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Thunder Overcomes SARS
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Toyota announced in June 2004 that it was updating the Chinese pinyin of the name of its
luxury model Lexus from the well-known Ling-Zhi to the new Lei-Ke-Sa-Si. Many wondered why.
The name Ling-Zhi means lofty aspiration. It projects an image of an ambitious, successful entrepreneur
rising and soaring like an eagle. The image definitely rises above BMW's Bao-Ma, meaning
treasured horse, and Mercedes-Benz's Ben-Chi, or gallop.
The new name Lei-Ke-Sa-Si, on the other hand, hints at no nobility, speed, or luxury.
Instead it shares two characters with Ke-Lai-Si-Le, Chrysler's Chinese name. Chrysler is
positioned lower than Lexus, in the near-luxury category. If someone tries to be funny,
Lei-Ke-Sa-Si can mean "thunder overcomes SARS" since, literally, Lei is thunder, Ke is to
overcome, and Sa-Si sound like SARS. Why would Toyota choose such a name for Lexus?
Toyota refused to confirm the speculation that someone else had registered the name
Ling-Zhi before Toyota could, but insisted that the new name is a better choice phonetically.
"We believe the use of Chinese pinyin will help the market to associate with 'Lexus' more easily,"
a spokesman said.
Protect your name as soon as possible. Using a single name worldwide is a good idea for most
languages in the world, but for Chinese you must be careful to have a good transliteration.
Acura, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz
Have you noticed that Honda and Toyota strategically place their luxury brands immediately
ahead of those of their main competitors? In any alphabetically ranked list, Acura is listed
before BMW and Lexus is before Mercedes-Benz.
July 2004
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