Ridiculous Rebadges: An Australian NUMMI

"Amoore100" (amoore100) 10/12/2015 at 22:01 • Filed to: Ridiculous Rebadges, Holden, Toyota, Camry, Commodore, Nova, Lexcen, Corolla, Apollo

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Welcome to Ridiculous Rebadges, a series of articles in which I go through and examine the details and circumstances surrounding some of the more infamous and some of the more esoteric vehicular rebadges throughout automotive history.

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NUMMI is possibly one of the most famous examples of two international automakers coming together in a joint venture. Mostly one sided, with Toyota providing the engineering and design and GM providing the Cavalier to Japan, NUMMI shut down several years ago when executives of both companies realized that the relationship wasn’t working out. Little known to us Americans was that a similar story had panned out halfway across the world in the land Down Under. In an agreement known as UAAI (United Australian Automobile Industries), Toyota and GM came together between 1989 and 1997 to produce the Holden Apollo, the Toyota Lexcen, and the Holden Nova. It just so happens that none of these cars are noteworthy enough for their own article but together they form an interesting article of history. The Apollo was a rebadged Camry, the Lexcen a rebadged Commodore, and the Nova a rebadged Corolla. The venture ended as a result of poor sales and began disbanding on late ‘96. I think that Urban Dictionary’s description of the Lexcen summarizes the UAAI best: “The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Lexcen is a crappy rebadged version of the popular Australian !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! car. Approximately fourteen vehicles were sold. Interviews with buyers of the Toyota Lexcen claimed that nine did so by mistake, four were from non-English speaking backgrounds and one was purchased by cheapskate friends for a blind person who really wanted a Commodore. All Lexcens were retrofitted with Holden hubcaps, steering wheels and badges. One was retrofitted with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! decals and sold for $5,000 above normal used car value.” And that’s all that needs to be said about this forgotten GM Toyota enterprise.

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Toyota Camry V20

First Gen Holden Apollo

Toyota Camry XV10

Second Gen Holden Apollo

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Toyota Corolla E90

First Gen Holden Nova

Toyota Corolla E100

Second Gen Holden Nova

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Holden Commodore VN

Toyota Lexcen T1

Holden Commodore VP

Toyota Lexcen T2

Holden Commodore VR

Toyota Lexcen T3

Holden Commodore VS

Toyota Lexcen T4

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All images courtesy of Wikipedia.

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Source: Wikipedia

davedave1111 > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:08

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So you’re telling me that I thought I was driving a classic Toyota, but it’s actually a Holden?

DrJohannVegas > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:10

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I disagree that NUMMI was one-sided. GM provided some of the best assets they had at the time: the Fremont plant (which was well-positioned, given Toyota’s supply chain at the time) and the political/lobbying capital to make the whole deal work. Rules on content origins, etc. all came into play, and the deal was written at a time of high tensions on industrial imports from Japan.

dogisbadob > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:11

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oooo a 4-door Corolla hatchback!

dogisbadob > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:12

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too bad GM never offered this style Prizm hatchback!

dogisbadob > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:12

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also would’ve made a great Prizm hatchback

dogisbadob > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:13

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best car ever made. GM should’ve rebadged these instead of the silly Corsica

dogisbadob > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:13

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awesome-looking car

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:13

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My mother has a Lexcen! Dark green late model VXi wagon. It’s done something like 450,000kms, still going strong.

Amoore100 > DrJohannVegas 10/12/2015 at 22:15

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Very true. I didn’t realize most of that; it seems then that Toyota provided the brains (in terms of design and engineering) and thus GM provided the brawn (in terms of funding and politics).

Amoore100 > davedave1111 10/12/2015 at 22:16

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If you’re talking about the Camry then you’re still good...have a Lexcen though, then yes, you would have a Holden...

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:16

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At the same time we had the Mazda 626/Ford Telstar, Nissan Bluebird/Pintara/Ford Corsair, Ford Maverick/Nissan Patrol

It truly was the golden years for badge engineering.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 10/12/2015 at 22:18

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Awesome! Despite what others might have said, I love the looks of the huge Lexcen and would totally daily one if the chance came up...

Amoore100 > beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard 10/12/2015 at 22:19

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Thanks for the reminder! I’ll have to keep that one in mind for another Ridiculous Rebadge Monday in the future...

Nauraushaun > beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard 10/12/2015 at 22:25

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There’s a guy around the corner from me who has 4 Telsta TX5s sitting under covers in his driveway. No idea why.

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:27

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Yeah they’re pretty awesome. I think they look a little meaner without the bar in the middle of the grill, compare the red Lexcen to the white Commodore above. They are pretty big, every time I drive it it feels like a bus with the wagon window so far away.

Mum’s has a Holden badged boot lid now since a fuel truck reversed into her old one. Poor thing. She’s had that car for more than a decade.

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:28

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What are you talking about? Cleary these are different vehicles, just look at the grill and wheels! Completely different cars.

Said the Holden salesman in 1989 to the couple cross shopping a Camry with an Apollo.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Nauraushaun 10/12/2015 at 22:41

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I wonder if he knows either.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:41

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I also forget that the Ford Laser was a Mazda 323 underneath, I guess because there’s enough styling to make them look different.

They were popular enough to last 5 generations at least.

facw > dogisbadob 10/12/2015 at 22:55

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Strikes me as very Taurus looking (not a terrible thing)

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 10/12/2015 at 22:56

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I know nothing about NUMMI, but in Australia at least, that wasn’t the case at all. It seems like neither provided any brains or brawn - just models. Toyota needed a large car, Holden needed a small one, so they swapped. It’s not like they traded engines or designs or anything, they were much lazier than that.

But that’s just Australia.

Nauraushaun > dogisbadob 10/12/2015 at 22:59

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In a bizzare twist of irony, that’s actually a Nissan Pulsar rebadged as a Holden Astra. Before Holden were banging Toyota, they were banging Nissan, using some engines as well in the earlier VL Commodore.

The rebadging has truly gotten ridiculous now. I love these articles so much.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 10/12/2015 at 23:02

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That was basically NUMMI except with more politics involved...the basic premise was the same except I believe the idea was that GM was supposed to learn quality manufacturing techniques from Toyota in exchange for getting Toyota a foot into American production on the West Coast.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 10/12/2015 at 23:54

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Got any pics? I’m curious to see what the old beast looks like after all these years...for some reason I have these weird liking of gigantic wagons that aren’t American...it seems like an alternate reality without the chrome adorned land barges of the freedomland...

Amoore100 > facw 10/12/2015 at 23:55

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Gotta remember that the Taurus was revolutionary for its time...

pip bip - choose Corrour > Amoore100 10/13/2015 at 02:51

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JK Apollo

pip bip - choose Corrour > Amoore100 10/13/2015 at 02:51

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JM Apollo

pip bip - choose Corrour > Amoore100 10/13/2015 at 02:52

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LE Nova

pip bip - choose Corrour > Amoore100 10/13/2015 at 02:52

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LG Nova

pip bip - choose Corrour > dogisbadob 10/13/2015 at 02:54

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N13 Nissan Pulsar , built by Nissan Australia with GM 4-cyl 1.6 & 1.8L motors , also sold by Holden as LD Astra.

as an extra bonus Holden got the RB30 turbo motor which Nissan did not use in Australia.

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 10/13/2015 at 03:39

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Nah I never thought to take a picture of it. I’ll get some and slap them here next time I see her, you’ll get a notification :P

It is a bit of an alternate reality. On paper Australians want many of the same things Americans do, more so than Europeans or Japanese. In reality it’s quite different. I’d say we don’t have as much oddball styling - no wood panelling or any of that. But then, people here have called our cars ugly, maybe I’m just so conditioned to them that I don’t notice?

We also don’t have coupes unfortunately - the pony car thing never really made it here. There were a few in the 70s, but mostly it’s all big sedans.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 10/13/2015 at 04:01

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No problem, I probably couldn’t dig up pictures on the moment of my grandma’s old Caprice either...and I may be in the minority, but I do believe that the European and Asian cars are pretty handsome, not over-adorned and garish like the American cars of the Malaise Era as we call it (70’s-80’s)...

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 10/13/2015 at 05:42

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I’m definitely partial to Asian cars, I think they did a good job. I think a combination of lack of funds and poor engineering lead to some awful European cars, I find that many just have strange proportions I don’t understand.

They weren’t overly garish though, so there’s that.

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 11/10/2015 at 18:33

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I drove the Lexcen, made a write-up.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 11/10/2015 at 18:46

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Cool! Can’t wait to read, but I have violin lesson to go to...be back in an hour or so!

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 11/10/2015 at 19:19

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Violin, that’s awesome.