Here are the Top 10 worst sales flops for rebadged cars
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- Опубликовано: 8 мар 2024
- In this episode I provide my picks for the top 10 worst examples of automakers taking a car from a subsidiary or rival-turned-partner, and creating a new car on the cheap with a new brand. n each of these case, most of the buying public saw right though the deception, and poor sales was the ultimate result.
What GM did to Saab is a travesty
Saab did it to themselves, but GM accelerated the process.
While that may be true, wouldn’t you agree that Saab was likely a dead brand rolling - with struggling finances and’a limited, dated lineup of vehicles - long before GM even bought it? Really it was only GM’s vast money and engineering resources that kept Saab going as long as it did! While GM’s rebadge business model was indeed awful, the real “travesty” (IMHO) was Saab continuing on past the 80’s. While it was certainly a beloved brand, it wasn’t one with the breadth and money to continue, and so it likely should’ve just “ended.” GM dicing and diluting Saab was just kicking a dead horse for 20 years. 🙁
Only benefit was the 9-7x aero and all the tech they leeched outta Saab, besides that, they dragged them down with em
AGREED....
Ditto with ford and jaguar
And now i want to see the best selling rebadged cars
Most likely the Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix) and the Mercury Villager (Nissan Quest) is gonna be a couple of them
How well did the Dodge Stealth sell relative to the Mitsubishi 3000GT? Would the Toyota Vista/Lexus ES250 be on either list?
Escalade gotta be on the list
@@SayAhh Lexus GX470 & Toyota land cruiser
Mazda B series and Ford Ranger has to be somewhere on that list
I knew a die hard Honda girl who bought one of those Passports. I told her she had a really nice Isuzu one day. She looked at me like I was nuts because it was a Honda. I told her that Isuzu built them for Honda and she didn't believe it. She didn't have it long afterwards. I heard that she was angry with the Honda dealer for selling her an Isuzu. I shouldn't have told her. I feel bad about it now.
I built both in Lafayette Indiana. I was agast that Honda re used that Passport name..you would think they would be imbarased by it.
What’s even wilder is that it was also built as the Vauxhall Fronteria. The only main difference was the engines, as GM needed diesels in the lineup, and figured they’d just use the standard gas engines Vauxhall already had available as well.
I did the same with a neighbor when she was very proud of her Toyota Yaris iA sedan.
Isuzu made some very interesting cars for a while.
@@kgb4187well, if it makes her feel better, yes it’s actually a Mazda and Car & Driver gave that car a 10/10 rating. These days, it’s arguable that Mazda might actually be more reliable than Toyota.
Have a Pontiac Vibe....which is a rebadged Toyota Matrix.....It's been a GREAT car and a GREAT buy!.... all the reliability & quality of a Toyota for 3/4 the price....just because of the Pontiac badge.
Same for the Geo Prism and mid '80s Chevrolet Nova which were both rebadged Corollas.
@@wirebrushThat was a Carolla with the Nova name drug through the mud.
I have a friend with over 300K on his Vibe
Yeah they're kinda odd in that their digital odometer stops at 299999. There are plenty out there with odometers pegged.
Toyota matrix is also bas it's owned rebaged from Pontiac called the vibe I love those 2 rebaged
Yeah, that VW Routan ad is super cringe.
The G8 and SS both have a huge cult following. I thought they were kinda expensive when they were new, but I wish I'd have bought one now.
The Holden models they were based on have an even bigger following here in Oz.
The SS could have been great if they'd just marketed it better. Or at all. Personally I think they should have used it to resurrect the Chevelle name. I mean, it worked for Dodge with the Charger and Challenger.
@@1337penguinmanit was deliberate, they had to pay tax to get them over there.
I bought one in 2009, it was the best car I've owned.
The ads for the vw vans were so bad... but the vans weren't. After all, they are just caravans/town and countrys
Nissan Frontier also was built as a Suzuki Equator
This is an united states list apparently
The equator was sold in the us.
The Suzuki Equator is a GODAWFUL name
Weird time as the Mitsubishi Raider was a Dodge Dakota. I’ve seen both rarities a few times.
Nissan Frontier - Mercedes X-Class - Renault Alaskan
The 2000s GTO and G8 were great cars, just sucks that they never caught on
Especially the G8
It’s GM’s fault when you compare it to holdens home market sales
I blame the dealerships with the markups.
Same with the Chevy SS. It's a shame they never really advertised it.
@@francissanto12 I believe the main purpose of the SS was a deal between gm and gmh. Holden had to market and sell shitbox American gm cars. Ie the Cruze, craptiva, equinox. And gm had to sell some gmh cars.
21:32 the reason the first-year Subaru Tribeca had an oval vertical center grill reminiscent of very early SAABs was because it was indeed intended to be a SAAB and the front end styling was finalized before the deal fell through.
Yes the 9-6X the reason why it was canceled is because GM sold its 20% stake in Fuji heavy industries
It does look a lot like the Saab 96, which was a great rally car
its a shame the GTO didnt do well, it was a REALLY good car to drive especially with a manual. imo they looked really good.
The 3 most important features of a sports coupe.
Looks, looks and performance.
It was built on the same platform as the fifth generation Camaro.
The only reason the GTO wasn't a hot seller is because it was over $33,000 in 2004, the dealers wouldn't let anyone test drive them, some were being marked up, eventually when nobody bought one, because they could buy a new Mustang GT for $21k('04) to $24k('05) that people considered to be reasonably close in performance, more exciting to look at because it had been in the market so long, people knew what it was and it was more than $10,000 cheaper or someone could buy a 2003-2004 Mustang Cobra with 390 supercharged HP for the same price that was at least 0.5-0.8s quicker from 0-60 and in the 1/4 mile. It wasn't a difficult choice. Once the 2005 GTO came out and the 2004 were still on the lots is when they finally marked them down, if the GTO would have come with the 405hp LS6 in 2004, either the volume was higher or it was produced in a North American plant so the price could have began lower then, things might have been a little different.
I recall an article about the G8 actually pulling in BMW buyers in '05 and '06 because of its performance to price was better than the M3 of the time.
@@culcunedayum 😮
It was deliberate by GM
The GTO was only built for a limited market of mostly collectors and wasn't intended to be a large production car which is why they only made them for a couple years. The last year of production they were all left hand drive for export.
I tried to road test a G8 when they were new. Dealer wouldn't let me even though I rolled up in a Z28. Oh well that dealership is a chicken wing restaurant now 😂
The Chevy SS was a great car. I didn't know it existed until it was out of production for years
I definitely was aware of it from new, then bought the luxury version of it in Australia.
Most people didn't know it existed until it was well out of production.
It looked too much like an Impala.
I was only aware of it because Chevy used it in NASCAR from 2013 to 2017
That’s the common story, which sucks because this could have actually sold decent
Fun fact, the Routan name is an anagram of VW's smaller European MPV called the Touran. Also by the looks of it the front headlights were borrowed from the first generation Tiguan.
I got chance to compare Routan with Touran, both with High Line (SEL Premium) package. I think Touran is much better quality vise. I also seen Lancia Voyager and was much better than Routan.
I never understood why they didnt used the sharan.
Btw ford also rebadged the sharan as galaxy
@@Sadik15B ooohhhh. It was that way round? I always wondered but kept forgetting to look it up.
I always thought the early gens VW Sharan/SEAT Alhambra and Ford Galaxy looked identical and now I know exactly why 😂
Ngl, that GTO is so cool
I have an '06. Great car.
Wish they came to Canada.
I have an '04 6spd, I love Holdens, had a '13 PPV and a '16 SS. Looking to import a 1999-2000 Chevrolet Omega from Brazil that meets the 25yr import regulation. It's a just a LHD Commodore with a 3800 SII and a 4L60E. Be a perfect swap candidate.
Agreed
They were a bit more than a rebadge for America. They had to move the fuel tank, add other things to make them pass American compliance.
Toyota Matrix - Pontiac Vibe
BMW Z4 - Toyota Supra
This is more prevalent today than ever as companies are buying GM's EV platform for their models.
It will serve them right!
I worked for a rental agency during the time most of these badge engineered vehicles were produced. The sad truth is we bought a lot of these cars when they couldn’t be retailed.
I owned a new 2004 Pontiac GTO 6MT. I prefer sleepers, so I didn't mind the bland styling at all. It had a posh interior, with a Blaupunkt soundsystem. Excellent chassis, with progressive rate springs, and a tight turning circle. Had I waited a year, I could have gotten the faster one, but I was happy with the 5.7. I understand why it didn't sell well, though, even though it was a bargain for what you got, at the time.
In the early 90a Mitsubishi had the mirage that was also the Dodge cult also the Eagle summit
The Mitsubishi Precis was a “lazy rebadge” of the Hyundai Excel😂🤣🤣
The Mitsubishi Eclipse also got rebadged as the Eagle Talon and the Plymouth Laser.
@@selanryn5849 Ironic that Dodge didn't have a version at the time, but I guess they had their Daytona.
@@selanryn5849that first gen turbo/awd was smokin!
Along with the Mitsubishi Montero being sold as the Dodge Raider and the Mitsubishi Starion was sold as the Chrysler Conquest.
The isuzu trooper was another that honda borrowed from them. Sold as the acura slx. And it was shared with others across other markets as well.
Same with the suzuki sidekick. It had at least 8 different versions across the world.
The Isuzu Aska is another victim of the partnership, it was just a Honda accord with a different name
And then there is the weird Honda/Acura Legend/Rover 800/Sterling 825
😮
Honda doing its best to destroy its reputation by selling Isuzus. I owned both a Rodeo and a Trooper II. The Trooper biodegraded at the first sight of salt and the Rodeo was ridiculously unreliable. The Suzuki Sidekick was sold under 14 different names at least.
@@Giratina1999 There was also an Isuzu Aska that was a rebadged Subaru Legacy.
I must say, Saab 9-4X is a beautiful car, and I really like it.
Agree - Same for the last generation Saab 9-5 which still looks attractive and fairly modern even today. Shame they came out during the recession which I'm sure is what killed sales.
I literally freak out whenever I see one because they're basically unicorns.
I've gotten to see a few in person and they're beautiful
The Vauxhall/Opel Frontera was also a rebadged Rodeo here in the UK and was even manufactured here.
It was sold as a Holden too.
That's why it seemed so familiar
Built at Ellesmere port along with the Astra and Vauxhall's Engine plant , I've worked the Automotive industry for around 30 years as a metrology technician Foundry tooling Engineer and have been to Ellesmere probably at least 15 to 20 times & Kaiserslautern their sister Opel plant several times.
Does the car, Vauxhall Monterey ring a bell? It’s a rebadged Isuzu.
Yes it does id forgot about the vauxhall Monterey.
There's a guy near me who owns a Chevy SS but with Holden badges
Here in the states? I think it would be sweet just to see Holden in person
This is popular mod, lot of SS get Holden badges
It was a factory options from Chevy dealers
You can still order the badges from the chevrolet dealers, I'm gonna get the conversation done on mine, with air bag as well.
Absolutely cringey. I always say without Chevy nobody would’ve been buying holdens.
Acura Legend and Sterling.
Also the daewoo acadia
The legend was awesome 👍🏼😎
Our neighbour was a tech at a Honda / Sterling dealership. He said the Sterling had endless electrical issues which kept him busy (even though they sold very few Sterlings).
They shared surprisingly few parts.
Sterling 😂
Great name, AWFUL overall
Concerning Honda and Rover; US enthusiasts may be less aware that this partnership was to the UK market something like what the teaming of Mitsubishi and Dodge was to the USA. Several rebadged Hondas were sold as Rovers, and an attempt was even made to sell thise cars in the US market. It was felt at the time that the name wouldn't go over well on other models than Range Rovers, so the vehicles put on sale in the US were given a 'British luxury' marketing focus, under the name Sterling Motorcars. The flagship model was a rebadged Acura Legend.
I love how Isuzu is a common theme in this video. They loved doing rebadges, both receiving and distributing
Joe Isuzu could beat a speeding bullet with the turbocharged 1986 Impulse.
Isuzu I-Mark = Geo Spectrum. Isuzu Impulse = Geo Storm
Pontiac 6000 deserves its own episode. Lots of features over the years including all wheel drive.
I owned two of them over the years and they were great cars.
Great engine
Owned a 1986 Pontiac 6000 STE. It saw me through college and two girlfriends. It rusted out pretty bad but the inside looked like a spaceship. Loved that car.
Did you have the legendary 6000 SUX?
Love seeing Isuzu on the list a few times. I almost think of them as the Japanese Saab.
As long as you avoided the Iron Duke, all the A bodies with sixes were solid cars. I put 300K+ on two Cieras.
9:11 To stiffen the body structure the SAAB 92-X also had two magnesium C-shaped hoops running from the lower body areas all the way up and over the roofline inside the C and D pillars. SAAB engineers in Sweden did have significant input in ways to make the car more like a real SAAB.
It was fortunate that they did. I loved the chassis and motor combo, but all the stampings where the suspension mounting points were, rusted into nothing and it would’ve cost more than the car was worth to replace them.
The Pontiac G8 was a wonderful car. It was the right car at the wrong time for Pontiac as gas prices spiraled out of control at the time.
Couple of additions: Toyota badges were put on 90's Cavilers to be sold in Japan 🤢🤮, Isuzu also traded the Trooper to Honda as a rebadged Acura. Great video!
The Chevy PPV is based on the statesman, which is was a lwb commodore.
Also there were holders all Aussie designed before the VE.
1974 GTO trim package on the Ventura/Nova et al platform
Did you forget about the early 2000's Ford Escape and the Mazda Tribute?
Those sold
I think the new dodge hornet will join this list very soon😂
The Mitsubishi Radier pickup (rebadged Dodge Dakota) and the Suzuki Equator (rebadged Nissan Frontier) were a few other flops, the Isuzu I series pickup was another, it was a rebaged Colorado
Plus the Isuzu Hombre, that was just a rebadged chevy S10.
Fun time for rebadged trucks.
I always loved the GTO return in 2004
I almost bought a 9-4x that was brand new for sale at used car dealer. They said that GM auctioned most of them as dealers couldn't or wouldn't sell them. I think I made the better choice.
I was near buying one, now they go for stupid prices because they are limited more than "boutique" cars
Parts City Auto Wreckers recently got a 2003 Saab from the original that junked it because she put $102,000 of dealer only repairs on the vehicle and refused to put another penny into it.
Australia was perhaps the peak and original source of rebadging due to the small market size to make a variety of cars affordable
From the eighties and nineties we had Toyota Lexan (Holden Commodore), Holden Apollo (Toyota Camry), Holden Nova (the Toyota Corolla based one).
And with new shaped body panels the huge selling Ford Laser (Mazda 323) and Ford Telstar (Mazda 626) from the eighties.
The idea may have originated from the forties, with the Australian full sized Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs being based on a 1941(?) Chevrolet also available, but being the top selling version. These were perhaps the first mass rebadgings in the world..
I was going to mention the lazy rebranding by Ford with the Mazda 323 (Laser\Meteor). One of the worst has to be the Nissan Ute (XF Falcon). What a flop that was, along with the Ford Corsair (Nissan Pintara).
If you want to learn about an interesting vehicle, you could look at the 2003-2008 Infiniti FX45. It was a factory 320hp V8 version of the Infiniti FX35. Unlike most Infiniti models, it didn’t actually have a Nissan counterpart. The closest nissan counter would probably be the Murano, but those were fwd based while the FX was rear wheel drive based off the Nissan FM platform (the 350Z/g35 platform). It’s a pretty wild vehicle and I’m happy I own one because they’re pretty much forgotten about today.
It's a Datsun
GTO was sold until 1974 before the 2004-2006.
Loved the Holden GTO
It was insane how gm forced saab into their brand management scheme. From what I read they were always in trouble because they wouldn't accept vehicles as they were and would allow their engineers to modify what they could to stand out. Like giving the 9/3a modified IRS with passive RWS and a fiber optic network. You couldn't tell the 9-5 was related to other GM product and they actuality made some decent product save for GM core engineering. GM should've allowed them to help with initial engineering.
one of the biggest that should have been on this list was the Opel Omega/Cadillac Catera. Those things were junk. Another flop was the Opel Astra/Saturn Astra. It never had a chance to get off the ground because of Saturns demise.
The Buick Regal/ Opal Insignia will probably go down in history as a flop as well.
The Catera was another failed attempt to create a sporty Cadillac which GM didn't succeed with until the ATS. And before you bark up the tree about the CTS that was simply too big.
@@wirebrushI forgot about that one. I still remember the first time I worked on a Regal and the label on the door said "Manufactured By Adam Opel GMBH, Germany". I always thought it was based on the Cruze but apparantly it wasnt.
@@WitchTrials92The Caddy that zigged was almost as bad as the ill fated Cimarron.
@@jeffrobodine8579 the Cimarron wasn't that bad as people make it out to be by the time the Cimarron went out of production it was actually a decent Cadillac
The 1994 Honda Odyssey was smaller then other minivans. It's like a mini-mini van
To me, it's "just-right"-sized, like the Mazda5 was.
That first generation was essentially an enlarged Honda Accord wagon, even sharing the same engine options of 2.2L 4 cylinder or 3.0L V6.
I notice that minivans ever since the 3rd gen Chryslers have gotten taller
@@OdyTypeR I remember a few years ago a coworker was shopping for a new car and asked me about the Mazda CX7. As I had a Mazdaspeed3 I didn't say the engine was all that great, but gave him better reviews of the Mazda5 and steered him to the 2nd gen one to avoid issues with the (non turbo) 2.3, so he'd had the better 2.5. He bought it and I still see him drive it to this day. I'm kind of jealous tbh. We have a new Odyssey bought last year but while very nicely equipped it's massive and it be great to have smaller version of something with sliding doors. I wish Mazda still sold the 5
I had an Eagle Summit Wagon years ago, which itself was a rebadged Mitsubishi Expo LRV/RVR. THAT was a mini minivan. I used to call it the runt of the minivan litter.
Almost 100k subs! Great work!
I had a 2007 Saab 9-7X 4.2i and I loved the thing. Other than the gas mileage and how slow it was, I would say it was perfect. I then parted it out after deeming it wasn't worth pushing through NYS inspection and then got a 2022 Chevy Blazer. I still miss that thing and the fact that nobody actually knew what it was.
Push button starter on the console?!
@@billyjoejimbob56 ?
In South Africa we had a Mercedes X class pick up which was a rebadged Nissan Navara, it wasan epic failure even in key markets like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand ,in SA it was called a Nissan in a mascara
Everywhere X class was failure because like u said, but forgot to add overpriced Nissan in a mascara
The problem was you could get a top spec Nissan for $30k cheaper. And it was far better, interior, ride. Etc than the mercs.
@@willm687but the people who buy them definitely want the Merc badge.
As someone who bought a new x class in 2018 and also had a 2017 navara I can honestly say the x class was 10x the pickup more comfortable better driving less roll etc but the interior quality wasn't all that I had the element spec (uk) and the tekna navara mercedes looked nicer but navara was more usable felt less like it was going to break but honestly I think the x class was unappreciated especially considering the x350d 3litre v6 that wasn't offered in the navara I had the x250d with the 2.3 from the navara navara but have driven a couple x350s and they were honestly some of the nicest pickups I have ever driven
When i visited Scandinavia in the early '90s, i saw several Toyota pickups badged as Volkswagens.
Yes Vw sold a rebadged version of the Toyota Hilux here in Europe in the 90:s, it was called the Volkswagen Taro
GTO lasted on the Ventura into 1974
The rebadged Mazda 2 as a Yaris in Canada pretty much killed Toyota's compact car. Nobody bought that monstrosity.
Subcompact cars were already doomed before the Mazda 2 derived Scion iA/Yaris iA came to market. Nobody was buying subcompact cars in North America.
In the US, Madza 2 sedan = Scion iA, Toyota Yaris iA, Toyota Yaris Sedan
I would like to challenge you on the SAAB 9-4X, it technically wasn’t a rebadge. It was co-developed alongside the SRX. Even the 2.8 V6 was developed to be a Saab engine. I was an intern at GM when the SRX & 9-4X were in pre-production
I've seen a Saab 9-4x on a few occasions around where I live. The number of them built explains why I haven't seen them a lot. It's oddly, a unicorn.
Id mention the Toyota Cavalier. A J body sold in Japan. Completely failed over there because of the displacement tax making it more expensive and Toyota still marketing it as a compact car.
Globally, the J platform had more than 5 variants. In South America it was the Chevrolet Monza, in Europe it was the Opel Ascona, in the UK it was the Vauxhall Cavalier, in Australia it was the Holden Camira, and in Japan it was the Isuzu Aska. Really the only GM subsidiary that didn't get one was GMC.
Was the GMC Chevette based on J-body?
@@Average_Car_Lover The GMC Chevette was a T-Body, much like the Chevrolet Chevette and the Pontiac 1000 was in the US or the Holden Gemini was in Australia.
The Holden twins were just too good for this world. The G8/SS/Commodore still has a pretty insane following, but I feel people were too harsh on the GTO variant. It genuinely felt like a stop-gap car before they finished up with the Camaro, seeing it was pretty much the same car underneath.
The US got the poverty versions of all of these. Really needed the HSV versions which were much more powerful and better looking.
The GTO was the same platform as the Caddilac catera more or less. The G8 was the same platform as the fifth gen Camaro.
i wouldn’t call a ssv redline poverty spec. In regards to what you got. I mean r8’s in gen f1 were just redlines with more output and better suspensions and breaks. It was only really in GTS and gen f2 2016+ that’s hsv’s really stood out from redlines.
@@Low760 front ends very WH caprice
next you should do a video of the top 10 best rebadged cars
Great video. Thank you. I own two Saab 9-4X and use them as daily drivers. Saab took the SRX and made it better by offering a turbo engine, better sports tuned suspension and a quieter ride. One of them is now at 240,000 miles and going strong.
The Chevy Caprice wasn't a Holden Commodore though, it was the longer brother the Holden Caprice.
It was also known as the Holden Statesman.
Was there a Holden Caulfield?
I think that rebadge engineering is very interesting and there haven't been any good videos on it in a little while so I appreciate this one. The 9-2X is pretty cool honestly!
The Routan was sad because it could have been the European T5.
The Saab 9-7x, Pontiac GTO/G8 and Chevy SS/Caprice ppv are darlings in the Bay area these days so its a shame that they flopped when new
This man's voice is so comforting.
You picked some excellent examples. One angle you might consider exploring further... The decision makers behind some of these unlikely colaborations. For example, the head of product planning when then Daimler-Chrysler developed the early 2000s "300" was Wolfgang Bernhard, a Mercedes executive. He led the decision to build 300s for the European market in Steyr, Austria... making it possible to build Lancia badged 300s IN Europe when Fiat bailed out bankrupt Chrysler after Daimler bailed. That very same executive landed at Volkswagen and brokered the deal for VW to purchase minivans from Fiat-Chrysler. At GM, I think you will discover several of the Holden and Saab badge eng. attempts were led by Bob Lutz.
Mitsubishi 3000GT and Dodge Stealth
The Isuzu Rodeo was also sold in Australia as the Holden Rodeo, and it was sold in SUV and Ute options.
Opel had a version of it too.
in Europe we had the Cadillac BLS, which was a mild reskin of the Saab 9-3. It was on sale for four years and sold in the hundreds.
I remember that car. Here in the states we though the initials stood for Bob Lutz Saab... at least some of us did! It was light years ahead of the Cimeron!!!
I totally loved the Straight Pipes drop on the G8 part...nice!
I always assumed the Holden Pontiac GTO and Impala SS did well. They do still have an enthusiast following. Some even called the Impala SS a reborn E39 M5 (naturally aspirated V8 with a 6 speed).
The SS wasn’t an Impala. It was just badged as a Chevy SS
The Isuzu Rodeo was sold in Europe as the Opel Frontera. They were pretty popular in the '90s. They were also sold in Australia as Holden Frontera, in UK as Vauxhall Frontera and Chevrolet Rodeo in South America.
I would love to see a episode on the Honda CRX. Used to have a 1990 DX and I absolutely loved driving that car.
Yep we see a couple of 9-4x’ here in Billings Montana. Yes, we had a SAAB dealer.
The Ascender wasn't as much of a flop as you might think because at the time Isuzu badly needed a new SUV.
Most people called the Ass-Ender.
This was an amazing episode 😮
I drove a 1993 Mitsubishi Mighty Max 4x4. Great truck and lasted a long time. When the manual transmission went out there was only one available in the US around 2006ish. The 4x4 variant was the rare part.
Great vid! You call Honda and Rover unlikely partners, but they'd been collaborating for decades by that point over on this side of the pond - we'd had a bunch of Rhondas here. Some were even pretty good - the 1989 R8 (aka Rover 200/400) was arguably the highlight of the whole thing. Of course, most of them were unreliable Rover adding what they were good at, a veneer of class, to reliable Hondas, rather than the other, much more cursed way around! If you want an even more insane wrong-way round rebadge, look up the Alfa Romeo Arna - a combination of early 80s Nissan style and Alfa reliability...🤣
Honourable mentions;
Suzuki SX4 as a Fiat
Lancia Delta sold as a Chrysler Delta
Fiat made the wrong decision to relaunch Chrysler by rebadging Lancias in the UK and it didn't help that they scrapped plans to relaunch Lancia there in favour of this.
Some more honorable mentions because I find badge engeneering interesting: The Suzuki Equator was a Nissan Frontier, the Isuzu I-series was a Chevy Colorado, the Acura SLX was an Isuzu Trooper, the Mitsubishi Raider was a Dodge Dakota, and then all the GM siblings like the Pontiac G3/ Chevy Aveo, XLR/ Corvette, and ELR/ Volt (although this one is pretty new).
I've owned a number of cars that are or should be on this list.
* The Pontiac Astre - Canadian rebadging of the Nova II (Wikipedia is wrong on this, they say it was the Vega, but that was later); mine had the famous lumpy V6 that always waited for the missing two cylinders.
* The Isuzu Impulse XS with Lotus suspension (2nd gen) - a marvelous little car with a wonderful twin cam and the best handling for the price I can think of.
* The 2004 version of the GTO - which (despite the narration in this clip) also had a Corvette drivetrain, as in 2004 the LS1 was in the Corvette (strictly speaking, the LT is a subset of the LS1). The engine and transmission for the GTO were built and assembled in North America, put on pallets and shipped to Australia where they where bolted into the Monaro coupes destined to become GTOs.
Perhaps a great follow-on to this would be a look at cars largely created from the parts bin - an example (that I owned) would be the FIAT X1/9, which used an engine, transmission and rear brakes taken from the front of a 128, brakes at the front taken from a 124, and so on.
A buddy of mine had the Saabaru a couple decades ago and it was kind of awesome.
My grandmother had a 2000 Honda Passport, mechanically the car held up, in the 20 years my grandmother owned she only needed her alternator changed once!
This was also the first car I ever realized was rebadged. I remember seen the Isuzu model on the reading thinking it was the Honda only to see a logo I never seen before
I've seen every version of the trailblazer except the Isuzu version. I didn't know there was one.
I also have seen a Saab 9-4X on Facebook marketplace for like three grand and I was very tempted to buy it! You definitely have one of the rarest cars at any cars and coffee if you had it
It seems like almost every brand GM touches eventually just becomes a shell of its former self, rebadged cars, terrible quality, stupid decisions and so much more. If there is one thing you could count on GM to do, it was to destroy a well loved brand
I've had a Trailblazer and an Envoy Denali but really would love to try the Saab version even though its basically the same. Those inline 6s are crazy smooth and reliable
I'm just here to point out you missed the Ford Mondeo and Jaguar X-Type. While the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique did relatively well as rebadges, the Jaguar X-Type was a resounding flop. Though it wasn't a true rebadge. It received unique body panels with only the doors pulled from the parts bin. Even the engine was a Ford engine.
Hey MOC, would be interesting to hear of a top ? On companies that made only one car to their namesake like DMC Delorean, Bricklin SV-1 etc. would be neat to see what companies died after a signal car failure or at least suffered significant losses from their flops.
If the Aston Martin Cygnet had been advertised and sold in yellow with an unpainted carbon fiber hood and they'd hired Rowan Atkinson to star in their ads the car would have done better.
14:32 I love how Honda didn't use a different part for the steering wheel, and they had to fit the Honda logo in the Land Rover logo's oval footprint.
Loved the Doug Demuro cameo!!😂🤣
Another illfated partnership forgotten today was Studebaker and Packard. Packard's last gasp and Studebaker died a few years later. As with AMC, they were excellent cars, very well liked, but these companies made some very poor decisions.
Thema also had improved interior. For a car that sold this badly I see them quite often.
Somewhere in Chicago the rare Saab 94x is in the garage. I remember when i first it in person.
I just wanted to point out that the picture you used for the 1997 Nissan frontier is actually the superior Nissan D21 Hardbody. Great video and I know it was just an error it happens just couldn't help but notice.
Rebadging Holdens into Pontiacs was actually a very cool move.
11:40 - Chrysler 300 is one of the most mongrelized cars in the recent years. Before the unlucky "Lancia Thema rebirth" operation, and when still under the DaimlerChrysler brand, the 300 was sold in Europe with Mercedes diesel engines too.
The three letters "CRD" (Common Rail Diesel) applied to that model also became the motto "Chrysler runs on diesel".
Here in Canada we had a car called the Acura EL. It was a rebadged Civic but was successful.
It was also an Isuzu model named the Gemini
When Pontiac came out with the G8, they also had a G6 (once a Grand Am) and G5 (rebadged Cobalt 2 door). There was also a rebadged Chevy Aveo named the G3. But I think you can see where the G8 name came from.
Holden Monaro was based on european Opel Omega B platform
Very few people will remember this, but the Saaburu came during the GM bankruptcy when they were doing this "employee pricing" thing. So you could get a "WRX," which was in demand at the time, for a hell of a deal.
I am pretty sure I remember 3 Neons:
Dodge badged,
Plymouth badged,
&
Chrysler badged.
Drove me crazy!!! 😂
Never heard of a Chrysler Neon. Just the Dodge and Plymouth.
@@robertheinkel6225It Became the Chrysler Neon when they axed the Plymouth name
@@robertheinkel6225 I’ve literally seen all three in a parking lot of a strip mall. That’s how I knew I wasn’t crazy. All three cars are exactly the same, with different badges. You can still look it up, and find results on the Chrysler Neon. I just wanted to toss that bit of badging knowledge into this comment section.
@@robertheinkel6225 Chrysler badge was used for Europe markets. Saw a 2nd gen Neon as a chrysler a few years ago.
Sneakers is a great movie. Love the reference!
Skipped the 1974 Pontiac Ventura GTO which was itself a rebadged Nova.
The Isuzu Rodeo was also rebadged as an Opel Frontera to be sold in Europe.
There are quite a few of them in Ukraine. Love them.
Same In UK and London
Can you do a video on the Ford Explorer sport?