (62 mph).

He wanted his German citizens to have the same access to a car as the Americans. Thus came Volkswagen, which in German means "People's" (Volks) and "Car" (Wagen).
Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades constellation M45, or "The Seven Sisters" (one of whom tradition says is invisible - hence only six stars).
Subaru's parent company Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) was formed after merger between six companies.

The CEO of FHI – Kenji Kita, gave the automobile manufacturing division its present name.
The name Mitsubishi is a combination of the Japanese words mitsu means three and hishi (changing to bishi in the middle of the word) means water chestnut and describes the diamond shape.

"diamond" in this context refers only to the rhombus shape, not to the precious gem.
The name formed from the first name of Mercedes Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who distributed cars of the early Daimler company around 1900, and the last name of Karl Benz, one of the owners of the Daimler-Benz company that the Daimler company merged into in 1926.
In 1980s, when Indian roads were witnessing only two cars - Ambassador and Premier, a small company was set up which had a stake in Indian government and a Japanese manufacturer.

Maruti was named after son of Hanuman (the Hindu god) - Marut, which means "God of Wind" in Sanskrit.
Mahindra & Mohammed was incorporated in 1945 by the brothers JC Mahindra and KC Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Muhammad as a steel trading company. After Muhammad's emigration to Pakistan in 1947, KC Mahindra changed the company's name to Mahindra & Mahindra.

There is an interesting concept lies behind Mahindra ending the name of most of its vehicles with the alphabet "o".

After the success of Bolero and Scorpio, the company thought the letter "o" is auspicious for them. Hence, we have Xylo, Gusto, TUV300, XUV500, etc.
Toyota went to its ad agency and an image-consulting firm when it needed a name for its luxury division. At first, they decided on "Alexis," but it gradually evolved into Lexus.

The etymology of the Lexus name has been attributed to the combination of the words "luxury" and "elegance," and another theory claims it is an acronym for "luxury exports to the US".
According to Kia Motors, the name "Kia" derives from the Sino-Korean words ki ("to come out") and a (which stands for Asia), it is roughly translated as "arise or come up out of Asia" or "rising out of Asia".
Hyundai in Korean means "the present age" or "modernity".
FIAT is the acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). In 1899, Turin, Italy the first FIAT car was produced.
Datsun was first called DAT, from the initials of its financiers Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. It was soon changed to DATSON to imply a smaller version of their original car, then (as SON can mean "loss" in Japanese) again to DATSUN when they were acquired by Nissan.
The name "Daihatsu" is a combination of the first kanji for Osaka and the first of the word "engine manufacture". In the new combination the reading of the Osaka is changed to "dai", giving "dai hatsu".

The company is headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Kanji are Chinese characters used in Japanese writing system.
Company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great House" or "Great Universe" in Korean.
Originally Holt Tractor Co, merged with Best Tractor Co. in 1925. A company photographer exclaimed aloud of a Holt tractor that the tracks' movement resembled a caterpillar moving along the ground. The name stuck.
Named after the 18th-century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France.
Named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi means "stone bridge", or "bridge of stone" in Japanese.
BMW is Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, which is German for Bavarian Motor Works. The company is headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
Latin translation of the German name "Horch". The founder August Horch left the company after five years, but still wanted to manufacture cars.

Since the original "Horch" company was still there, he called his new company Audi. In English it is "hark".
The name came from the "Aston Hill" races (near Aston Clinton) where the company was founded, and the surname of Lionel Martin, the company's founder.
Ashok Motors was founded in 1948 by Raghunandan Saran, an Indian freedom fighter from Punjab.

Sometime later, Saran died in an air crash, prior to that he had been negotiating with Leyland Motors of England for assembly of commercial vehicles.

The company later under Madras State Government and other shareholders finalised for an investment and technology partner and thus Leyland Motors joined in 1954 with equity participation, changing the name of the company to Ashok Leyland.
The company was originally known as ALFA, an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (Anonymous Lombard Automobile Factory in English). When Nicola Romeo bought ALFA in 1915, his surname was added.

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