THE Renault 177 , known to all of us as the Renault 17 (1971-1979) was a coupé derived from the Renault 12. But in Italy, and only in Italy, the 17 had to become 177 after there was a high resistance from Italians to buy the coupe. Why?
Superstition, simple superstition. The numbers can have a high symbolic charge and 17, for Italians, is an unlucky number. The Roman number corresponding to 17 is XVII, an anagram for VIXI in Latin, which means “I have lived”, meaning “I am dead” — not good…
Interestingly, number 13 in Italy means good luck.
It's not the first time that we've seen superstition being the motto to rename a new model. Remember the Alfa Romeo 168? It was no more than a 164, but in China, the number 4 and the phonetic combination 1-6-4 was not good news for the Chinese…
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