We over here in Germany never had that Brutal need for Rebadging. We never had some Japanese Cars with German Badges. Long Time we used "identical Parts" for 2 or more Brands under the same Umbrella. VAG (Volkswagen Aktien Gesellschaft - the whole VW Bubble with all of his Daughters) does this till today. It is just a Scale Effect Thing. So a Seat Ibiza was more or less identical to a VW Polo. A Seat "LEON" was more or less a GOLF. Or a Audi A4 was 90% a VW Passat. From The Door Latch to the Wheelhubs, 100 identical Parts. My Passat Front Brakediscs were also sold as Audi A4, Skoda Superb, ..and Lamborghini GALLARDO REAR DISCS. If it stops a Passat Wagon on the Front..it is good enough for a Gallaro Rear. But to sell the SAME CAR just with different names under Different Brands.. Nope.
GM has a problem with killing companies they join with. As far as GEO, the dealers saw it as a acronym for "Gross equals zero". Funny thing is, the Tracker and Metro were amazingly durable, I still see them on the road all these years later, long after the last sighting of a Pontiac or Oldsmobile. Trackers and Suzuki Vitara and Sidekicks still get good money too, they're popular small SUV's and quite capable off roaders.
Believe it or not, I can tell you about two cars in the GEO lineup that gave a new look for the aging chevy cars. The Geo prism look was used to gave the caprice a newr look & the Geo storm look was used to give the camaro a newer look. After that, those two cars were killed by chevy & never got redesign.
Here in Australia we didn't have GEO brand but most of those cars were sold under there parent company n some under GM Holden. Saturn would made more sense as Holden for unknown reasons stop selling European cars n shifted to Deawoo cars rebranned as Holden, well Saturn could keep supplying European cars.
Badge engineering - British Leyland were the undisputed masters of that in the UK, and it was one of the reasons BL went down the toilet. Too many models, competing for the same market share. What you call the J-body was the basis of the Vauxhall Cavalier and Opel Ascona for GM Europe too, and the first time I saw a picture of the Cadillac Cimarron, I knew EXACTLY what I was looking at. As for the Geo Metro, a cousin of mine had a Suzuki Swift for years when I was a kid and the Swift itself soldiered on for years in the Suzuki range.
@@iana6713 I am quite surprised that General Motors has held on as long as it has, but won't be surprised if the US government has to be taking the blame for this. I really wish GM would have not killed off Oldsmobile but instead Buick. I honestly think Pontiac should have stayed too
@@McElroysMotors When GM offloaded its European arm to Stellantis, I was surprised that Vauxhall survived. There have been rumours for years that they haven't been in great shape.
@@McElroysMotors Buick is huge in the Chinese market is why. I understand it goes pre war, buicks were a top of the line car in China, and seen as real luxury and owned by government and wealthy, and for some reason that memory with the name stuck with them. GM wanted to grow in China, and Buick was the key and has done well there. Still a shame about Oldsmobile, but all GM lines were just rebadging of eachother by the 90's so sadly it no longer mattered. But Olds did have a nice V8 based off the Cad northstar that seemed a better engine, but the brand lost so much ground it wasn't getting saved. As for Pontiac, they, styling wise, were an actual standout as they had their own styling, like Cadillac had their own, and you could at least tell one from a chevy, buick or olds.
Geo is not a brand that I am familiar with as I am from the Land Down Under. In Australia , all General Motors cars are marketed as Holden . GM has gone to bed with many car makers . Besides the three you already mention the also gone to bed with Vauxhall in the UK,, Opel in Germany, Daiwoo in South Korea, Auto Vaz in Russia , Shehan Motors in the Middle East and SAIC Motors in China. We used to make Holdens until 2017.
I still see plenty of those Prizms rolling around. Die hard vehicles.
I loved my citation
We over here in Germany never had that Brutal need for Rebadging. We never had some Japanese Cars with German Badges. Long Time we used "identical Parts" for 2 or more Brands under the same Umbrella. VAG (Volkswagen Aktien Gesellschaft - the whole VW Bubble with all of his Daughters) does this till today. It is just a Scale Effect Thing. So a Seat Ibiza was more or less identical to a VW Polo. A Seat "LEON" was more or less a GOLF. Or a Audi A4 was 90% a VW Passat. From The Door Latch to the Wheelhubs, 100 identical Parts. My Passat Front Brakediscs were also sold as Audi A4, Skoda Superb, ..and Lamborghini GALLARDO REAR DISCS. If it stops a Passat Wagon on the Front..it is good enough for a Gallaro Rear. But to sell the SAME CAR just with different names under Different Brands.. Nope.
Yeah, when it comes to cars, Americans could be pretty stupid sometimes lol
Rumohr has it The Toyota Supra is all Toyota bodywork with BMW running gear in it.
GM has a problem with killing companies they join with. As far as GEO, the dealers saw it as a acronym for "Gross equals zero". Funny thing is, the Tracker and Metro were amazingly durable, I still see them on the road all these years later, long after the last sighting of a Pontiac or Oldsmobile. Trackers and Suzuki Vitara and Sidekicks still get good money too, they're popular small SUV's and quite capable off roaders.
I fully agree with you when it comes to this
Believe it or not, I can tell you about two cars in the GEO lineup that gave a new look for the aging chevy cars. The Geo prism look was used to gave the caprice a newr look & the Geo storm look was used to give the camaro a newer look. After that, those two cars were killed by chevy & never got redesign.
Geo is literally the rl version of ibishu
@@UngureanuArthur968 FACTS!
Here in Australia we didn't have GEO brand but most of those cars were sold under there parent company n some under GM Holden. Saturn would made more sense as Holden for unknown reasons stop selling European cars n shifted to Deawoo cars rebranned as Holden, well Saturn could keep supplying European cars.
Badge engineering - British Leyland were the undisputed masters of that in the UK, and it was one of the reasons BL went down the toilet. Too many models, competing for the same market share. What you call the J-body was the basis of the Vauxhall Cavalier and Opel Ascona for GM Europe too, and the first time I saw a picture of the Cadillac Cimarron, I knew EXACTLY what I was looking at. As for the Geo Metro, a cousin of mine had a Suzuki Swift for years when I was a kid and the Swift itself soldiered on for years in the Suzuki range.
@@iana6713 I am quite surprised that General Motors has held on as long as it has, but won't be surprised if the US government has to be taking the blame for this. I really wish GM would have not killed off Oldsmobile but instead Buick. I honestly think Pontiac should have stayed too
@@McElroysMotors When GM offloaded its European arm to Stellantis, I was surprised that Vauxhall survived. There have been rumours for years that they haven't been in great shape.
@@iana6713 I totally agree
@@McElroysMotors Buick is huge in the Chinese market is why. I understand it goes pre war, buicks were a top of the line car in China, and seen as real luxury and owned by government and wealthy, and for some reason that memory with the name stuck with them. GM wanted to grow in China, and Buick was the key and has done well there. Still a shame about Oldsmobile, but all GM lines were just rebadging of eachother by the 90's so sadly it no longer mattered. But Olds did have a nice V8 based off the Cad northstar that seemed a better engine, but the brand lost so much ground it wasn't getting saved. As for Pontiac, they, styling wise, were an actual standout as they had their own styling, like Cadillac had their own, and you could at least tell one from a chevy, buick or olds.
Geo is not a brand that I am familiar with as I am from the Land Down Under. In Australia , all General Motors cars are marketed as Holden .
GM has gone to bed with many car makers . Besides the three you already mention the also gone to bed with Vauxhall in the UK,, Opel in Germany, Daiwoo in South Korea, Auto Vaz in Russia , Shehan Motors in the Middle East and SAIC Motors in China. We used to make Holdens until 2017.
My dad had a geo tracker when i was a kid. It was a good little suv. Drove anywhere. Rust is ehat took them all away here
Sold Japanese “and” Korean cars as Chevy.. and Chevy, still selling Asian cars as Buicks in Asia.
0:00 the fuck?
Someone hasn't watched the full video.