Red lorry, yellow lorry

Why did Suzuki call its new car something which no native Japanese speaker can pronounce? If we’d not had a written invitation to the press launch earlier this year, I’d have been convinced that the new mini-MPV was called a Sprash.

It’s cruel. A bit like a manufacturer employing an MD with a name like Bernd Pischetsrieder, a let’s-put-British-motoring-journalists-in-their-place-so-they-daren’t-ask-for-an-interview sort of name. At least he’s now firmly out of the pichsture.