Did you ever wonder how automakers select the names of their cars? We also wondered the same, especially with the influx of Chinese models with odd naming conventions.

Typically, the marketing, design, and communications team chooses a car's name to develop a potential name. They consider the vehicle’s looks and the target audience for the car. 

There is a pattern to how brands name their vehicles per region; European brands often go with letter and number combinations, such as in the case of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Notable examples are the 520i and the GLC, denoting the vehicle series. 

There are a few outliers in the European brands, such as Volkswagen, who give names to their vehicles, such as the Amarok and the Golf. The former is named after a wolf deity in Inuit mythology, and the latter is named after the German word for the Gulf Stream ocean current. 

Then we have American/Japanese examples that give names to their vehicles, such as the Ford Explorer and Toyota Corolla.

However, today we will focus on the Mitsubishi Triton as it goes by many names on the global market that use the European and American naming styles.

A brief history of the Mitsubishi Triton

Before the Mitsubishi Triton got its name, it was initially called the Mitsubishi Forte and was renamed the Strada in 1991 for the Japanese market. In this case, Strada means street in Italian, which could indicate that the Japanese automaker wanted to market their pickup truck as something you can use on the street and not just on the farm. 

The Strada was called the L200 in export markets to keep things simple and was later renamed to the Triton in its later generations as the L200 nameplate was later dropped in specific markets. 

So how did they come up with the name Triton?

We aren’t quite sure how Mitsubishi chose Triton for its pickup truck, but we have a couple of good guesses as to why.

The first, the pickup truck, could be named after the Greek god of the sea, Triton, which could symbolize strength and power.

The second could be because they named it after its gross vehicle weight of around  2,890kg or nearly three tons. “Tri” means three, and “ton” means the designation for the vehicle's weight. It also helps that the Mitsubishi Triton has a towing capacity of 3.1 tons, fitting into its naming convention.

Another possible reason they called it the Triton was as a call back to Mitsubishi’s three-diamond star logo, along with the abovementioned reasons. 

While we don’t know the exact reason for the naming update, it could all boil down to Mitsubishi wanting to streamline its naming conventions for its global models. Having a car with different names for different markets can get confusing, and just choosing one name will make it easier for brand recognition.

Would you like to see the Mitsubishi Strada named Triton instead?

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