So these Dacia adverts I've been hearing so much...

matt_fsr · 2 Sep 2016 at 11:13

Been travelling in the car a lot lately to and from south Wales (that's a long way when you're a northener!) and on the way I heard several adverts for Dacia cars - nothing especially unusual, or exciting there.

The 'problem' I had was that I didn't realise they were actually advertising Dacia cars at first, because the advert called them "Da-cha" - as in "cha-cha"

Now here's the thing. No-one in the UK has ever pronounced 'Dacia' as 'Da-cha' for several reasons. One is the way we form our words phonetically, so the written 'Dacia' would be pronouned "Day-see-ah"

The bigger, slightly more glaringly obvious fact, is that for the last ooooh, 10 years perhaps, 10-15 MILLION people in the UK watch a humorous motoring show called Top Gear, which regularly features comments and remarks about the glorious 'Day-see-ah' Sandero, and occasionally the Duster!

Am I missing something here? I've no degree in Marketing I grant you, but this is a monumentally stupid waste of vast amounts of free advertising, by ignoring these people who already know what a 'Day-see-ah' is? :confused:

Janesy B · 2 Sep 2016 at 11:14

It's the same with Citroen. Brits say SIT RON and the adverts say it like CEE TRO ENE.

Ham · 2 Sep 2016 at 11:44

They've definitely missed a trick by not opening each advert with "good news!"

Iamzod · 2 Sep 2016 at 11:48

Really don't understand the market for these.

Having been in one they are horrible, no idea why someone would spend so much on something that feels like it was made in 1995.

Could get something much nicer for the money if willing to buy something a year or two old.

Dr Who · 2 Sep 2016 at 11:59

They are pronouncing it in the native tongue afaik

GeX · 2 Sep 2016 at 12:05

I think you're a bit dim if you can't make the connection and to suggest that they should pronounce it differently on their adverts because Top Gear said it wrong is laughable.

Armageus · 2 Sep 2016 at 12:09

Iamzod said:
Really don't understand the market for these.

Having been in one they are horrible, no idea why someone would spend so much on something that feels like it was made in 1995.

Could get something much nicer for the money if willing to buy something a year or two old.

Because it is "new" and has all the protection that a new car with a 5 year manufacturer warranty offers. The fact that they are ridiculously cheap for the base spec models obviously helps.

Some people just want "no fuss" motoring, and the perception is that a new car with warranty provides that. Same reason Kia with 7 year warranties seem to sell reasonably well.

hlxbravo · 2 Sep 2016 at 12:52

Here's me thinking it was pronounced "Da-chi-ahh"...learn summat new every day

Skillmister · 2 Sep 2016 at 13:04

Ham said:
They've definitely missed a trick by not opening each advert with "good news!"

Howard · 2 Sep 2016 at 13:12

Iamzod said:
Really don't understand the market for these.

Having been in one they are horrible, no idea why someone would spend so much on something that feels like it was made in 1995.

Could get something much nicer for the money if willing to buy something a year or two old.

A lot of people on PH (of all places) seem to favour the back-to-basics approach combined with the 'benefit' of buying a brand new car but I agree, they just look miserable.

As for this thread itself, it's pretty obvious that "Da'chia" is how the Romanians pronounce it, and "Day'sia" is just a dumbed-down Englishism. The same can be said for Citroen and Volkswagen, for example.

nath247 · 2 Sep 2016 at 13:23

Another one drives a duster.

matt_fsr · 2 Sep 2016 at 13:25

Dr Who said:
They are pronouncing it in the native tongue afaik

Yup, I'd guess so.

GeX said:
I think you're a bit dim if you can't make the connection and to suggest that they should pronounce it differently on their adverts because Top Gear said it wrong is laughable.

Howard said:
As for this thread itself, it's pretty obvious that "Da'chia" is how the Romanians pronounce it, and "Day'sia" is just a dumbed-down Englishism. The same can be said for Citroen and Volkswagen, for example.

Agreed, but it just seems spectacularly pointless to have effectively wasted thousands, or even millions of pounds worth of literally free advertising via Top Gear, because I suspect a lot of non-car people won't make the connection between "Da-cha" and "Day-see-ah".

Maybe I'm wrong, but if their marketeers walked down an average shopping centre and asked people what product the company "Da-cha" makes, I wouldn't expect more than 5% of people to know.

Reminds me a bit of the glorious farce when GM released the Opel Nova on the spanish and south american markets, to abysmal sales.

Literal translation: Nova = Doesn't go

Hence the name Corsa.

Rainmaker · 2 Sep 2016 at 13:39

matt_fsr said:
Agreed, but it just seems spectacularly pointless to have effectively wasted thousands, or even millions of pounds worth of literally free advertising via Top Gear, because I suspect a lot of non-car people won't make the connection between "Da-cha" and "Day-see-ah".

Maybe I'm wrong, but if their marketeers walked down an average shopping centre and asked people what product the company "Da-cha" makes, I wouldn't expect more than 5% of people to know.

For a moment I agreed with you, but then I thought about it... The only people who would recognise the 'day-seeya' watch Top Gear. They're therefore likely petrol heads of some order, who would also very quickly recognise what Dacia actually was. They are also fairly unlikely to be interested in one, so they're not the target market. May only used it as a comedy piece, after all. It's not like they were hotly anticipating its release lol.

Those who aren't petrol heads, and didn't watch TG, aren't affected either way so it's not an issue.

Janesy B · 2 Sep 2016 at 13:45

The Nova was the Corsa A in Europe, that's why the 'first' Corsa we got here was the Corsa B. Similar thing with the Vectra/Cavalier.

Skillmister · 2 Sep 2016 at 13:47

Rainmaker said:
They're therefore likely petrol heads of some order, .

I wouldn't say that's true at all - at least not for the Top Gear episodes in question (i.e more recent ones)

Uther · 2 Sep 2016 at 14:38

I never watch Top Gear, and have always pronounced it 'Day-sia'. If someone asked me what a 'Da-cha' was I wouldn't have a clue. Well maybe now...

slick rick · 2 Sep 2016 at 14:51

Is Dacia Romanian for '**** box'?

snapdragon69 · 2 Sep 2016 at 16:18

Didn't the first TV adverts when they first came to the UK make a big thing about how it's pronounced? In some markets such as Persia, they are called Renault (Sandero, Tondar).

http://realiran.org/production-of-renaults-sandero-launched-in-iran/

v0n · 2 Sep 2016 at 17:04

Dacia (Da [like darn] - ch [hard "ch", like chores or czech] - ya [like yum] ) because it comes from the name of ancient Carpathian lands occupied by tribe called Dacians, back in Roman times.

Lada - isn't lada but łada - L is pronounced as it were "W" but round and from roof of the mouth, the way you would imagine Arnold the Governor saying "I'm warning you, you w[rotary engine used by Mazda]" with his strong german accent.

Skoda has a dash above S, it's not S-koda but Škoda - it's pronounced Sh (soft sh, like shut up with yankee accent or the annoying mispronunciation Porsha) - koda (like coda).