Study found that 95% of people can't pronounce BMW correctly
Topics: Cars, Electric Cars, News, UK News
Katherine Sidnell
Featured Image Credit: Tim Gainey / Alamy Stock Photo Dinodia Photos / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Cars, Electric Cars, News, UK News
A study has found that 95 percent of people pronounce the name of BMW wrong.
Despite being one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world, the German brand constantly seems to trip people up.
And yes, it’s the abbreviated version that seems to put the brakes on people’s speech.
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The research comes after motorcar maker Hyundai released an advert teaching the public how to say it’s tricky moniker.
For those not in the know, it said 'Hun-day' not ‘high-un-di’.
The South Korean brand isn’t the only brand whose name has the public having to do a U-turn over it’s pronunciation.
Despite being shortened to just three letters, BMW has many motorists confused with over 95 percent not able to say the company’s abbreviated name.
If you are still unsure, it’s actually 'bee em vee' rather than 'bee em double yoo'.
Failing that you could always just say the full name, Bayerische Motoren Werke, which roughly translates as the Bavarian Motor Works.
Shockingly, the research by Select Car Leasing has found at least ten car brands that people struggle to pronounce.
During their research, they found that not a single person could correctly say every single car company - despite asking over 1000 members of the public during the recent study.
Just six percent managed to successfully pronounce Hyundai, with other common mistakes including Porsche and Skoda.
Though Skoda is a Czech company, it seems Brits can’t resist saying the word with in Scandi accent - even though it’s pronounced 'Schkoda'.
Following the extensive research, Mark Tongue, who is the director of Select Car Leasing, revealed that the problem is a big issue in the digital age.
He said: "For all the exposure that car manufacturers are subjected to in the digital age, there's still a gap in understanding when it comes to how they're pronounced.
"Many of them have become household names across the globe, but according to our research, that doesn't make mispronunciations any less likely.
"Our survey reveals the car brands that are most confused and, for the avoidance of any doubt, the proper pronunciations via professional, regional voice actors.”
Even experts aren’t exempt according to Tongue, who stated that Jeremy Clarkson and James May had been mispronouncing Koenigsegg and Dacia for decades.
So don't feel too bad about not being able to say these iconic brand names, you are in good company!