From the beginning of the car industry, automakers have always looked for ways to make their cars seem faster and more appealing. One of these ways is naming them exciting names, which helps create an allure of performance in people’s imaginations. One way manufacturers made their cars stand out from similar machines was to name them after animals.
Animals symbolize something majestic, powerful, and beautiful and that’s exactly what car brands wanted. They believed naming a car after an animal – and the wilder the better – that success would come. At least, so it seems. Today, we’ll showcase the best cars named after an animal. In some cases, carmakers even used mythical ones. Let’s head into the jungle below.
AMC Hornet 360
The early ’70s was the start of the end for muscle cars with engine downsizing and tightening emissions and safety standards, AMC was one of the first companies to realize that a new breed of muscle cars was needed to keep power-hungry customers happy. So in 1971, they introduced the Hornet 360 (via Auto Evolution).
Based on a regular economy car called the Hornet, it was equipped with better suspension, sharper steering, and a 360 V8. This Hornet turned from an ordinary compact into a proper muscle car. Power wasn’t that big at 245 hp. But those horses could make the Hornet fly in its lightweight body. The rest of the muscle cars offered in 1971 all had problems with size and weight. They also had engines that didn’t create much power anymore. But the Hornet 360 was one of the fastest cars on sale.