Jeremy Clarkson has always loved Starions

[NachoMan]

Star of Orion my ass, that's the cover-up story...

Jezza is actually on the money. This time.

BULLSHIT! LOL

so why wasnt the galant called "GARANT"

lancer called "RANCER"

evolution called "EVORUTION"

hey maybe the cordia was meant to be the "COLDIA"

and if that was the case starion would have 2 "R's"

Well...

The car was NOT named for 'Star of Orion'. It was a mistake, plain and simple. The secretary wrote down the name wrong, and the car became 'Starion'
'Star of Orion' was the cover story, as I've said before. :roll:

Now I just know that some of you will seek proof, so call Barry Lloyd if you like. He's a bloke who was present for the whole fiasco.
He's retired now, but still works part-time at Crockenberg Motors here in Perth, and is happy to tell the story to anyone who will listen, as long as you buy a copy of his book : ) He's also the bloke who had a major share in getting Ralliart off of the ground here in Oz.

[bigd]

So it must be total coincidence that they gave a Mitsubishi "Stallion" a Sirius engine - where the Sirius is the largest visible star (excluding planets) in the night sky AND also concidence that it is the closest large star to the Orion constellation AND coincidence that Orion is often said to be leading two dogs one of which is coincidentally Sirius.
LOL LOL LOL
To be fair I'd have to say that they'd be more careful than just telling the secretary the name they'd come up with for the car and then have no one check it until the cars were out on the road badged incorrectly, though Pajero does show that they weren't all that smart with names :P

[decoy]

pajero is a language conversion thing though! Next time i name my children i'm going to mumble it to the nurse, and then when she writes it down wrong and passes it on to my grandparents to label all the clothing wrong, i'll stick with the made up name.

[WidebodyWoody]

I agree, for it to have a complete slip up, and to be accepted by everyone else after the secretary typed it wrong, is just plain stupid. I mean, come on, does anyone work for a living? Do you not see that in a normal company, let alone a major one, people CHECK YOUR WORK

[redzone]

Now I just know that some of you will seek proof, so call Barry Lloyd if you like. He's a bloke who was present for the whole fiasco.

He's retired now, but still works part-time at Crockenberg Motors here in Perth, and is happy to tell the story to anyone who will listen, as long as you buy a copy of his book : ) He's also the bloke who had a major share in getting Ralliart off of the ground here in Oz.

so he was present in japan in 1981, in the marketing department of mitsubishi motors, speaks fluent japanese, and was present for the actual conversation that gave the starion its name? and how does he explain that the name was never second guessed? how did it get through all the corporate red tape to be applied to a model that was sold INTERNATIONALLY as a starion, not just in australia mate, but WORLD WIDE!

japan, europe, se asia, uk, australia, usa all got the starion in 1982, cars generally arent named JUST before they go on sale, they're named at least 6 months before hand. and if the car WAS meant to be a STALLION, why was it written in that futuristic (for the eighties at least) script?

nachoman, i think your mate is just trying to sell copies of his "book", whatever that is. rofl

[WidebodyWoody]

dave I agree completely. You mate nacho is full of shit.

Tell him to provide solid proof instead of hearsay and we might believe him instead. But until then... Well you get the picture :p

[MrBishi]

I have read Barry's book and it doesn't say anything about Starion/Stallion (Nacho never said it did). Barry was initially involved with Mitsubishi in the late 60's with the racing of the first Colts (Australia was MMCs first export market!).
I've never met the bloke, but I know many who have and would vouch for what he says, and would certainly take whatever he says & remembers about the Japlish incident fairly seriously.
However I still remain to be convinced about the truth of the Starion/Stallion saga. I find it hard to believe that full production of the Starion could go from initial plans to full production without a spell check or a whitey pointing the mistake out.
Some may argue that the spelling mistake was kept to 'save face' - however the press or public never had any word of the model or even model name until the cars were delivered to dealerships. Thus changing the name at even a very late date would not have lost anyone any 'face'.

My prediction is that we will never know for sure.

[NachoMan]

Indeed, we may never know for sure, but I believe Barry, and what he says.
My beliefs don't require anyone else to believe the same thing, and I am certainly not alone in what I believe.

Believe whatever you want to believe, and I will too. If those things are different, then so be it.

[airbats801]

well considering we didnt even get the car until 1983 and that good ol 1982 starion commercial explains the whole damn thing of why its named. The whole stallion thing is the dumbest crap I have ever heard.

[hcca]

Half of Mitsi's 80's cars had names comprised of half of two words. Mitsi also had a fascination with stars. The Stallion thing is the biggest load of bullshit ever, but believe what you will.

[WANTSOM]

Why are we all hung up on the name of the car when they are mostly knowna as "stupid piece of shit" when we are working on them.

Maybe one day a car company will give their cars realistic names. There could be the Lada Will rust out in 5 years. The Ford Built for company sales reps, the BMW You might be able to afford the car but the parts will kill you" or the Walkinshaw I didnt really go Broke, I just hid the money from the creditors". :D

[Chryzla]

Funniest thing is what does it matter?

Its got Starion badges.. it was so called many moons ago..

Its a Starion. rofl

[bigd]

Found this for interesting reading. No definitive on it though!!

http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/starion.asp

[redzone]

^^^ yeah same shit that is why all these young guys always come up with the stallion thing as they google starion and these "urban dictionary's" perpetuate the myth..... but interesting they make the same points we did at the end... bout how a company would name its most important release on the worlds biggest market wrong..

[RiceThief]

The reason why this is almost believable is because mitsubishi did make the mistake with the pajero. But that is a localisation error on what is only a slang word that was derogatory rather than company wide error that is implied with the naming of the starion. While its true that japanese cant pronounce the letter L there are plenty of cars like skylines, lancers, colts and galants using that same letter L with no difficulty in the translation. In the end its just typical media reporting, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.