The car in question was a kei car not sold outside Japan, so "huge and really strange marketing mistake" might be overstating the actual effect a bit. It's not

The car in question was a kei car not sold outside Japan, so "huge and really strange marketing mistake" might be overstating the actual effect a bit. It's not like it would have had Corolla-like sales with a different name. Lots of words mean strange things in other languages, most of the time it's not really an issue. The name of the German lightbulb brand Osram, sold in Poland under the same name, literally means "I will shit on it" in Polish. Doesn't seem to have impacted sales much. Occasionally kids will have a giggle.