What is an auto manufacturer to do when it doesn’t yet have a compact car?
You sure as heck don’t name the thing the Hornet. Chrysler was rumored by many to be leaning toward naming its new Dodge after a wasp (the Dodge Wasp, while prickly on the connotation, sounds more like a car than the Dodge Hornet does). To stir the compact car bee’s nest (the segment accounts for 15 percent of the overall U.S. market and 25 percent in Canada), Chrysler needs to do better if they want to occupy a cushy portion of the compact segment’s mind space. Unfortunately, there’s little hope for any sort of cutting edge naming, as this is the company that markets the Dodge Nitro and Avenger. (Chrysler apparently has a fetish with superhero names.)
Back to wasps quickly. Hornets are the largest of eusocial wasps, with species growing up to 2.2 inches (extend your pointer finger from your thumb at your desk to two inches and imagine a hornet there). True hornets make up the genus Vespa. Vespas (those cute little road scooters) are more appropriately named than the now shelved Hornet, based exclusively on their nimble ability to weave in and out of traffic, similar to a 2.2 inch wasp around the side dishes on the picnic table at a backyard barbeque.
That’s good naming, even if the Vespa is a little, well, wussy.
