What's in a car's name? © 2022 J. Dean

Why Name an SUV After a Submarine?

That is the question of the day.

John Dean
2 min readJan 28, 2023

--

In January 1954, Mamie christened the USS Nautilus, the world's first operational nuclear submarine. The ship served proudly until 1980. The sub is now a museum piece, on permanent exhibit in Connecticut at the Submarine Force Library and Museum. That's why I was surprised by what I found in a parking lot at a shopping mall in Florida.

Photo by Victor-ny via Wikipedia

Despite its name, the Nautilus I saw, captured in the photograph at the top of this article, doesn't look like a submarine. It is much, much smaller. It is also shiner than one would expect a sub to be.

Of course, what I saw was not a naval vessel. It was an SUV named after the USS Nautilus or, perhaps, Jules Verne's Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Nautilus at Disney World via Wikimedia

Are you familiar with the SUV Nautilus? Do you know who manufactures it? Perhaps more importantly, what prompted some auto executive to name an SUV after a submarine?

--

--

John Dean

Writing on politics, photography, nature, the environment, dogs, and, occasionally, humor. Editor of Dean’s List.