Older drivers just realising they're saying this car company's name wrong
A new study has found that just three percent of UK motorists are able to pronounce the name of a popular car brand, with Brits struggling with many others.
The over 50s car insurance provider Saga has shared a list of the car companies that most Brits struggle to pronounce.
Whilst there are around 25 vehicle manufacturers building models in the UK, many of the best-selling models come from all over the world, and therefore can be difficult to say.
According to a study of 120 Brits, the car company that is the most difficult to say is BMW, specifically the brand's full title of Bayerische Motoren Werke.
Simply translating to 'Bavarian Motor Works', the German brand's name refers to the state in which the manufacturer was first founded and still has a large factory where models like the 5-Series and iX are produced.
However, using lengthy German words, the company found that only three percent of drivers in the UK are able to pronounce BMW's full title correctly.
A more commonly-used car brand name that many drivers struggle to say is Volkswagen, another long-running German car brand that can be translated to 'People's Car'.
Makers of the Golf and Passat, the survey found that 89 percent of motorists in the UK will pronounce it with a British accent, particularly the 'V' and 'W'.
In comparison, the correct German pronunciation replaces the 'V' with an 'F', as in 'folk', whilst changing the 'W' for a 'V', resulting in 'folks-vagen'.
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However, Saga highlighted that many Brits struggle to correctly pronounce car brands that come from countries other than Germany, with Nissan also scoring highly.
According to their survey, just 14 percent of drivers pronounce the popular car manufacturer the same way that Japanese motorists do.
Whilst most Brits say the first syllable as 'Nis' (as in 'Miss), it should be pronounced 'Knee-san' to correctly reflect the company's full title of 'Nihon Sangyo', or 'Japan Industries'.
Top 10 most mis-pronounced car brands (percentage who say it correctly):
- BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) - 3 percent
- Volkswagen - 11 percent
- Nissan - 14 percent
- Citroen - 14 percent
- Mercedes-Benz - 20 percent
- Hyundai - 20 percent
- Skoda - 26 percent
- Porsche - 42 percent
- Mitsubishi - 82 percent
- Peugeot - 86 percent
