Due to the unfortunate association with the mosquito-born Zika virus, Tata decided to rename its hatchback automobile.
Initially called the Zica – being short for “zippy car” – the moniker presented itself as a homonym to the notorious Zika virus, linked to a rare birth defect.
So, to get rid of the association with the ongoing outbreak, Tata apparently solicited a new name online via an international crowd-sourcing campaign, which invited people to come up with a new calling for the automobile.
According to Mashable, the final moniker was chosen after a social media poll in which participants were asked to choose between Civet, Adore and Tiago, with the latter receiving the highest votes among the entries. Tiago isn’t a witty combination between two random words, however, a Portuguese given name; still, it’s way better than Zica, whichever way you look at it.
Nonetheless, the Zica moniker was chosen by Tata the previous year, well before the unforeseen events regarding the virus even began to unravel. The automobile was arranged for a name fix before its official launch at the end of March.