Kodiak, Alaska Changes Name to Kodiaq in Honor of New Skoda

Skoda likes to name its vehicles after big hairy beasts that live in the cold—see Yeti—and when it came time to name their upcoming 7-seater SUV, they decided to continue the trend by calling it the Kodiaq, after the Alaskan bear.

You may also remember from grade school geography that there is an island in Alaska called Kodiak. Well, the Kodiakers (Kodiakians?) are so impressed with the name that on May 6 they renamed the town Kodiaq.

Kodiak’s mayor, Pat Branson, took to the streets last Friday to hand out Qs to Kodiakites and encourage them to the cover the name’s final K wherever they found it.

Not only were there ersatz Qs all over the island, the local government also printed road signs and added the Q to municipal buildings and emergency vehicles.

The odd spelling, says Skoda, is both to make the name stand out more and to reflect how the Alutiiq people, from whom we get the name, would spell it.

Skoda released this video commemorating the name-changing-day. It follows a number of happy Kodiakans as they come to terms with being asked by their mayor to vandalize their town.

The new 7-seat SUV is set to be revealed at the Paris auto show this fall and will share its DNA with the upcoming 7-seat SUV that VW is planning.

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