On the 28th of October, Chinese automotive companies Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile and Pang Da Automobile Trade agreed to purchase Swedish car brand Saab for 100 million euros and 610 million euros in long-term funding. Although the deal has met with the obstacle from GM, the technology licenses holder of Saab, Youngman has not given up acquiring Saab. Questions are still worth discussing about Saab’s naming strategy in China if the company turns Chinese.

Saab’s current Chinese name is “萨博” [sà bó], a mix of exoticism, spirituality, and technical expertise. The second character “博” [bó], which means extensive or Doctor (PhD), has been used for many brand names (BOSCH -“博世” [bó shì], Fiat Bravo -“博悦” [bó yuè]). Although the “b” phonetic can be hard to translate in Chinese, “博” is a preferred choice because of its positive connotations.

On the other hand, the first character “萨” [sà] is mainly used for the translation of proper nouns, such as 拉萨 [lā sà] (Lhasa), 德克萨斯 [dé kè sà sī] (Texas), 萨克斯 [sà kè sī], (saxophone), etc. Therefore, “萨” is often recognized as an "empty" word. Furthermore, because it is found in Buddhist terms, such as 菩萨 [pú sà], Buddha and 萨满 [sà mǎn], shaman, the character carries a religious connotation that, as Vladimir Djurovic, president at Labbrand, suggests might not work well in China. “We have already found in previous research projects on car brand names, that names with this term were not a favorite choice in China because they are a little too spiritual”.

Although the current name is acceptable, the recent business developments inevitably give rise to questions about Saab’s future naming strategy. To gain insight into whether Saab should adopt a new Chinese name after the acquisition we can refer to the experience of British car brand Morris Garages (MG). Acquired in 2005 by Nanjing Automobile, and currently owned by SAIC Motor (SAIC purchased Nanjing Automobile in 2007), MG is now producing low-end and mid-range sports cars. However, because of its noble British origins, the brand’s original Chinese name “名爵”[míng jué] (Famous Knight) still holds a premium feel to it. This discrepancy between the products on offer and the brand identity has fundamentally put SAIC in a difficult position, forcing it to deliberately avoid using its Chinese name.

Given both Labbrand’s expertise and MG’s experience, the acquisition might be the perfect opportunity for repositioning the Saab brand, especially if the product line were to change. However this move is not risk-free. Saab’s name “萨博” is widely recognized by the Chinese audience, so renaming might mean losing loyal customers. To solve this Vladimir Djurovic, president of Labbrand, believes that “instead of renaming, Saab could consider developing a better tagline to fit the Chinese market and make the brand more vivid in the imagination of Chinese consumers”.