If you've never travelled outside of the US, you may be surprised to know that many cars go by different names in other countries. There are many examples of this such as the Ford Fusion (Mondeo), Volkswagen Jetta (Bora), Infiniti Q50 (Nissan Skyline), Chevy SS (Holden Commodore), and the Kia K900 (Quoris/K9). Coming up with different names for different markets is difficult, so Kia wanted to show how it came up with some of its names around the world. As it turns out, creating car names isn't so easy.

The first is Kia's flagship car, which has three different names around the world. Unlike the S-Class, which has one name for all markets, Kia's large sedan is called the K9, K900 or Quoris depending on the market that it's sold in. Kia says that the Quoris name combines the words "core" and "quality" to show what the car is built to be. In South Korea, the car is called the K9, but Kia had to add two zeros to the name in the US to avoid confusion with a police dog. Even the Sedona minivan has a different name in other markets. The Sedona name came from the small town in Arizona, but this name wouldn't make sense outside of the US. Elsewhere, the Sedona is known as the Grand Carnival.

In other markets, Kia's sedans are known as the K Series. As the car gets bigger, the number after the K gets bigger. The K3 is the Forte, the K5 is the Optima, and the K9 is the K900. The K is taken from "Kia", "Korea", and the Greek word "Kratos," which means active. The Forte is also known as the Cerato, both of which emphasize the car's bold characteristics. Finally, the Optima name comes from the Latin word "Optimus" meaning best or bonus. It is interesting to see how much thought goes into naming a car for different markets. But we think 'Stinger' is a name that should work in all corners of the globe.