Fresh Touring Origination

[CByrne]

Anyone know why the FTO was called Fresh Touring Origination?
People ask me what it stands for all the time...seems a silly answer to give.
They usually ask me what the hell it means, you could always answer with "well what's Celica or Integra meant to mean," but you have to admit Fresh Touring Origination is a unique name.

Anyone any ideas?

[kevinod]

I've always just took it to be a bad translation of something cool in japanese, but I would be wrong!

[Kace]

Sounds like the official opening of a competition to find the best meaning for the FTO acronym........

Fast-Thrilling-Original

.......CJ to announce proze in due course

[Myfeckin FTO]

They already had the GTO presumably so called as per the Ferrari et al type cars - 'GTO' and 'GT' are European racing classifications. The Italian term, 'Gran Turismo Omologato', means Grand Touring class production vehicle, homologated for racing. The name came to mean a large, high-performance sports car comfortable enough for long trips or 'touring', as opposed to the smaller, less comfortable 2-seater 'true' sports car.

I suppose Mitsubishi wanted to call their smaller coupe something along the same lines so came up with "FTO" and had to make some "JapLish" up for it.

Been in Japan a couple of times and some of the JapLish names on cars there has to be seen to be believed so I think we got away fairly lightly with "Fresh Touring Origination".

[CJ]

some of the JapLish names on cars there has to be seen to be believed so I think we got away fairly lightly with "Fresh Touring Origination".

Agreed, theres a few crackers listed here, the FTO entry translates loosely as "With English Fresh Touring Origination. The meaning, creation of the youthful touring car."
What about MR2, that stands for 'Midship Runabout', thats gotta be worse than the FTO meaning!

Googling "Fresh Touring Origination" brings back some interesting info, one notible one from http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mitsubishi-FTO is:

Production of both the FTO and GTO (Mitsubishi 3000GT) ended in the summer of 2000, when Mitsubishi decided not to modify either car to improve their side crash-worthiness.

CJ

[HEZZYFTO]

I've always liked ' Fcuk The Others ' I was going to get it put on the bottom of my numberplate but the other half wouldnt let me

[Mustang]

CJ wrote

What about MR2, that stands for 'Midship Runabout'

I'm inclined to disagree. My understanding was that the acronym stood for -Midship Rear wheel drive 2 seater -as in 'it does what it says on the tin'

[CJ]

I'm inclined to disagree.

Well if anyone was gonna disagree Mustang, it would have to be you

Its open to interpretation - taken from http://www.answers.com/topic/toyota-mr2:

Toyota made its SV-3 concept car public in the Autumn of 1983 at the Tokyo Motorshow, gathering a huge amount of publicity both from the press and the audience. The car, scheduled to be launched in spring 1984 in the Japanese market under the name MR2 (initially standing for "Midship Runabout, 2-seater" but later claimed to be "Mid-engine, Rear-wheel drive, 2-seater") was to become the first mass-produced mid-engined car to come from a Japanese manufacturer.

Considering that the MR2 was sold in the US and Europe as well as Japen, it made sense to westernise the name somewhat as opposed to sticking with the 'Japlish' meaning.

CJ

[Mustang]

CJ wrote

Quote:
Toyota made its SV-3 concept car public in the Autumn of 1983 at the Tokyo Motorshow, gathering a huge amount of publicity both from the press and the audience. The car, scheduled to be launched in spring 1984 in the Japanese market under the name MR2 (initially standing for "Midship Runabout, 2-seater" but later claimed to be "Mid-engine, Rear-wheel drive, 2-seater") was to become the first mass-produced mid-engined car to come from a Japanese manufacturer.



Considering that the MR2 was sold in the US and Europe as well as Japen, it made sense to westernise the name somewhat as opposed to sticking with the 'Japlish' meaning.

CJ

Well it would seem were are both right then. Admittedly Midship runabout does sound a bit stupid.