Russia’s Yo-Auto plant, co-owned by billionaire and former presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov, has applied for the registration of 12 trademarks to the national patent service Rospatent, including Yo-Wow, Yo-Phone and Yo-Mobile, Rospatent said on Wednesday.
“Yo-Auto filed 12 applications on April 3, including the registration of ten names beginning with “yo” and two images with the same lettering,” Rospatent’s official said.
Among the brands that Prokhorov’s car maker seeks to register are Yo-uuu! (the Russian equivalent of the exclamation of happinness, yoohoo!), Yo-Wow, Yo-Phone and Yo-Mobile.
The patent authority did not specify which products the brands would be applied to.
Yo-Auto, which promotes its hybrid vehicles as “environmentally friendly, energy-saving city cars for daily use, powered by both gasoline and liquefied gas,” is expected to offer its first Yo-mobile hybrid cars for sale in December 2012.
The annual production capacity of the first Yo-mobile plant near St. Petersburg is estimated at 45,000 cars. Capacity will be doubled after the second stage of the plant is built.
A Yo-mobile features a maximum speed of 75 miles per hour (120 km/h), a cruising range of 249 miles (400 km) and an estimated fuel economy rating of 67 miles per gallon (30 kilometers per liter).