Toyota's 2003 Matrix could ride the wave of the popular sci-fi movie of the same name. The Quest for a great car name sounds like a Breeze, but it's full of Mystique and Intrigue, so those who Excel and Aspire to Eclipse the competition are the ones who ultimately Achieva.

Sounds simple.

Yet car companies spend millions of dollars each year dreaming up, testing, marketing, researching and registering new names.

"A good name is everything," says Frank Delano, president of New York's Delano & Young, a leading brand specialist company that has named vehicles such as the Ford Taurus, GMC Yukon and Nissan Pathfinder. "The name is king for any product. It's the most important thing in the marketing picture."

A name says as much about the consumer as it does the car. Are you a Cougar or a Mustang? Do you bask in Neon or Solara? Is your family a Caravan or in search of an Odyssey? And what's your sign - Taurus, Aries or Scorpio?

When Toyota launches the 2003 Matrix next month, the name itself reveals the vehicle's target demographic: young, multitasking professionals who have embraced the future.

"The reason they came up with this name is it captures young people's imagination," explains Sam Butto, a product news specialist with Toyota. "It's a very catchy name."

True. But the semantic appeal of Matrix lies not in four-wheel drive, or a 1.8 litre, 130-horsepower engine, but in the 1999 hit science- fiction movie starring Keanu Reeves.

In this context, Matrix connotes sunglasses, shiny black leather jackets, digitized worlds, good versus evil, and, most important, stylistic cool. Butto says he doubts there was any conscious attempt to copy the movie title.

"That film was very popular with a younger market and this vehicle is aimed toward that same young market. So whether that had any bearing on the choice, I really don't know. I guess you can say we got lucky since the movie was really popular."

Naseem Javed, president of ABC Namebank, a name-consulting firm with offices in Toronto and New York, says there's a danger in linking a product to a cultural property, even if it's unintentional. "The problem is that, years down the road, people will forget why something is called what it is."

Though there is no official tie-in, the film's unofficial influence on the car is apparent in Toyota's on-line marketing: The Matrix is a "cross-over utility vehicle," and "it's way ahead of its time."