In Spanish, ¿Tienes leche? translates as “Are you lactating? The “Got Milk?” campaign used “ ¿Tienes leche?” for the Spanish version.In addition to the Chevy Nova “no go” story, there are several other stories of Spanish mistranslation: Additional Spanish mistranslation urban legends If a Nova gasoline could be sold in a Latin American country like Mexico, the use of Nova for a car name would be an unlikely hindrance to car sales. The more appropriate Spanish phrase to use is no funciona.įurthermore, there’s a gasoline brand in Mexico that uses the nova name. Also, no va would be a highly unusual way to describe a car that can’t drive or function.

It would be like saying “carpet” and “car pet.” They sound different and have different meanings. For one, in Spanish, nova and no va don’t sound the same, and most people would not confuse them. If you can speak Spanish, you likely understand why the Chevy Nova “no go” story is a myth. In Venezuela, the Nova actually exceeded sales projections from Chevrolet. Also, similar to other urban legends, the Chevy “no go” story has a small element of truth, for “ no va” does mean “no go.” The Chevy Nova sold well in Latin America 1978 Chevy Nova | Transcendental Graphics/Getty ImagesĬontrary to popular belief, though, the Chevy Nova sold well in Latin America. Like many urban legends, the Chevy “no go” story was repeated so many times that people believed it to be true. However, the story of the Chevy Nova “no go” is a myth, an urban legend.

Additionally, marketing textbooks cite the incident when discussing “cultural differences and advertising,” as detailed by ThoughtCo.

Across the internet, there are thousands of references to the Chevy Nova incident. When seeing a car with a name that translates as “no go” in Spanish, Latin American car shoppers naturally would not want to buy it. Logically, the story of the Chevy Nova “no go” makes sense. As the story goes, the Chevy Nova didn’t sell well in Latin America because in Spanish, Nova means “no go.” Fact or myth: Did the Chevy Nova “no go” Spanish name really kill sales in Latin America? Myth: The Chevy Nova ‘no go’ story never actually happened 1967 Chevy Nova | Chevrolet One of the most infamous stories in automotive history, as well as marketing, is the Chevy Nova.

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