Over the years there have been a number of cars that were unfortunately named, and for the latest it appears to be a case of bad timing.
The Wall Street Journal has reported India’s Tata is in full marketing swing for its new ‘Zica’ small car, just as concern spreads of the same-sounding mosquito-bourne ‘Zika’ virus.
“At this moment, there is no plan to change the name,” a Tata spokeswoman told the WSJ. “We are watching the situation.”
The company has not ruled out a name change in the future.
Tata picked the name months ago, a combination of ‘zippy’ and ‘car’.
The Zica is part of Tata’s plan to regain market share following poor sales or its lauded small Nano car.
The name clash could hurt sales of the new car the WSJ reported analysts as saying.
“This is unfortunate but the disease is spreading very fast. It is not going to be easy but I think to keep the customer sentiment intact, they should change the brand name before the launch as Indians are very psychological and emotionally attached to certain things,” Abdul Majeed, a partner and auto analyst at Pricewaterhouse in India, told the paper.
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