Brand Identity Crisis: Revenge of the Rebadge

"AMC/Renauledge" (n2skylark) 09/06/2016 at 22:43 • Filed to: None

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I give you GEO (1989-97). Over 9 model years, GEO padded Chevrolet dealerships with nothing but rebadged cars from 3 different companies: Toyota (Prizm), Isuzu (Spectrum and Storm), and Suzuki (Metro and Tracker).

Then there was Chrysler’s Eagle division (1988-98). In its 11 model years, Eagle sourced its cars from 3 different companies besides its Chrysler parent: AMC (Eagle wagon), Renault (Medallion and Premier), Mitsubishi (Summit/Vista, 2000GTX, and Talon), and only offered one Chrysler-designed model (Vision) in its entire existence.

And then there was Isuzu (1981-09). While the brand was closely tied to GM by the 1970s, giving Chevy the LUV and Buick the Opel-Isuzu, by 1981, the brand ventured out on its own in the US market as GM withdrew their rebadged versions of Isuzu’s cars - temporarily. Isuzu made its name with trucks and SUVs, and gave up on cars entirely in the US market by the mid-90s. Then the economy crashed in Japan and Isuzu started to lose interest.

By 1997, the 4 models they offered in the US were the rebadged Honda Odyssey (Oasis), the rebadged Chevy S-10 (Hombre), and the Rodeo and Trooper, which were themselves rebadged by Honda as the Passport and Acura SLX. Their JDM passenger car models were simply rebadged Civics and Accords.

Isuzu tried to reestablish its identity by 2000-02 with radical-looking (but still Rodeo/Trooper-based) VehiCrosses and Axioms. But they and the later direct-injected V6s failed to move the needle and Isuzu wound up in rebadge oblivion having sold Colorado-based i-Series trucks and Envoy-based Ascenders to almost no one until the end came quietly in 2009.

They all proved that you can’t just cobble together other companies’ wide range of unrelated designs and expect your brand to mean anything to people.

What’s your favorite line of cobbled together outsourced rebadges?

not for canada - australian in disguise > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 22:56

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Obligatory: Asuna, Canada’s most recent exclusive brand

There was the Sunfire, a rebadged Isuzu Impulse

The SE/GT, a rebadged Daewoo LeMans, which in itself was a rebadged Opel/Vauxhall Astra

And their best seller, the Sunrunner, a rebadged Tracker.

Basically it was supposed to be to Pontiac/Buick/GMC dealers what Geo was to Chevy dealers. It flopped, the Sunfire and SE/GT were axed, and the Sunrunner became a Pontiac. The Firefly (another Canadian exclusive) and the Sunfire also picked up the slack for cheap Pontiacs after Asuna was given the boot.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 22:56

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We had Passport here in Canada for a few years in the early ‘90s too! :)

Found this brochure a year or two ago kicking around the house and scanned it for auto posterity! :D
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByOO0…

AMC/Renauledge > not for canada - australian in disguise 09/06/2016 at 23:01

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Yeah Canada seemed to have several special exclusive brands over time, like Frontenac and Meteor.

not for canada - australian in disguise > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 23:03

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And then there’s Envoy, which, similar Asuna, were Vauxhall Victors, Vivas, and also Bedford CAs (which were already sold at Pontiac/Buick/GMC dealers) rebadged for Chevy dealers

carcrasher88 > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 23:04

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Two from Canada: Passport and Asüna

Passport was a single model brand that otherwise sold Isuzus from 1988 to 1991, their sole Passport branded vehicle being the Optima, a rebadged version of the Opel Kadett E that was manufactured in South Korea by Daewoo (essentially the CDN market version of the Pontiac LeMans).

It was succeeded by Asüna a year later, with a (slightly) wider range of Asüna branded models, including the Sunrunner, which was also sold as the Chevrolet and GMC Trackers, and later as the Pontiac Sunrunner, after the discontinuation of the Asüna marque, the SE/GT, which was basically the Optima transferred to the Asüna brand (after spending a short interim period sold as the Pontiac LeMans) with a facelift, and the Sunfire, a rebadged version of the Isuzu Impulse (also rebadged and restyled in the US as the Geo Storm and in Japan as the Gemini Coupe), after the Isuzu version was discontinued after 1991.

Asüna didn’t last as long as Passport, being discontinued the next year, with the Sunrunner becoming a Pontiac, and the SE/GT and Sunfire being dropped completely (in a similar fashion to how all but one Scion model is being turned into a Toyota, with the tC sharing the same fate as the SE/GT and Sunfire), while sibling brand Geo was successful enough to stick around until 1997, just like here in the US.

AMC/Renauledge > not for canada - australian in disguise 09/06/2016 at 23:05

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You Canuckis and your special brands. You’re like an alternate automotive universe of American, UK, Japanese, and French auto industries. It’s fascinating.

Boxer_4 > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 23:05

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In a sense, Scion fits in this description, too (with the exception of the tC, and possibly the 2nd gen xB - I can tell whether it or the Corolla Rumion came first).

Back to the original question: Geo — early Geo, like ‘89-’92 — is definitely my favorite cobbled together rebadged lineup. The whole original lineup was neat, though, I’d have the Prizm GSi (it was the only way to get a 4A-GE in a 4-door or hatchback in the US).

Nauraushaun > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 23:08

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Holden has been around for some 60 years, but you can count the cars that aren’t rebadged on one hand:

Commodore (Regular/Monaro/LWB/Adventra/HSVs)

Torana

Gemini

All the Astras, Rodeos, Apollos, Novas, Vectras, Barinas, Fronteras, Jackaroos, Tigras, Zafiras, etc are rebadges. Even the home-grown cars listed above were closely related to European siblings.

AMC/Renauledge > Boxer_4 09/06/2016 at 23:09

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I dunno... Scion was a brand of Toyota and only used Toyota’s engineering until the iA.

But yeah, early Geos were kinda cool. Though I’d probably pick Eagle’s lineups, from the AMC and French leftovers at first to the sportiest of Mitsubishi’s small cars and the sportiest Chrysler LH in the later years.

AMC/Renauledge > Nauraushaun 09/06/2016 at 23:12

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True, but they were rebadges of vehicles engineered by the parent company. That’s not really the same.

It’s only when you got to the Roadpacer and the Button Rule cars that things got weird.

Nauraushaun > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 23:15

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That’s a good point. Not all of them were though! I sneaked the Nova and Apollo in there, they’re Toyota-based cars ;)

Weird is the word for it, that thing is crazy

Boxer_4 > AMC/Renauledge 09/06/2016 at 23:29

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That is true they were all strictly Toyota products except for the iA (and the FR-S, though Toyota had a bit more involvement in that one); however, you could argue that many of Scion’s products were plucked from Japanese and/or European markets and likely would not have seen the American market if they weren’t rebadged (xA, xD, iQ, original xB, possibly iM).

The early Eagle lineup was quite interesting, too.

MGisalwaystheanswer > Boxer_4 09/07/2016 at 00:14

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I had a storm gsi and loved it. At the time, it was the nicest car I had owned(read as it generally started and didn’t have any major rips, tears, dents etc.)and it felt fast.... Wasn’t really, but man the short sloped hood made it seem like you were screaming down the road.

The Compromiser > AMC/Renauledge 09/07/2016 at 19:06

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You forgot the asuna line. Look it up I will wait.....

AMC/Renauledge > The Compromiser 09/07/2016 at 20:03

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I am well aware of Asuna, however they didn’t exist in my country. And they’re basically Geo, but with a Daewoo product instead of a Toyota.

Also, check the other comments in this space. Both Asuna and Passport have been named.