Naming cars in this day of globalization has become an exercise of gargantuan proportions. For marketers and brand managers, the trick is to avoid a name that can be translated as something less than appealing in one of the dozens of languages you plan on marketing in. Even so, every now and then we get one that is slightly out of place, but usually it’s not a huge misstep.

Take the unfortunately named Smart ED or Hyundai BlueOn as examples of how you could stretch a name to get something funny out of it but aren’t really major blunders.

But has Audi crossed the line from funny to major blunder in naming their entire upcoming electric car brand “e-tron”? It appears they have because, as it turns out, the word “étron” in French means “excrement.” And Germany and France even share a border!

Audi’s e-tron brand has certainly had its fair share of the limelight—garnering lots of hype from the first entrant, the R8 e-tron. It’s a super sexy electric rocket that Audi says they will produce in a limited run. But now imagine it if you happen to speak french; “super sexy crap rocket” doesn’t really have much of a ring to it.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just one car… you can simply rename that car for individual markets (like Buick did with the LaCrosse in Canada—”lacrosse” is slang for masturbation among the French Canadians). The problem is Audi has chosen “e-tron” as the name for an entire brand. For instance the company also has plans for a small electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle under the brand name and has talked about many other models in the near future. Can you change an entire brand name just for one market?

Perhaps this really isn’t that big of a deal though? After all, many people know of the urban myth that the Chevy Nova didn’t sell well in Mexico because “No Va” literally means “No Go” in Spanish. But that little gem turns out to be completely false, mostly because the way you say “No Va” and “Nova” are entirely different. Perhaps the same can be said for “e-tron” and “étron”? You can only hope.

But seriously Germans, you live right next to the French and you share a really long and storied border with them. You didn’t know what “étron” meant? C’est la vie.

Source: Green Car Reports

According to reports, Mercedes will introduce an all-electric version of its A-Class compact car at the 2010 Paris Auto Show in October. The A-Class E-Cell, as it’s called, will be made in a limited run of 500 units, mostly aimed at testing, and will start production early next year. Initially the car won’t be sold in showrooms, but will find its way into the hands of fleet customers and other customers that have shown an interest in plug-in vehicles.

As previously rumored, after significant investment by Daimler in Tesla, the two companies have developed the A-Class E-Cell in conjunction. In fact, it seems that most of the impetus behind the A-Class EV came from incessant and persistent pushing by Tesla to make it happen.

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Last time I reported on the topic of using termite guts to make next generation cellulosic ethanol cheaper and easier, it was 2008. Back then a team of researchers from the University of Florida had just started on the path to analyzing the more than 7,000 genes associated with the production of special enzymes within the termite guts that can break down woody fibers so that the termites can digest them and use them for energy.

This process that goes on in the bellies of hundreds of millions, perhaps trillions, of termites all around the world, day-in and day-out—a process that many homeowners fear in the depths of their hearts—is exactly what the next generation ethanol crowd needs to make fuel from woody waste such as thinned forest debris and agricultural residues.

In a paper published in the journal Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the researchers are now providing an update of sorts. The researchers have reportedly found that a group of enzymes found in termite salivary glands may just do the trick.

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In preparation for its official debut at the 2010 Paris Motor Show next month, Honda released some pics and a few details for the much anticipated Honda Fit Hybrid today (called the Jazz in Europe and Japan). The car will be the first modern subcompact parallel hybrid to reach consumers since the release of the original Honda Insight back in 1999—and it is rumored to cost between $16,500 and $18,600 when it goes on sale in Japan next year. At that price it would be the cheapest hybrid available on the market.

Yet, as the news fans out on the internet today, one bit of info buried rather vaguely in the press release that hasn’t been picked up elsewhere piqued my curiosity. Up till now, speculation about the expected fuel economy of the Fit Hybrid ranged anywhere from 60-70 mpg, but according to Honda, the Fit Hybrid will have about the same fuel economy as the current Insight.

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There are many things that General Motors has been incredibly forthcoming about as they’ve developed the Volt for all the world to see. Certainly no other vehicle has been the subject of so many videos and webchats detailing its trips through 2 feet of water or its visits to the arctic or some other form of vehicle torture.

But when it comes to the Volt’s real-world fuel efficiency, GM has methodically avoided comment. Now, thanks to the keen eyes of some web denizens, it appears that one video shot by a Volt test driver shows that the Volt achieves less than 30 mpg after the battery has been depleted—in what’s called charge-sustaining mode. Given that the Prius is capable of obtaining 50 mpg on average, the revelation is rather shocking.

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