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"Based on clues provided by Volkswagen—the outrageous Concept T dune buggy shown at the 2004 Detroit show, and the recent Concept A revealed at Geneva in March—we’ve been able to put together this illustration of what we can expect from VW’s smaller-than-Touareg sport/utility vehicle.

Volkswagen AG wants the VW Touareg's baby brother SUV to have a name that's not so tough to pronounce.

So VW decided to hold a contest. It asked readers of Germany's Auto Bild weekly magazine - and its affiliate publications in 15 European countries - to vote on five names for its Concept A small SUV, shown at the Geneva auto show in March. The smaller SUV goes on sale in Europe next year and comes to the United States in 2008. Contest results will be announced in mid-July. "

Rest here:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060627/FREE/60626006/1041/rss01&rssfeed=rss01

Here are the suggested names and their meanings:

Nanuk, Eskimo for small polar bear.

Namib, a desert in Namibia.

Rockton, a play on the word "rock" and its strength.

Tiguan, a combination of the words "tiger" and "iguana."

Samun, a hot desert wind that blows in North Africa and some Arabian countries.  

wow...all those names are wierd...but id go for Nanuk...cus polar bears are cool...YEA!  

namib - too hard to pronounce, so is samun (see salmon) and tiguan - the combination of tiger and iguana? come on now.  rockton is just lame.  i vote for LIGER - known for its skills and magic.  since its not an option, i have to go with Nanuk, it fits the best.  its a little suv. not a rock iguana fish in the desert or whatever..  

one more note.. lets all remember what happened last time we let the people pick a name, UC Santa Cruz's mascot is the Banana Slugs, picked by students.  

automotivedp:
namib - too hard to pronounce, so is samun (see salmon) and tiguan - the combination of tiger and iguana? come on now.  rockton is just lame.  i vote for LIGER - known for its skills and magic.  since its not an option, i have to go with Nanuk, it fits the best.  its a little suv. not a rock iguana fish in the desert or whatever..

I was going to post the Liger thing earlier haha. On the animal theme I was thinking maybe the climbing ability of a mountain goat and the grace and power of an antelope, The Volkswagen Goat-a-lope.

They already have one vehicle named after a boring pseudosport the Golf, why not the Volkswagen Bowliing?

I thought I had heard the small SUV was going to be based on the *** The Golf is now the Rabbit, so call the SUV the Jack Rabbit. Come on down to your local VW dealer and for 18 grand you can get Jack!  

i can see the namib or samun work. doubt it matters if people can pronounce it or not.  didnt VW poke fun at the fact that thay touareg was supposedly hard to pronounce? say hello to mister marketing gimmick...  

i think all those names are still pretty hard to pronounce.  

yeah they did market the whole taureg tongue-tier thing, but thats the whole point of this marketing scheme - "Volkswagen AG wants the VW Touareg's baby brother SUV to have a name that's not so tough to pronounce" they want something easier to prnounce.  that counts out like 95 percent of those names  

Tiguan. tiger+iguana AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA did the car designer let his kid do the naming job? AHAHAHAHHAAHA  

automotivedp:
namib - too hard to pronounce, so is samun (see salmon) and tiguan - the combination of tiger and iguana? come on now.  rockton is just lame.  i vote for LIGER - known for its skills and magic.  since its not an option, i have to go with Nanuk, it fits the best.  its a little suv. not a rock iguana fish in the desert or whatever..

aquabat911:
I was going to post the Liger thing earlier haha. On the animal theme I was thinking maybe the climbing ability of a mountain goat and the grace and power of an antelope, The Volkswagen Goat-a-lope.

They already have one vehicle named after a boring pseudosport the Golf, why not the Volkswagen Bowliing?

I thought I had heard the small SUV was going to be based on the *** The Golf is now the Rabbit, so call the SUV the Jack Rabbit. Come on down to your local VW dealer and for 18 grand you can get Jack!

hmmmmmmm...the Goat-a-lope...not bad...not bad at all  

i looked up Namibia, (i didn't know it existed) turns out 20% of the population has aids, great name  

i would definitley go with nanuk. It rolls off the tounge and it fits the car perfectley  

Well for those that haven't heard VW has announced that the voters have chosen Tiguan by a "clear margin"  

The only thing I can think of, is that it sounds much cooler when pronounced by Germans. Maybe they will do something smart(I'm not holding my breath) and give it a different name for the North American Market. They were looking for something easier to pronounce than Touareg, I don't think they are getting that with Tiguan. Is it Tee-Goo-an, maybe Ty-wan or even Ta-Goo-en?

None of those are particuarly appealing to me. I am thinking they still need to consider the Goatalope or maybe the ALL NEW VOLKSWAGEN SASQUACTH  

well you can say hello to another batch of promtions with people pronouncing the "Tiguan" wrong.  

wow, thats just plain ridiculous.  the corniest name on that list ended up being the name of a real production car... wow