[SwellJoe]

I.e., Nissan or Toyota probably didn't sound all that cool in the 70s or 80s either.

Speaking of names (and new Nissan models), I just watched the Top Gear coverage of the GT-R. It performed on par with some of the fastest supercars in the world (and faster than most of them), and also caused Jeremy Clarkson's back to give out while he was driving it. Richard Hammond joked about how of all the cars Clarkson has driven, he was crippled by a Datsun. I thought it interesting that he chose to use "Datsun" as the derogatory brand for the joke, rather than Nissan. I wonder if that name change and subsequent brand recognition loss was a net positive or a net loss, since it meant they could disassociate from the low end, low performance, and very small, autos of the Datsun years.