Date:  Sun, 30 Nov 1997 20:05:16 -0500
From:  Gerald Cohen <gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU>
Subject: Re: Nova (the car)

>At 12:37 PM 11/27/97 -0500, Gerald Cohen wrote:
>>
>>  Also, too, although the "Ich bin ein Berliner" item should be removed
>>from Mr. Crotty's list, the overall list itself is an interesting one. The
>>marketing of the Nova ("It doesn't go") in Latin America--with its
>>disastrously low sales for a while and with no one in management aware of
>>the implication of the car's name--is breathtaking in retrospect.
>>
>
>Apparently management was aware of the issue. This is taken from the
>alt.folklore.urban web page (www.urbanlegends.com):
>
>------------------------------
>
>>From _Business Mexico_, June, 1993
>
>[...]
>
>The most often cited auto blunder is the Chevrolet Nova (the phrase "No va"
>translates in Spanish as "It doesn't go") which General Motors wanted to
>bring into Mexico in the early 1970s. Although GM's Mexican managers were
>worried about the name, Nova was indeed used.
>
>"They kept the name and it sold very well," says marketing analyst Cecilia
>Bouleau, who disputes the conventional wisdom surrounding the moniker.
>"It's the same thing with Nova gasoline. I think that the word is
>sufficiently incorporated into the language as meaning 'new' -- as in
>'bossa nova' -- that the criticism isn't valid."
>--
>Evan Morris
>words1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]word-detective.com
>http://www.word-detective.com
                           ******

  The situation must have been different in different areas of Latin
America. I remember a brief article in the _Wall Street Journal_ in the
1970s about what happened in Puerto Rico. Sales of the Nova were abysmal,
and management had no clue why. So a meeting was called to discuss the
matter, and at the meeting someone told management what was common
knowledge among the workers: that the name "(It)
doesn't go" (No va) was a major impediment to the sale of the car.
Management soon changed the car's name to the Caribe, and sales picked up.

 I mentioned this story to one of my classes in the late l970s or early
1980s, and afterwards a Latin American student (from Venezuela, if I
remember right) told me that in her country the car's name Nova was also
regarded as a joke.

--Gerald Cohen

gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu