New Chinese carmaker Forthing will officially launch in Australia this week – but one of its flagship cars is already causing a legal dispute with Porsche.

Porsche says the name Taikon 5 for its electric family SUV is too close to its established brand Taycan.

As a result of the trade mark claim, Forthing says it’s taken the “temporary and precautionary” action of removing references to the Taikon 5 from their marketing. Put simply, the car will be released without a name in Australia and New Zealand.

Well, the no-brand approach worked for Franklins in the 1980s and 1990s. Maybe they’re onto something.

Forthing, meanwhile, is trying to frame this seemingly reasonable legal dispute in schoolyard terms.

“Whilst we are flattered that Porsche AG has expressed such strong interest in Forthing vehicles, until this issue is resolved, we will focus on promoting the Forthing brand,” a spokesperson said in a curiously sassy statement.

In other words: “Ugh, why is Porsche obsessed with us?”

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So what’s in a name? It’s a question that keeps popping up in the motoring world.

There are infinite possibilities when it comes to branding a car – so why do manufacturers keep making bad choices?

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Perhaps the best example comes from Geely, which recently named their new hybrid SUV Monjaro.

That’s a curious choice considering one of the biggest medical developments in the last decade has been the rise of GLP-1 weight loss drugs. The most common brand names in this category are Ozempic, Wegovy and – of course – Mounjaro.

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Surely it’s impossible that Geely didn’t know this. Google the car and a list of side effects comes up. If you tell people you’re off to pick up your Monjaro, they’ll ask where you got your prescription.

Was this was on purpose? I suppose that’s one way to drum up interest in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. It hasn’t been announced for Australia yet, but is likely going to arrive in 2027.

Meanwhile other car brands are trying hard to avoid trade mark disputes. Perhaps a little too hard. Overseas, MG just launched a new SUV called the Hector Tomahawk. It’s the sort of name survivalist parents would give their kid … if they hated that kid.

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But it’s original, all right.

So original, in fact, it makes you wonder if they just put random words into a big hat and went with the first two that fell out. If that wasn’t their creative process, I would like to know what was. So that I can avoid it.

Hector Tomahawk says log cabins and living off the land. The car design says tootling around in suburbia. A better name might have been Craig Trowel. Or Harry Ladder. Even Cecil Broom makes more sense.

There is a long, proud history of manufacturers choosing bad car names. One of the most famous example is Mitsubishi’s classic 1983 Starion. The Japanese carmaker said the name was a portmanteau of ‘Star of Orion’. Rumours persist it was meant to be called ‘Stallion’ and there was a miscommunication.

Another great example happened in 2014 when Citroen released the Cactus. Citroen wanted to allude to the vehicle’s tough exterior and low consumption. Unfortunately, being a French car, the name risked being read as prophetic.

They say all publicity is good publicity. Bad names, at least, get talked about.

But in a market where new brands are desperately trying to gain credibility, a bit more market research might be needed.

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