It must have been the Mazda Laputa ("la puta" meaning "the prostitute" in Spanish, it wasn't a commercial success in Spanish speaking countries, even if the aforementioned car did not suck ...).
I did some Googling. I have not independently verified these. I couldn't identify the Fiat that means
dog sh*t.
Toyota MR2 stood for ‘Midship (engined) Runabout 2-seater’, but, sadly, in French ‘MR2’ happens to sound exactly like
merde (sh*t)
Buick La Crosse launched in 2005 in the USA, the name LaCrosse referencing the sport. Across the border in Canada, however, it needed a new name, as ‘LaCrosse’ is slang for masturbation.
Isuzu: a small truck with a tipper rear was introduced with the name ‘Light Dump’. (Needs no clarification!)
Mazda truck called the Titan Dump. (Same idea.)
Audi E-Tron. Étron actually means
turd in French.
Audi TT Coupe allegedly sounds to the French like
tete coupé (head cut off).
Mitsubishi T-Box (a small ban) can be re-spaced as
Mitsubi sh*t box.
Fiat Uno. Uni is Finnish for
fool.
Honda Fit/Honda Jazz. They were going to call it the
Fitta, but that is a rude word for the female genitals in some Scandinavian languages.
Chrysler PT Cruiser - a vehicle that many car enthusiasts think of as a sad parody of a real hot rod. Sometimes referred to as the
Pity Cruiser.
Lamborghini Reventón apparently means
burst tyre in Spanish.
VW Jetta. In Spanish, a
jetta is a losing streak, or a run of bad luck.
Ford Pinto. Pinto =
small penis in Brazil.
Citroen C-Métisse. Métisse was intended to refer to it having the hybrid option to run in 4 wheel drive, front wheel drive, or rear wheel drive. Unfortunately, a common French meaning of Métisse is
bastard.
Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. In German,
mist is
dirt or
crap.
Ford Kuga may sound like
cougar (itself, a slang term for sexually predatory older woman) but in Slovenian and Serbo Croation, it means
pestilence or
black death.
The Mitsubishi i-MiEV (
Mitsubishi
innovative
Electric
Vehicle). In German,
Miev is a smell.
VW Vento. It may go as fast as the wind (probably) but in Italian it is a colloquial term for
fart.
Chevrolet Nova, and Lada Nova.
No va means
doesn't work or
won't go in Spanish.
Daihatsu Scat.
Scat is animal poo.
Mazda Laputa. La Puta = female dog or prostitute. However, Laputa was also a fictional island in Gulliver's Travels.
Mitsubishi Pajero. In some Spanish languages/dialects, Pajero means
w*nker.
Hyundai Kona. In Portugese,
kona =
c*nt.
Also, from my own memory, the motorcycle, Yamaha TDM, not considered a particularly exciting bike, and it is often affectionately referred to as the
tedium.