The cars that have brought on legal proceedings

While there are some outright wacky baby names out there and even a list of names that are prohibited to be used for a human child in Australia (we’re talking Christ, Satan and Judge), with vehicles there is no such list.

But this doesn't make naming cars any less controversial, with several car makers finding themselves in some legal trouble due to the name they’ve given, or tried to give, a model of car.

At the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, luxury car maker, Aston Martin revealed their new, GT3, referencing the popular GT3 racing series.

Unfortunately, Porsche was not impressed, believing they had rights to the namesake due to their 911 variant which had been on sale since 1999, so naturally they attempted to take Aston Martin to court.

"We named the car GT3. We felt in the spirit of the racing category, that was our link," said Aston Martin spokesman Matt Clarke.

"Porsche voiced some displeasure at that."

Rather than battling it out and spending what I dare say would have been a lot of dollars on legal fees, Aston Martin simply renamed the car, Vantage GT12.

"We would rather not waste money on legal fees, so we're going to change the name," said Clarke. "I'm sure our customers would appreciate us spending the money on the car rather than the name."

It isn’t just car makers that can get up in arms with one another but artists too, well one at least: Picasso.

In 1999, when carmaker Citroen named their new model, Xsara Picasso MPV, in a deal thought done and dusted with the artist’s family, another member of the Picasso clan, Marina Picasso, the painter’s granddaughter, was not so impressed and mounted a legal challenge.

“I cannot tolerate that the name of my grandfather and of my father be used to sell something as banal as a car. He was a genius who is now being exploited outrageously. His name, his very soul, should not be used for any ends other than his art,” she said at the time.

Ultimately, Marina lost, and the Picasso name was used on Citroen vehicles between 1999-2018.

When two French families with daughters named Zoe Renault discovered that a new electric car model by car manufacturer, Renault would be named Renault Zoe (now that’s a tongue twister), they launched a legal bid to block it believing the girls would be set up for a lifetime of teasing.

“We took this action because we do not want our daughters to be permanently associated with a car,” One father, Cedric Renault, said.

Their lawyer, David Koubbi, also argued that there should be a difference between what an object and a human can be named.

"There's a line between living things and inanimate objects and that line is defined by the first name…We're telling Renault one very simple thing: first names are for humans," he said.

But the judge ruled against Mr Koubbi's clients saying there were 122 products in the world already called Zoe and for the parents to have a case they could prove that the children would suffer "certain, direct and current harm."

The Ford GT40 became a Le Mans (endurance sports car race) winner in 1966, the first American car manufacturer to have won the major European race. Unfortunately, though, they didn’t win in regards to its future namesake, with a 2004 planned follow-up ending in a legal stoush.

Because the carmaker had sold the naming rights to a spare parts specialist in 1999, the company, Safir GT40 Spares Ltd put up a fight to keep the name, reportedly demanding $40 million to license the badge back.

The price tag was deemed too much by Ford and thus the follow-up model became known as the Ford GT.

Related: Cars that have changed their name

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