Is your car a w***ker?

My interest in badly named cars began in 1997 when the Pajero made the front page of the Australian newspaper for an absolute clanger Mitsubishi dropped when naming this 4*4 jeep. Apparently, Pajero is very similar to Spanish Pajaro; which in spanish slang means something like jerk off or w***ker if you're British. How market research into car names fails to bring this up I really don't know, but these days everytime I see a Pajero I can't help wondering is the driver really a jerk off.

There are many other instances of unfortunately named cars; most famously the Vauxhall Nova had to be renamed in Spanish because no va sounds like the Spanish for no go - I bet market researchers for Vauxhall were kicking themselves that they didn't learn Latin at school as this would have enabled them to pick this up in advance.

There is also the Buick LaCrosse which sounds like a word for Masturbation in French and owing to this failed to take off in Canada. The SS Jaguar also had to be renamed for obvious reasons, and then there is the Toyota Fiera which translates as ugly old woman in Puerto Rico.

Is it perhaps possible that giving a car a name that is inappropriate in one country, lends it novelty value or cult value in other countries, or is this just a series of blunders on the part of car manufacturers? As an aside I do notice that scaffolding companies often try to market themselves by giving their companies some pretty suggestive names - I'm thinking here of Totty, Rim and BJs. That can't be coincidential.