The affordable SUV that gets mistaken for a Bentley

Readers of a certain age might remember when some car marques were the butt of relentless derogatory jokes. Czech brand Skoda – which has since been brought up-market under VW ownership – was an especially popular victim (Q: ‘What do you call a Skoda with a sunroof?’ A. ‘A skip..’) as were Lada (Q. ‘How do you avoid a speeding ticket?’ A. ‘Buy a Lada’) and Malaysia’s Proton (Q: ‘How do you double the value of a Proton?’ A. ‘Just add petrol.’).

But even makers of famously good, solid, reliable cars can be coy about their original brand names when they decide to up their game by trying to penetrate the luxury market – which is why Toyota created Lexus, Nissan invented Infiniti, Honda coined ‘Acura’ and, more than 100 years ago, Ford adopted the Lincoln nameplate.

The importance of a ‘premium’ vehicle being given the right name was perhaps best demonstrated 20 years ago when VW introduced its beautifully appointed Phaeton with an ambition to build 20,000 units annually at its factory in Dresden – only to find that slack sales meant it took four years to reach 25,000, despite the car having the same chassis as a Bentley and being available with the engine of an Audi A8.