Stop. You’re saying it wrong.
You know when you have something stuck in your teeth and no one tells you? Well, it can be a similar experience when pronouncing something wrong and people don’t correct you because they’re either too polite or aren’t sure about the pronunciation either.
When someone says ‘wow, I really like your car. Is it a poo-mah?’ whilst gesturing towards your new Ford Puma, you certainly wouldn’t go about your day without doing the kindness of correcting them.
However, there are many more obscure names that a lot of people won’t correct you on, which is why we made this list. Let’s begin.
Porsche
Us Brits love to pronounce foreign words wrong. Croissant, Sudoku, Hermès…
Unfortunately, Porsche is one of them with many of us saying ‘Poorsh’ when we should be pronouncing it as ‘Poor-sha’.
It is even more unfortunate that this is one of the few words that the Americans are actually pronouncing correctly! Porsche is not a made-up word but rather a name taken from the founder, Ferdinand Porsche. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any ambiguity in its pronunciation.
Pretty much every Lamborghini
Lamborghini’s are pretty cars with pretty names, but they’re not so pretty when pronounced wrong by your cockney uncle, Bob.
Lamborghini’s Urus SUV is pronounced ‘ooh-russ’ rather than ‘yurr-uss’.
The Lamborghini Huracan is not pronounced as ‘huh-rah-khan’ but instead, ‘ooh-rah-khan’.
Lamborghini’s are pretty cars with pretty names, but they’re not so pretty when pronounced wrong by your cockney uncle, Bob.
Lamborghini’s Urus SUV is pronounced ‘ooh-russ’ rather than ‘yurr-uss’.
The Lamborghini Huracan is not pronounced as ‘huh-rah-khan’ but instead, ‘ooh-rah-khan’.
Ford EcoSport
For reasons that are beyond us, the official way to say EcoSport is actually ‘echo-sport’. If they wanted it to be said like that why didn’t they just name it the EchoSport!? How very frustrating.
Koenigsegg
It’s not ‘koh-en-ig-zegg’ or ‘koh-en-ig-segg’. The correct way to say it is ‘cone-ig-zegg’. It’s only three syllables long and the ‘s’ is pronounced as a ‘z’.
Again, this comes from a person’s name (the incredible Christian von Koenigsegg) so is pretty much non-negotiable.
Ford Ka
We all know deep down that the Ford Ka is not pronounced ‘kay-ay’ because it’s not even written like that. If that was correct, surely it would be named the Ford K.A.
Initially, when the car first released, Ford wanted you to pronounce it as ‘car’. This was a play on words and also it was meant to be pronounced the same way that the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ka was pronounced.
However, Ford changed their official pronunciation and it is now, according to the books, intended to be said as ‘cah’ like you’re saying ‘cat’ without the ‘t’. It’s all very strange and all very pointless because we are all just going to continue calling it the K.A.
Lancia
Not really a car many people talk about at all nowadays but for the enthusiasts and the journalists, Lancia is actually pronounced as ‘Lan-cha’ not ‘lan-see-ah’.
Hyundai Tucson
It’s a fairly popular SUV and it’s also fairly mispronounced. Although it may look like ‘tuck-son’ on paper, it’s actually pronounced as ‘too-son’ and should rhyme with bonbon. The same applies to the Arizona city of the same name which it was probably named after.
Lotus Evija
It’s an all-electric hypercar with over 2,000 hp which we have talked about a fair bit so far.
Understandably, it’s a name which is bound to get mispronounced. It should be said as ‘eh-vee-ya’ because the ‘j’ is silent. Easy to remember once you know.
Pagani Huayra
Another car with a silent letter. The ‘h’ is not as it looks and the word is pronounced as ‘why-rah’. A very exotic and exclusive car with an appropriately posh name.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Last but not least, Alfa Romeo’s Giulia Quadrifoglio is a stunning super saloon with a very pretty name. Giulia is pronounced as the more common spelling of the name ‘Julia’ and Quadrifoglio is pronounced as ‘quad-rih-foh-lee-oh’. So don’t let your cockney uncle get away with calling it a ‘quad-rih-fog-lee-oh’.
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I learned how to pronounce and even spell loads of car names when I did MOTs.
Austin, Morris, Wolseley, Riley, MG. Triumph and several more. As you can see it was rather a long time ago! 1969 to 1976.
PS: I did deal with other makes as well. Most of which I could also pronounce.
Great article. I learned how to spell quite a few car names when I used to MOT them.
Austin, Morris. Wolseley. MG, Riley. So not very long ago! I even learned foreign cars.
Stay safe!