Volkswagen Forced To Re-Phrase Car Name After It Sparks Race Offense

Volkswagen have caused controversy in the UK with the title of their latest city car. The German car-makers sparked the cause for concern with their latest supermini the Up! which is set to launch in March.

Bosses in the UK had to change the name of the black special edition version of the car after its was original title the 'black Up!' was feared to be offensive to ethnic minorities.

The car, which costs around £11,000, is now referred to as the Up! black seeing the original wording banned in the UK. Similarly the white model is now being called the Up! white as opposed to the white Up!

The original name of the car was branded insensitive by Matthew Collins of the campaign group Hope Not Hate. He said: 'In this country at the moment we seem to be dealing with an explosion in racism and these are not the wisest of words to have been chosen.'

However, there are no plans to change the name of the car in other European countries as the term is said to not have the same meaning as it does in Britain.

The phrase 'blacking up' or 'to black up' refers to white actors who played the part of black people by applying black make-up, often for comedic value.

Other models from the Up! range include the Take Up! Move Up! and High Up! all of which are available in red, blue, black, white and silver.

This is not the first model of car to experience name controversy. In 2001, Honda had to rename the Fitta to the Jazz after it was revealed that Fitta refers to a woman's genitals in Sweden.

Similarly, the 1971 Ford Pinto struggled to sell in Brazil as 'pinto' is a slang word in the country for small male genitals and Rolls-Royce has a lucky escape in the 1960s after originally planning to call a model the Silver Mist until it was brought to their attention that 'mist' means pile of manure in German.