Choosing a name can be a really curious process, especially if we let ourselves be carried away by an unlimited imagination. Thus, cars are one of those perfect settings for creativity to take effect. Names like Ford Fiesta, Jeep Gladiator or McLaren Senna were not chosen at random; but an eloquent mix between marketing, mastery of language and the brand’s own identity made simple concepts its personality.
In this sense, the large number of cars that travel the streets with women’s names is striking. Sometimes, it is nothing more than an etymological or symbolic question of its meaning, but in others the references travel to real or mythological female characters, as the Lancia Phedra could tell us. Next, we will review some of those vehicles that have adopted women’s names.
Since its founding in 1904, this Barcelona luxury car factory has created authentic motor classics, such as the one named after King Alfonso XIII. Now, with more than a century of history, at the Geneva Motor Show (2019) it unveiled a model of which only 19 units were manufactured: the Hispano-Suiza Carmen.
Who is Carmen? This electric super sports car is named after Carmen Mateu Quintana, cultural promoter and granddaughter of one of the company’s founders, Damián Mateu Bisa. After Carmen’s death in 2018, the decision was made to honor her by naming this model after her, inspired by the lines of the classic Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia (1938). Another woman’s name.
There is no doubt that Shakespeare’s influence has crossed the borders of literature to even infiltrate motor culture. Alfa Romeo knows this well, which named one of its iconic models with the Italian version of the name Juliet.
Presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1954, this coupé was modified during the following years, giving rise to versions such as the Sprint, the Spider, the TI or, in a limited edition family variant, the Giulietta Promiscua.
In 1962, the Giulietta was replaced by the Giulia. This small vehicle, especially concerned with aerodynamic design, included among its derivatives saloons, various coupes, convertibles and special versions, as well as competition models. It was Alfa Romeo’s most extensive family of cars.
Another family story is the one that stars the Lotus Elise (1996), named in honor of Elisa Artioli, the granddaughter of the owner of the company at that time, Romano Artioli.
This two-seater Roadser sports car with a mid-rear engine had been conceived at the beginning of 1994 and finally discontinued in 2021. Elisa Artioli herself then purchased the last model on sale.
Victoria is, in Roman mythology, the goddess who personifies triumph; and that is how Austin decided to name this 1973 model made in Pamplona. Produced by the Spanish company Leyland AUTHI (Automóviles de Turismo Hispano-Ingleses), a subsidiary of the British British Motor Corporation, the Austin Victoria had been designed by Giovanni Michelotti and a total of 24,682 units were manufactured.
The truth is that it is difficult to choose just one Lancia model, since the Italian firm, characterized by designating its models with letters of the Greek alphabet, has launched numerous copies with women’s names on the market. Most of them inspired by Greco-Roman history and mythology, such as the Lancia Aurelia, the Lancia Phedra, the Lancia Musa or the Lancia Flavia.
Specifically, the Lancia Augusta is a passenger car manufactured between 1933 and 1936, which incorporated some novelties for the time, such as the narrow-angle V4 engine, front suspension with independent wheels, coil springs, hydraulic brakes and access doors to the cabin without pillars.
Mercedes Adrienne Manuela Ramona Jelineck, that was the name of the person who inspired the name of the company and, in this case, she was not related to its founders. It all happened in 1901, when she was only 11 years old and her father, the Austrian businessman Emile Jelineck, traded in Daimler vehicles and entered them in car races. At one of them, held in Nice, a Daimler vehicle named Mercedes 35 PS in honor of the little girl and considered the first prototype of the modern automobile, caused a sensation, causing it to be registered as a brand name only a year later.
