Volkswagen Philippines has turned a new chapter and has become the first carmaker to benefit from the country’s free trade agreement with China. With that, the Ayala-held company becomes the first export market for the German automaker’s Shanghai-based joint venture.

Naturally, China-made cars also come with, what else, China-market names. Forget about Polo, Jetta, and Passat here; Volkswagen will now be selling the Santana, Lavida, and Lamando. At first glance, these names seem like gibberish with the exception of “Santana” which is, of course, the name of a famed guitarist and musician.

But is it really gibberish? Not quite. It turns out, Volkswagen has an inkling for Spanish-based names for its China models. Putting the names through Google Translate this is what we found out:


Separating “La” which is an article in Spanish, similar to English’s “The”, “A”, or “An”, “La Vida” means “The Life.” It’s actually a pretty awesome name for a car, perhaps connoting that its owner is “living the life.”


“La Mando” is a bit trickier. Entering the text straight in Google Translate and all you get is “I send it.” This name doesn’t make such sense because imagine this conversation:

Car Dude A: “Bro, what car do you drive?”

Car Dude B: “I drive a Volkswagen I Send It.”

Errr…no. That won’t work. Anyway, removing the “La” article and retaining just “Mando” enters a lot more possibilities from “Command” to “Leadership.” Personally, “Leadership” is a great translation given this car is meant to compete in the executive sedan market. Driving Volkswagen “The Leader” or the “The Leadership?” Sounds like something straight from a Star Wars movie; something an Imperial commander would be driving. Awesome.

Finally, we get to Santana. Yes, Santana is still the name of that smooth AF guitarist that’s on every tito’s playlist. However, the name does translate to “Saint-like.” Again, it’s a great car name that connotes good values. We’re pretty sure you’re going to think twice about committing road rage in a car that’s named “Volkswagen Saint-like.”

We’re pretty sure Volkswagen Philippines could have muscled Shanghai Volkswagen to spare a new badge to change the names to something much more familiar with Filipino buyers, but we’re also pretty sure that Spanish pretty boy and Ayala Corporation COO Fernando Zobel also thought highly of the names. We’re pretty sure he found them perfecto.