Why Burgman
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It comes from Suzuki's Japan marketing.
Knowing what I know about marketing (not much) they probably chose
the name from a list that was passed around the office and/or discussed with
riders.
What we Do know, is that the Skywave name works for Suzuki in Japan
but apparently they felt a different name like Burgman would be
more appropriate for Europe and the US.
This may mean that essentially the name wasn't a big development item
except to match icons, names and shapes to continents.
The name Burgman is so off, it has Japan written all over it. That cancels
out the attempt to appeal to us. We US consumers become
a part of their culture, designs and words.
That's the cool part of the product when we find ourselves riding a
machine that works well anywhere in the
world no matter what a handful of people had once called it.
The process of exporting culture in the form of motorcycles is, I believe
why so many US consumers go for the Japanese product; to escape from
a hopeless form of heavy, gothic looking cheeseburger
bikes that lack diverse styling, ergonomic comfort and technological advancement.
Gothic style tail lights were originally built into early 20th century
automobiles but some manufacturers think that motorcycles look more
American if duck tailed fenders and church window tail lights are built in.
Boy, do we have the upper hand now with our Burgmans.
Knowing what I know about marketing (not much) they probably chose
the name from a list that was passed around the office and/or discussed with
riders.
What we Do know, is that the Skywave name works for Suzuki in Japan
but apparently they felt a different name like Burgman would be
more appropriate for Europe and the US.
This may mean that essentially the name wasn't a big development item
except to match icons, names and shapes to continents.
The name Burgman is so off, it has Japan written all over it. That cancels
out the attempt to appeal to us. We US consumers become
a part of their culture, designs and words.
That's the cool part of the product when we find ourselves riding a
machine that works well anywhere in the
world no matter what a handful of people had once called it.
The process of exporting culture in the form of motorcycles is, I believe
why so many US consumers go for the Japanese product; to escape from
a hopeless form of heavy, gothic looking cheeseburger
bikes that lack diverse styling, ergonomic comfort and technological advancement.
Gothic style tail lights were originally built into early 20th century
automobiles but some manufacturers think that motorcycles look more
American if duck tailed fenders and church window tail lights are built in.
Boy, do we have the upper hand now with our Burgmans.
Joined
·
3,411 Posts
There was a famous aviation writer and TV commentator named Jules Bergman.
Maybe someone in the Skywave marketing team saw the movie Apollo 13 in which they showed a clip of him, and thought the name was cool.
To a Japanese, Bergman would become Burgman ("Ber" would be pronounced like "bear" by Japanese).
Of course, this is all just speculation...fueled by being up too late on a night when I have to be at work in 5 hours but can't sleep because I have a promotion interview tommorrow afternoon.
Excuse my rambling, please.
Maybe someone in the Skywave marketing team saw the movie Apollo 13 in which they showed a clip of him, and thought the name was cool.
To a Japanese, Bergman would become Burgman ("Ber" would be pronounced like "bear" by Japanese).
Of course, this is all just speculation...fueled by being up too late on a night when I have to be at work in 5 hours but can't sleep because I have a promotion interview tommorrow afternoon.
Excuse my rambling, please.
Burgman = A man Little Fortress
Hi:
First guy from Puerto Rico. I've been hitting this site for about a 2 month trying to decide between a 400/650 -Thanks to Ray great advise, even I'm 6'2" , 230 found the 400 suitable for my needs - waiting for a silver 400 next month.
About the Burgman name I found this:
Old English word "burg", meaning a fortified town or little fortress
In German 'burg' meaning 'castle'. (Actually, 'Burg' is usually a fortress rather than a castle, a true castle being a 'Schloss'. Not to be confused with a 'Berg', which is a mountain.)
Hi:
First guy from Puerto Rico. I've been hitting this site for about a 2 month trying to decide between a 400/650 -Thanks to Ray great advise, even I'm 6'2" , 230 found the 400 suitable for my needs - waiting for a silver 400 next month.
About the Burgman name I found this:
Old English word "burg", meaning a fortified town or little fortress
In German 'burg' meaning 'castle'. (Actually, 'Burg' is usually a fortress rather than a castle, a true castle being a 'Schloss'. Not to be confused with a 'Berg', which is a mountain.)
Joined
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3,411 Posts
Re: Burgman = A man Little Fortress
And you can remember the difference between burg and berg by remembering that an iceberg is a mountain of ice.
It still doesn't explain why Suzuki calls our bikes Skywaves at home but Burgmans elsewhere. But then again I never understood why Nissan used to call their cars and trucks Nissans at home and Datsuns elsewhere, either. But after a while Nissan introduced their real name over here by phasing it in with a "Datsun: From Nissan with love" campaign for a couple of years before dropping the Datsun moniker completely.
Frankly, I like alphanumeric designations. If BMW riders can be happy with "RS1100RT"s I think I could live with just an "AN650K." However I'm not even a minority shareholder in Suzuki, so it's not my call.
Whatever it's called, and whyever it's called what it is, I just like riding it. 8)
Yes, but the "burg" comes at the end of the name, like "Hamburg."Jrod said:
And you can remember the difference between burg and berg by remembering that an iceberg is a mountain of ice.
It still doesn't explain why Suzuki calls our bikes Skywaves at home but Burgmans elsewhere. But then again I never understood why Nissan used to call their cars and trucks Nissans at home and Datsuns elsewhere, either. But after a while Nissan introduced their real name over here by phasing it in with a "Datsun: From Nissan with love" campaign for a couple of years before dropping the Datsun moniker completely.
Frankly, I like alphanumeric designations. If BMW riders can be happy with "RS1100RT"s I think I could live with just an "AN650K." However I'm not even a minority shareholder in Suzuki, so it's not my call.
Whatever it's called, and whyever it's called what it is, I just like riding it. 8)
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