The thing with being a car brand from a lesser-known country - where they speak a specific language few people bother to learn - is that everybody else is going to struggle to get the pronunciation right.
Well, actually, that's exactly it: they won't even bother to read it as you would in its mother tongue, but adapt it to their own. It's common nature, probably part of our genetically-inherited tendency of making things easier for us.
Since Dacia stems from Romania, a relatively small Easter European country known mostly for the dictator who ruled it until 1989, its gymnasts, and being the home of everyone's favorite vampire, Count Dracula, nobody really cares how the brand's name would sound coming from the mouths of any of these unofficial ambassadors.
And it's not like the problem is restricted to Romania. You probably aren't reading Skoda, the Czech brand now under VW's umbrella, the right way either, as for the French brands, God have mercy, we're ready to assume it's a phonetic massacre.
Europe's most important market, Germany, isn't spared either. In fact, the Germans got so tired of it they went as far as making a video about it where they would correct the pronunciation of the most important names, with the star of the show being, of course, Porsche.
Dacia may not be at the same level as the Zuffenhausen-based carmaker, but it's still rapidly becoming one of the respected names in the business thanks to its honest cars selling for very reasonable prices. Which is why Dacia UK thought it would be appropriate to release a clip that's kind of telling everyone what the brand's name should sound like.
Using KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)" song, the team turned it into "Dacia Way, I Like It!" and made a commercial around it. Using a very strong '80s vibe, it's mostly people dancing around with big afros, shiny clothes and the like, with the Dacia Duster (the old model) also making an occasional appearance.
Ironically enough, the voiceover (which seems to belong to legendary punk poet John Cooper Clarke) says "worked out how to say our name yet? We've only sung it 400 times," and just as you're expecting to hear it read loud and clear, the commercial ends with you left hanging. And, no, the way they sang it is not exactly what it should sound like.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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