Found at the Beeb world service site

Alistair

Buick 'masturbation' car renamed

Red-faced officials at General Motors in Canada have been forced to think of
a new name for their latest model after discovering it was a slang word for
masturbation.

GM officials said they had been unaware that LaCrosse was a term for
self-gratification among teenagers in French-speaking Quebec.

They are now working on a new name for the LaCrosse in Canada. The car will
go on sale next year to replace the Buick Regal.

More recently, Mitsubishi had to change the name of its Pajero model in
Spanish speaking countries, where the word is a slang term for
"masturbator".

While Toyota's Fiera proved controversial in Puerto Rico, where fiera
translated to "ugly old woman".

And Ford didn't have the reception it expected in Brazil when their Pinto
car flopped.

They then discovered that in Brazilian Portuguese slang, pinto means "small
penis".

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3208501.stm

Published: 2003/10/23 15:35:30 GMT