What's In a Name?

Almost without exception, I have found people react with amusement when I tell them my scooter is called a "Beluga." It is an odd name. Naturally curious myself, I tried to obtain information from Yamaha to explain its origin. For that matter I was (and still am) intrigued by its model number, CV80-J. The "80" is easy enough to understand given the scooter's engine size, but why "CV"? (I suspect it derives from the constantly variable transmission type, although it could just as easily denote "city vehicle" or "commuter vehicle." Yamaha grouped its scooters under the latter category in promotional material for the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show.) And why "J"? (An earlier model was designated "E", and subsequent models were designated K, L, N, S, and T, the latter in 1987 when the CV80 was discontinued in favour of a 125cc model. I discovered that Yamaha used letters to designate model years beginning with "A" in 1974. Any letter followed by a "C" denoted a California model. Some letters were skipped. For example, "I" was not used perhaps because it too closely resembles the number "1." Other excluded letters were M, O, P, Q, R, V, X, Y and Z. As expected, the system produces the letter J for the 1982 model year. However, it doesn't correspond with the years in which CV80E models were released. I am still confused.)

My letter to Yamaha went unanswered, and so I turned to the Web for help. It seems that in the United States a model comparable to the Beluga was introduced in 1983 as the "Riva 80" (see Jack's Scooter Shop for some wonderful reproductions of vintage advertisements and brochures). Elsewhere the Beluga retained its original name—although recently I discovered another curious twist: in 1982 Nuremberg-based SACHS distributed CV50s and CV80s (in Germany at least) under the brand name "Hercules." And in Holland, the same models incongruously appended "City" to the SACHS designation. So why the different names?

According to the UK-based site scootered, "Worldwide there is a rather baffling array of names for what are often the same manufacturers and the same models of scooter. Due to historical circumstance, and to suit local markets, companies may perform chameleon-like changes of identity." The anonymous author of the site offers numerous examples of different names given to essentially identical models of Honda scooters, for example. The author adds: "On the level of individual models, names can be changed by the marketing department to tailor the scooter’s image to local cultural and linguistic conditions."

Fine. But still: why "Beluga"? A CV80 owner from Vancouver sent me a note recently and mentioned as an afterthought her recollection of a conversation with a Yamaha mechanic, who told her the nickname was a reference to the "exclusivity and classiness of Beluga caviar," rather than an affectionate nod to the adorable white whale. It sounds plausible, but I have always thought the CV80's front fender was somehow more reminiscent of the mammal than the roe.

I won't get into why the scooter was dubbed a "Riva" for the US market. Perhaps someone thought it sounded Italian (years later of course Yamaha came out with its Vino).

Feel free to contact me if you have different or additional information to offer on this topic.