{"id":1896757,"date":"2026-04-22T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1896757"},"modified":"2026-04-22T14:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:25:00","slug":"these-are-your-favorite-cars-named-after-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1896757","title":{"rendered":"These Are Your Favorite Cars Named After Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Naming cars after animals<\/a> is a long and storied tradition, around since the dawn of the automobile. Everything from rare forgotten classics, like the art deco proto-minivan Stout Scarab, to the perennial sales favorite, the Ford Mustang,\u00a0have bore titles reminiscent of the nature their very existence demoralizes. Usually, but not always, a powerful animals stands in where understanding of things like horsepower and engine size fail.<\/p>\n

Last week I asked you about your favorite cars named after critters<\/a> and, as usual, you did not disappoint. The best part of this question were all the unexpected things I learned along the way \u2014 the\u00a0Volkswagen Amarok references a giant wolf from\u00a0Inuit legend, the Opel Manta is named after manta rays, and, somehow, I never connected “Dodge Charger” and “old timey term for warhorse” together. Guess I have to turn in my history nerd card. Scroll through and see many more vehicles from the animal kingdom.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Easy, the Murcielago<\/p>\n

Named after a bull in 1879 that survived 24 sword strikes where the Matador was so impressed it allowed to live, but also because Murcielago means “bat” in Spanish and when the Murci becomes hot it opens extra small vents on the engine bay to allow more air in (can also be opened manually) that look like little bat wings. Finally, it was technically a batmobile, so almost a 3 in one for the name.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0Crashed Lambo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Are gremlins real? Does that count? Always liked the movie.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0Rick C.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Easy, Fiat Panda, or now, Pandina.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0Pete<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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67 Cougar, with the 4-speed top loader.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From Mark H<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Dodge Charger.<\/p>\n

I love when car names are plays on their rivals. For those unaware, “Charger” is an old term for a powerful warhorse used in shock attacks to charge the enemy directly.<\/p>\n

When you’re going up against the wildly successful Mustang, it’s a name that sounds great and is really pretty clever, too.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0potbellyjoe<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Jaguar, of course, and the VW Amarok (giant wolf in Inuit mythology)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0Jean Theron<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Impala.<\/p>\n

Especially the SS subspecies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0Anonymous Person<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Mine is an obscure one: the Delfino Feroce. I loved driving it in the Project Gotham Racing games as a kid and wished I could have one when I got older. But when I got older, I found out that while a functional prototype was built, the car never actually made it into production. The kicker today is that the car’s Wikipedia article says that it was set to go into production in 2000, which means that it would be legal to import into the U.S. today if launched as planned. “Delfino” means dolphin in Italian and the company had a dolphin in its logo.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0Giantsgiants<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Hayabusa, the Japanese Peregrine falcon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From Patrick<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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There are so many! Fiat Topolino (“Little Mouse”). Meyers Manx. Hillman Minx. Stutz Bearcat. VW Bug, Beetle, Fox and Rabbit. Ford Thunderbird and Pontiac Firebird (do mythical creatures count?). Studebaker Hawk and Lark. Citroen Deux Chevaux. Shelby Super Snake and King Cobra. Puma (old Brazilian sports car or later Fords). Corvette Stingray or Mako Shark. Sunbeam Tiger (Does the German Tiger tank count?). DeTomaso Pantera and Mangusto. Alfa Romeo BAT concept cars. Opel Manta. Dodge Colt. Reliant Robin. And so, so many more…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From Norm DePlume<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naming cars after animals is a long and storied tradition, around since the dawn of the automobile. Everything from rare forgotten classics, like the art deco proto-minivan Stout Scarab, to the perennial sales favorite, the Ford Mustang,\u00a0have bore titles reminiscent of the nature their very existence demoralizes. Usually, but not always, a powerful animals stands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,247],"class_list":["post-1896757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jalopnik-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1896757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1896757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1896757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1896757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}