Volkswagen is revered for its radical thinking and engineering genius. Sadly for the German business, it is a little less adept when it comes to extricating itself from a PR nightmare.
With the launch of its new Up! supermini looming in the UK, the firm decided on a few special editions to boost sales of the model.
One, however, proved a little controversial. While the ‘White Up!” was always on safe ground, the “Black Up!” was clearly heading for trouble.
UK bosses blocked the name fearing that if it was used in Britain, it could give offence to ethnic minorities - because of the connotation of white actors and singers “blacking up” to perform as minstrels.
The solution they came up with however was hardly inspired. Bosses simply decided to reverse the words and call it the “Up! Black”.
Funnily enough, no one has been convinced and a PR storm that could have been averted now refuses to blow over.
Matthew Collins, of campaigning organisation Hope Not Hate, branded the name “insensitive”.
He said: “In this country at the moment we seem to be dealing with an explosion in racism and these are not the wisest of words to have been chosen.”
Volkswagen said there were no plans to change the “Black Up!” name on the Continent because, as foreign words in European countries, they did not have the same “resonance” as in Britain.
A spokesman said: “We recognised the potential sensitivity and reversed the wording.”
General Motors was baffled that its Chevy Nova was not selling in Latin America in the 1970s, until somebody pointed out “Nova” means “it doesn’t go” in Spanish
In 1971 Ford launched a “Pinto” range. The car struggled to sell in Brazil as the word is slang for small male genitals
Honda was forced to change the name of its Fitta car in 2001 after it emerged the word means a woman’s genitals in Swedish. It was rebranded the Honda Jazz
In the 1960s Rolls-Royce was apparently going to call the successor to the Silver Cloud the Silver Mist - until it was pointed out that “mst” in German means pile of manure. -Daily Mail