Horse Treats

By, Meredith Rogers

We have all heard of the Ford Mustang, but did you know that there are a lot more cars named after something related to our favorite animal, the equine? Here’s a rundown of some of them.

First, the Ford Mustang, which isn’t directly named after the breed of horse. The car is actually named after the P51 Mustang fighter jet, which was named after the horse by the UK Air Ministry. However, the designers of the car still chose a running horse for its logo.

Ford also has the Bronco, which was introduced in the 1960s. Initially, it was a bare-bones sport utility vehicle designed to compete with the Jeep and possibly Land Rover. It went through many iterations before being retired in 1996 and then resurrected in 2021.

And, Ford had the Pinto, which was a subcompact car sold in North America from 1971 to 1980.

Hyundai had the Equus, which was a full-size, front-engine, rear-drive, four-door, five-passenger luxury sedan from 1999 to 2016.

In the 1980s Mitsubishi named a sporty coupe the Starion. It is rumored that the Japanese engineers originally wanted to name it the Stallion, but something was lost in translation because they had trouble pronouncing L’s.

Both Mitsubishi and Chrysler had the Colt. First introduced by Mitsubishi in the early 1960s, then rebranded by Chrysler in a deal with Mitsubishi in the 1970s. In 2023, Renault is set to revive the Colt nameplate.

In the US, Subaru called its small utility vehicle the BRAT, but in Australia it was called the Brumby, which is their version of an indigenous feral horse. Both the BRAT and the Brumby have been out of production for decades.

The Hyundai Pony was Korea’s first mass-produced car. It is said they were built with pre-rusted steel, so their durability and longevity were questionable.

Volkswagen named the Polo after the sport. The hatchback has been available in Europe since 1975, and is currently sold in a number of countries outside of the US. In 1977, a version called the Derby was sold and differed from the Polo in that it had a large boot (trunk).

Austria named their multi-wheel-drive military vehicle, the Pinzgauer, after a breed of draft horse. It is a bulky thing that doesn’t resemble the majestic horse after which it was named at all.

Pegaso was a Spanish auto company founded in 1946 and named after the mythical winged equine, Pegasus. It went bust in the mid-1990s.