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Sig P385 rumored to replace the P320 system. Any intel out there?

Models come and go all the time. Why continue to produce a line that doesn’t have market confidence? Imagine Ford kept making the Pinto for 15 years just to show they don’t always kill people.
My P226 X5 STAS w/g10 grips is discontinued. I just got it! Ya, I did have to wait a looong time to get it but dang that seemed quick
 
I am thinking they will not kill the 320 line. That will be admitting something was wrong with it.
I always remember my high school Spanish teacher telling us about how the Chevy Nova was an apparent flop in Central and South America. In spanish "No Va" translates to "it does not go". Who would anyone want a car that doesn't go?! Perception is reality.

Sometimes it is best to acknowledge the uphill battle and cut the losses. Regardless of Sig being truly vindicated with 320 proof or hiring a better/scummier team of lawyers to win, it is likely better to simply move on.
 
I always remember my high school Spanish teacher telling us about how the Chevy Nova was an apparent flop in Central and South America. In spanish "No Va" translates to "it does not go". Who would anyone want a car that doesn't go?! Perception is reality.

Sometimes it is best to acknowledge the uphill battle and cut the losses. Regardless of Sig being truly vindicated with 320 proof or hiring a better/scummier team of lawyers to win, it is likely better to simply move on.
No. The famous story that the Chevrolet Nova was a disastrous flop in Latin America because Spanish speakers read “Nova” as “no va” (“doesn’t go”) is an urban legend.


The real history is more interesting:


  • The car debuted in the U.S. in 1962 as the Chevrolet Chevy II, with “Nova” initially being the upper trim series. Chevrolet gradually elevated the Nova name until the car became simply the Chevrolet Nova for 1969. GM’s own historical archive confirms that progression.
  • Chevrolet did sell the Nova under the Nova name in Spanish-speaking markets, particularly Mexico and Venezuela during the 1970s. Contemporary-history research indicates it sold perfectly respectably, and Venezuelan sales reportedly exceeded GM’s expectations.
  • South America also got substantial locally produced versions of the same car. In Argentina, GM built the first-generation Chevy II design as the Chevrolet 400 beginning in 1962, and then built the third-generation Nova platform as the Chevrolet Chevy from 1969 through 1978. About 65,970 Argentine Chevys were produced, so it certainly wasn’t some rejected Spanish-language product.
  • Brazil largely went its own way with locally tailored GM products such as the Opala rather than simply adopting the American Nova lineup.

The linguistic premise isn’t very convincing either. In Spanish, nova is an actual word referring to the astronomical phenomenon, just as in English. A Spanish speaker sees:


nova = nova, the star phenomenon
no va = it doesn’t go / he/she isn’t going


They’re no more likely to automatically interpret Nova as no va than an English speaker would look at “notable” and think “no table.” MotorTrend specifically notes that distinction when discussing the legend.


There also wasn’t some famous GM crisis where executives discovered the translation problem, renamed the car, and suddenly sales recovered. That part appears to have developed later as a business-school/marketing anecdote.


One qualification: it wasn’t necessarily sold everywhere in Central and South America under the exact Nova badge. Latin American GM operations were much more localized in that era. Some countries received imported Novas, while others received locally assembled derivatives or completely different Chevrolet models. I couldn’t find solid evidence for a uniform Nova rollout across Central America specifically.


So the BLUF is: yes, Novas and Nova-derived cars were sold in Spanish-speaking Latin America; no, they did not flop because “Nova” sounded like “no va.” In at least some of those markets, they did quite well.


And Argentina is particularly funny because the supposed “car Spanish speakers wouldn’t buy” became a locally built, well-remembered Chevrolet muscle-car equivalent called simply the Chevy.
 
Urban legend or not, it came from the beloved Señora and taught students in the California Education Penitentiary system.

Considering most of our school system is built on lies. A small one for good like that is nothing. Not the same misinformation as recommending Cherokee Hair Tampons.
 
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