Weird Names From The Indian Two-wheeler Space

Some two wheelers have purposeful names: Royal Enfield’s adventure bike, built to conquer the Himalayas, is called HImalayan. Some other names add flair: Harley-Davidson’s top-shelf touring machine is called Road King. But there’s a limit to such impactful names, or the creativity of the respective brands’ marketing teams, the results of which we’ve compiled for you here:

Suzuki Let’s

This scooter, from a Japanese manufacturer, had everything going for it: neutral looks, light handling, competent specs (113cc engine making 8.8PS and 9Nm), and decent fuel economy. But its dangling modifier of a name never sat right even in the most casual conversation. “My Suzuki Let’s…” You do what? Answer me, gosh darn it!

Joy E-Bike Glob

This low-speed electric scooter from Joy E-bike is great for beginners, looks purposeful, and judging from the company’s claims (140kg carrying capacity) can even be used as a workhorse. But again, its borderline meaningless name plays spoilsport. What exactly is a “glob”? Is it the halfway point between ‘glass’ and ‘blob’? 

Joy E-Bike Gen Next Nanu Plus

Throughout most of India’s hindi-speaking heartland, children call their maternal grandfather “Nana.” This is very cutely garbled as “nanu” by younger children. Now imagine the juxtaposition: having ‘Gen Next’ suffixed by ‘Nanu’. Or is the manufacturer subliminally hinting that this electric scooter can be ridden by everyone from grandparents to children alike? Watch this space while we figure out the particulars.

Yakuza E-vehicles Poppy

And now it gets interesting. There’s a psychological trick that associates ‘fear’ with ‘respect’. The most common example is people naming their dogs “Tiger.” The founders of this EV company took that to heart – though in a distinctly chaotic sense – as the word “yakuza” is the colloquial name for the Japanese mafia! 

What amuses us further, though, is the name of its latest electric scooter: Poppy. This combination, of a ‘scary’ word followed by a cute/innocent one, gives the mental image of an imposing, muscled and tattooed man nursing a newborn puppy, doesn’t it?

Kanda

We’ve already spoken at length about this defunct brand, but we haven’t yet had our fill. How can we, though? After all, the name of this Pune (Maharashtra)-based brand, in the local language (marathi), equates to… drumroll please… onion!