产品命名很难。我不想谈太多有趣的错误，有很多名字既聪明又符合文化。以马自达汽车公司为例。这个名字的灵感来自阿胡拉马自达，光之神，和谐，智慧和智慧从早期波斯宗教。对任何公司来说都是个好名字，真的。但它也满足了日本人反映公司创始人姓名的要求：他的姓“Matsuda”发音很像“Mazda”。
Other Japanese naming decisions are not quite so clear. Take ‘Valkyrie’. I’m sure that Honda’s naming committee had Odin’s and Freya’s handmaidens in mind, out in their classic brass breastplates riding their chunky wild horses. Good image. But did anyone think beyond Valkyrie tasks like serving up mead, to their main job as harriers of the battlefield and ‘choosers of the slain’?
我怀疑，许多购买Valkyries的人在想到这个名字的时候，脑子里都是那些身材魁梧的骑士，而不是他们可怕的任务。
本田的T1概念车，第一个创造的方式，符文。圆滑，但不令人信服。
In an almost equally serious way, the name of Valkyrie derivative ‘Rune’ means more than just a letter in a runic Norse alphabet. It also means ‘secret’, ‘hidden’. One of the few things that Rune watchers agree on is that Honda did not promote the bike sufficiently. Did they think the outrageous appearance would sell the bike all by itself? Or did someone at Honda get cold feet?
这是一个观点的车棚,一个天文单位stralian bike sales website. “It was one of the most extravagant production decisions in motorcycle history. Build 3,000-odd bikes at a reported manufacturing cost of $US100,000 each, sell them for just $25,000, and put the resultant $225 million loss down to marketing expenses.” But in that case, why not make more promotional use of the bike?
例如，当本田第一次推出ST1100时，我说服澳大利亚管理层给我一辆自行车，然后我就可以让一个“灌木丛中的画工”来画了，他是内陆破山的画家。这些人擅长于唤起人们回忆的风景画和自然画，我认为那会适合圣人。结果，在我看来，是杰出的。它的特色是内陆草和花的微妙编织，几乎像一个进入沙漠场景的ST1100形状的窗口。
T2的另一边，在通往最终设计的路上。
这辆自行车原本打算成为悉尼摩托车展本田展台的核心，但其中一位高管失去了勇气，把它放在了展台的后面。老板叫他把它移到前面和中间。几乎立刻，它就被一位日本商人热情地直接从展台上买下。
Back to the Rune. Its origins go back to 1995 to the Zodia, a concept cruiser. Shown at the Tokyo show, it was a high-tech custom showcasing engineering concepts never seen in production, and “styling that blended elements of classic retro lines with new-age futuristic technology” according to Honda. It received a typical concept bike reception: interesting, but “they’ll never build it”.
三年后，本田又推出了另一款概念车，基于金翼的水平对置六缸发动机。T1，因为它是众所周知的，预示着VTX比符文，但随后将有三个更多的概念自行车在T系列。
它是T2，实际上最能说明符文是什么。“T2融合了一个新/复古的人物形象，”本田当时说，“复古是关于深挡泥板和低悬挂坦克，这是从40年代和50年代降低和切碎跑车的回忆。然而T2是尖端的，它使用了六缸发动机和铝双梁框架加上亲臂后悬架。”
The design T2 design proved to be a truly exceptional accomplishment according to Honda’s boffins. There was a strong positive reaction from within Honda, which was repeated when T2 was shown to the public. “With T2 virtually everyone loved all of the individual components as well as the overall concept itself,” said Honda Senior Designer Tony Schroeder.
T3展示了它的（基本上不相关的）赛车轮胎。
大型项目负责人青木正彦（Masanori Aoki）还记得T2在长滩自行车世界展上的首次出游。他说：“T2的受欢迎程度几乎是其他设计的四倍，远远超过了绝大多数人的最爱。我记得有人甚至说过，‘我会带3万美元现金，所以请马上卖给我。’”
奇怪的是，另外两个概念针对的是完全不同的买家。根据本田的Rune项目时间表，T3的设计灵感来源于拖带，更像是一台性能机器的外观，而T4则正好出现在左侧区域，“其作为技术材料研究的意图是独一无二的，内部展示是建筑技术的滚动练习。”。更奇怪的是，这不是一个内部项目。T4是由制造大师迈克·麦克罗斯基亲手打造的，他通常花时间修复福特眼镜蛇和老式飞机。
从本质上说，正是内在和外在的热情使T2成为了符文的基础。那为什么这辆自行车销售失败呢？取决于你问谁，制造了800到3000辆符文，每辆都亏本出售——一些消息来源说每辆车的售价为75000美元，这就解释了美国本田一旦拥有了他们的自行车就缺乏热情的原因。
Who’s your daddy? The engineering department in this case.
I suspect the problem was at least partly that the bike’s styling didn’t offer any references to past bikes, which might have made it easier to accept. BMW had the same problem with their foray into the cruiser market, the R 1200 C (the less said about the 850 C the better). It may be a cliché today, but do not forget Machiavelli’s comment that “there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.”
摩托车制造商吸取了这一教训。你好，宝马r18。无论是凯旋、川崎、杜卡迪还是本田，许多新车型都参考了该公司的历史。但观众对符文原型的热情接待又如何呢？
The final result. I rode one and enjoyed the power and handling, although I thought it was top heavy.
Let’s go with Machiavelli once more when he says: “the temper of the multitude is fickle, and… while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion.” Or to buy a Rune.
