You pronounce ‘XPeng’ and ‘Geely’ differently than you think: this is what the names of emerging Chinese car brands really sound like | Mobility

‘Ai’ is Chinese for love and, as the name promises, that is on the way with this car brand (‘ways’). But it is of course nice that the first two letters, AI, are also an international concept for Artificial Intelligence: artificial intelligence. The logo appears to consist of two parts that can slide neatly into each other, but the idea behind it remains a guess. Nio says it values ​​autonomous driving and connectivity. So perhaps the interlocking blocks refer to the latter.

Many Dutch people now know that BYD is the abbreviation of Build Your Dreams. Nowadays this is also widely stated on their cars, but there is more to it. BYD is ‘pinyin’ (a phonetic translation key that converts Mandarin into our script, ed.) for Biyadi, the name of the umbrella company Yadi Electronics. That weather is named after Yadi Road in Dapeng New District, where it all started. They have set the Bi to move up in alphabetical lists. Just pronounce it in English, ‘bie wow that’. The logo speaks for itself.

Chery’s logo depicts the letter A, which stands for Auto. The statement is no surprise: Cherrie. Chery is coming to Europe this year with no fewer than three different brands. First of all, it is Omoda: the O stands for oxygen and vitality, ‘moda’ for fashionable, modern. Jaecoo is a loose amalgamation of the German word ‘Jäger’ and the English cool. A trendy hunter. The third brand is called Exlantix and the name is derived from the existing Chinese car brand Exeed, from which it derives its models intended for Europe.

In China they say ‘Kielie’. With a hard K. In pinyin it is ‘Jílì’, which is Chinese for auspicious or auspicious. The shield-shaped logo, divided into six black and blue areas in a golden framework, must radiate luxury, quality and superiority. Geely is now the mother of many car brands, including Volvo, Polestar, Smart and Lynk & Co.

Hongqi is Chinese for red flag and they now love it in the communist people’s republic. It is not without reason that Hongqi, the oldest passenger car brand in China and fully state-owned, is also a supplier of government limousines. The model with which they are trying to gain a foothold in our country, the E-HS9, looks as if you couldn’t get a scratch on it with five tanks and an atomic bomb. You pronounce it as ‘Hong tsi’.

The luxury brand IM Motors will soon be launched in the Benelux. The name is the abbreviation of ‘Intelligent Mobility’ and the manufacturer says it is progressive when it comes to technology. This is also reflected in the brand logo. The circles and rounded rectangles represent zeros and ones: the information and language that computers work with. The two rounded rectangles in the logo also symbolize the capital letter I twice. This in turn depicts the interaction between people and artificial intelligence.

JAC is the abbreviation of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., where Jianghuai is the region and Anhui the province where the brand was born in the 1960s. There are no exciting stories to tell about the logo. The A without a crossbar and the J and C as symmetrical as possible: JAC, which was previously adorned with a five-pointed star, mainly wants to profile itself as modern and high-tech.

Lynk & Co targets a young, progressive audience and because everything is connected these days (‘linked’) is and collaborates (‘co-operate’), the cars are called Lynk & Co. The statement speaks for itself and the logo also needs little explanation. Although it is noticeable that the Y, the K and the O look like chocolate letters on December 6. At Lynk & Co, they find the drawing above stylish and minimalist and, according to the manufacturer, these are also core values ​​for the design of the cars.

The MG brand name is by far the best known to Europeans when it comes to the new Chinese car brands. Logical, because these letters refer to the originally British car manufacturer MG, which was once successful in the European car industry. The letters stand for Morris Garages. After MG, like so many English brands, collapsed, the Chinese car giant SAIC bought the brand rights in 2007. The current logo has adorned the cars since 1927.

Nio wants to do things a little differently with interchangeable batteries and showrooms disguised as living rooms and likes to see itself as a creator of the future, which is ‘weìlái’ in Chinese. That doesn’t sit well with us, so it was refined to Nio, the statement of which speaks for itself. The semicircle represents the sky, which represents a vision of the future. The lower part represents the Earth, moving forward, towards the horizon.

Citroën believes that Polestar’s logo is very similar to its own ‘double chevrons’ and took the Chinese brand to the French court in 2019 for possible trademark infringement. The judge did not agree with Citroën when it came to trademark infringement, but did state that Polestar could possibly benefit from Citroën’s success with the logo. The penalty imposed was a sales ban in France for six months. Ultimately, the two car manufacturers reached a settlement

The name Voyah was invented spontaneously (in China it is ‘Lán Tú’) and is intended to give you the feeling ‘that you are embarking on a luxurious journey where you transcend ordinary life’. Special, because parent company Dongfeng focuses more on cheaper cars and commercial vehicles, while Voyah wants to be premium. Voyah can be pronounced as the French word for journey, voyage, but stripped of the last syllable. The logo is at least as pompous: here we see the mythical creature K’yun P’yun, a fish that rises from the ocean, turns into a bird and then carries the entire sky on its shoulders.

XPeng comes from Xiaopeng Motors, which is named after its founder, He Xiaopeng. The origin of the logo, it will not surprise you, is the first letter of the brand name. You pronounce it as si-jau-pang.

Zeekr is derived from the Chinese word ‘Jí kè’. That means krypton, a noble gas that emits light under the influence of electricity. At the same time, the Z stands for generation Z, the successors of the millennials, generation Y. The next generation is what the brand is aiming for. No need to break your tongue, just pronounce this name in English, so: See-ker.

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