F10 vs. F-10

Since the time the car arrived in the U.S., it seems like some people refer to the F10 as the "F-10". How did it get the hyphen when the badges on the car, the owner's manual and the service manual all have the name without a hyphen?

Well, the original sales brochure and print campaign for the car have it with the hyphen. That's undoubtedly the root of the confusion. Check it out:




Was it confusion caused by the brochure and ads being produced in the U.S. and the rest in Japan? Did Nissan change the name at the last minute, after the brochure had been printed and ads already placed in magazines? (Doubtful, given the lead times necessary to design and make trim parts for the cars.) Since this kind of thing is catnip for me, I'm going to keep looking for a definitive answer.

One possible explanation for how F-10 came about: The car the rest of the world got was the related but slightly smaller Cherry 120A F-II and 100A F-II. The F-II meant second generation, as the F10 followed the E10. It's not too big a stretch to imagine someone conflating F-II, F10 and, maybe, fighter plane nomenclature as well to come up with the hyphenated F-10.