Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it "doesn't run" rather than it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no funciona" or "no camina" rather than "no va." Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car.Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the phrase "no va" and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include a table. First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the word "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable.
Shortly afterwards the great "Nova" legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis shows it to be improbable: (This car should not be confused with the smaller, front wheel drive vehicle which was produced in 1985 as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota and also assigned the Nova name.) Between 19 the Chevrolet Nova was also sold in Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries, primarily Venezuela. The original Chevrolet Nova (initially the Chevy II) hit the U.S. (The sources that repeat this little tale can't even agree on where the Nova supposedly sold poorly, variously listing locales such as Puerto Rico, Mexico, South America, or simply "Spanish-speaking countries.") This is another one of those tales that makes its point so well - just like the fable about George Washington and the cherry tree - that nobody wants to ruin it with a bunch of facts. It's a wicked irony, then, that the people who use this example are engaging in the very thing they're decrying, because a little preparation and research would have informed them that it isn't true. This anecdote is frequently used to illustrate the perils of failing to do adequate preparation and research before introducing a product into the international marketplace. The embarrassed automobile giant changed the model name to the Caribe, and sales of the car took off. GM executives were baffled until someone finally pointed out to them that "nova" translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish.
It's the classic cautionary tale about the pitfalls of doing business in foreign countries that can be found in hundreds (if not thousands) of books about marketing: General Motors introduced their Chevrolet Nova model of automobile into a Spanish-speaking market, then scratched their heads in puzzlement when it sold poorly.
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