German carmaker Audi is being ridiculed online after revealing its latest electric car model: the Audi e-tron.

As was swiftly discovered by francophones around the globe, 'e-tron' is very similar to the French word 'ètron'.

It is therefore unlikely that Frenchmen will be rushing to their local cardealers to purchase the new Audi, as 'ètron' means 'excrement' or 'turd'.

Lost in translation: The name of Audi's new electric car model, the e-tron, is similar to the word 'ètron', meaning 'turd' or 'excrement' in French

Audi promises that the e-tron will usher in 'a new era of electric'.

It writes on its website that the car is 'the only electric SUV built with Audi DNA,' adding: 'This is electric done the Audi way.'

However, as reported by Inquisitr, social media users were quick to point out the unfortunate meaning of the car's name in French.

'Apparently nobody at Audi speaks French!,' one person tweeted in disbelief.

Another pondered if 'maybe Audi picked the name intentionally after all', while one joked that it was 'the most expensive pile of s*** on wheels'.

Sense of humour: Several people has taken to Twitter to point out the meaning of the name of Audi's new electric car

This is not the first time global car manufacturers have found themselves in similar circumstances.

The Toyota MR2 is called Toyota MR in French-speaking countries, as the name MR2 would be pronounced 'em-er-deux' - a little too close for comfort to the word 'merde', meaning 's***'.

In 2001, Honda lost millions when promotional materials for its new city car had to be scrapped at the last minute.

The Honda Fitta was to be launched in Europe with the strapline: 'smaller on the outside, bigger on the inside'.

However, the model ended up being re-christened Honda Jazz at the last minute, after the Japanese car maker's Scandinavian offices pointed out that 'fitta' means 'c***' in Swedish.