2019 Hyundai Encino
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Weird news from China today.
Where it looks like the new Hyundai Kona is called “Encino” over there.
Why? Who knows…
Funny to think the small Los Angeles suburb of Encino would be used for the name of a car.
Also, that lady doesn’t seem to be wearing any pants.
One of your best written commentaries yet. I especially love the remark about the lady's pants. A true insight into the reasons for selecting the name for the vehicle. Sharp and incisive. love your blog. LOL
What's weird about it? Hyundai/Kia produce numerous models named after Western cities: Santa Fe, Tucson, Sedona, Veracruz, etc. They probably did market research on "Kona" in China which either translates poorly to something less than ideal or just didn't entice customers as much as other names…
Subaru made the Tribeca, which is a neighborhood in New York City. Hyundai isn't the first.
Perhaps the Kia Compton is next.
Umm… "Encino" is a type of oak tree.
And Encino is not a city – it's a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles.
So chances are, Hyundai didn't choose the name as a reference to a city. (This time, anyway).
Kona phonetically sounds like “Poor ah”! Of course that’s not gonna sell cars.
Umm… actually, the most common name of the tree is "encina", with an a. I have heard it called encino, but it's rare. My bet is they just chose it because many people have heard this name in Hollywood movies and it sounds exotic and American, like Santa Fe or Tucson before.
The car has been renamed Hyunday Kauai in Portugal, because the word "cona" means "pussy" (as in vagina) in Portuguese. They should have used this name in my native Spain too, because the word "cona" also exists in the Galego language, which very similar to Portuguese and is widely spoken in the Northwest part of the country.
So if a guy drives this crossover, he will be called "Encino Man."