Actually they do it again Toyota think bring Pontiac Vibe to Japan with blacked Pontiac logo better then sell directly thier Toyota Matrix İt's bein f--- up to
GM can kill any brand. It's so sad how many classic brands they just let die by not putting any effort whatsoever other than slapping a different badge on.
0:41 Pontiac Vibe should have its own video. Between the partnership with Toyota, through the later acquisition of the factory by Tesla, there’s a pretty interesting story there.
I agree. Also something missing in the video is that from 2002 to 2004, a rebadged right-hand drive variant of the Vibe was exported as the Toyota Voltz
@@chased6222 I just learned today that the Vibe sold more than the Matrix. For the record I was going to buy a 2003 with the 5 spd and my aunt owned a 2004 with the auto.
Styling wise, I prefer the Matrix over the Vibe in the first gen, but once we get to the second gen I prefer the Pontiac, particularly the GT in red as seen in the press photos.
14:06 I feel this in my BONES. No one understands why I get excited to spot an Equator. "It's considerably rarer than a Lamborghini Gallardo" doesn't win anyone over.
One time I pointed out a Buick Terraza (I don’t know if I spelled that right, nor do I care) in traffic and my friend looked at me like I had 7 eyes and said “how the fuck do you know that?”
Fun fact, the S10 in Brazil is the Isuzu Hombre Design, which Consumers thought it was prettier, the second generation of the S10 remained in production until 2011 in Brazil
Don't forget the late 80's Pontiac Le Mans. I had a 2001 KIA Spectra, and I had to replace all 4 struts. Lotus made the suspension for the Spectra. It cost me $2,000. The KIA dealership had to order them from Lotus. It took 3 weeks to get them.
I had a 02 Spectra and had a hard time replacing 2 damaged front lug studs. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were Lotus parts too? No auto parts stores stocked them and the only place I could find them was the Kia dealer!
Th Le Mans as sold by Daewoo as its first car when it launched into the Australian Market in 1994, with the 1.5L F.I GM Family motor. I tnnk it was the cheapest brand new car at the time. It was simply ( uninspiringly) called the 1.5i it was a joke of a car (poor 80’s quality), Being sold in the mid 90’s..
I remember working at a honda dealer when the passport came out… they literally just changed a few (not all) of the emblems from the isuzu rodeo… nothing else.
You should make an episode on the Mazda MX-3! I just got one, and have been really enjoying it. It has a underpowered but crazy sounding 1.8 liter V6, and some interesting styling (Mine is metallic pink). You truly never see these anymore, and it is a very interesting story how they were designed and sold.
Toyota Cavalier? That is ridiculous and I never knew! Hey, a few others spring to mind for another episode, the Nissan Cherry/Alfa Romeo Arna, and the many Rover/Honda/Land Rover re-badges. Thanks for another great upload.
Here's an interesting note. I was an auto technician most of my life. And had continuous education. At a class I attended, I found out that. Say... a Toyota and a Lexus that shared parts. When QC'd at the part manufacturer. There are 2 tolerance ranges for parts. The parts that were in the tighter tolerance range went on to Lexus cars. The parts in the secondary range went on to Toyota cars. Lots of manufacturers do this.
A similar practice with semi-conductor chip manufacturing results in lower quality product going into applications where it still meets minimum specifications.
Interesting one for Europe is the B7 Audi A4 where after production ended, the tooling was shipped to Spain and it was sold as a Seat Exeo with mile styling changes alongside the B8 A4
@@NapoleonDynobyte theres more pontiac vibes on the road in the us than the toyota matrixes.. i still see a ton of the pontiac vibes on the road! and most of them are pre 2010 ones that i saw!
Here in the U.K… The NOVA name he’s best known as Vauxhall’s version of Opel’s Corsa A (exactly the same car but RHD); 20:31 Mitsubishi’s Pajero/Montero (US) was officially called SHOGUN here, although plenty of Pajero’s came in as private JDM imports; Your ‘un-named’ Toyota van was called MODEL-F SPACECRUISER here; Another Vauxhall had been using the CAVALIER name since the mid-‘Seventies, which was our equivalent to the Opel Ascona A in mainland Europe. Lastly, the Toyota Hilux, despite the videos assertions, actually sold very well in Europe, UK included.
I have a fondness for the Chevrolet Cavalier, because it was the car used by my driving instructor, making it the first car I ever drove, parallel parked, etc.
My first job (high school) lead had the last name of Cavalier. She drove a Sunfire (same thing) and her then boyfriend had a red Cav. We always joked he drove two.. 😅
My driving instructor took us out in an '88 Cavalier. My fourth car was a '94 Cavvie 2.2L 5-speed (one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned, aside from my '99 Toyota Camry), and I admit I beat the snot out of that car. Even hacked a cold air intake from a '91 Honda Civic onto it, and embarrassed a few Civic owners with it. Then, I embarrassed them even further when they asked me to pop the hood, and they discovered it was a mostly-stock Cavalier. My mom owned a '97 Cavalier for a time, it was very good to her, until the ignition module failed and it decided it was going to pulse the fuel injectors and fire the spark plugs at the wrong time, destroying the timing chain and filling the engine with shards of metal. The Chevy dealership said they'd never seen a catastrophic failure of a 2.2L like that ever before.
Oh man this brings back memories! In the spring of 1995 my parents bought a blue 4 door 1986 Chevy Nova for $600 for my younger sister and I to drive. It was so cheap as it needed a head gasket, which my dad had done at a local shop, but otherwise the car was in good shape. That car barely lasted 2 years and was a total POS the entire time! Not just the engine, the entire car was trying to fall apart at every turn! I remember in the winter of 95-96 driving over a small rut of snow between 2 major streets and the muffler tore itself right off the car. My sister and I had to stop in the parking lot of a church that was near that intersection, hop out and pick the muffler as it was lying in the road! The head gasket catastrophically failed again while my sister was driving home after dropping a friend off who lived in the country. This was in the summer of 97 and by the time she got home the engine was ruined. So the car was hauled away by a neighbor to a local scrapyard as it was not at all worth fixing. That Nova barely had 100K miles in the end!
As a comparison, my grandparents got fed up with Chrysler and GM reliability in the 1980s, and switched to Toyotas. Having had good luck with their Tercel SR5 4WD wagon (awesome car for the time), they bought an 1986 Corolla hatch. It hit 520,000km on the original engine before rust claimed it. That converted them pretty effectively.
@@engineer_alv In the Philippines, Chevy's past car lineup comprised of the Aveo and Optra, both Daewoo-based cars. The Optra was sold as a sedan and station wagon.
@@engineer_alv The Aveo was sold here as a sedan and a hatchback. Aside from the Optra and Aveo, Chevy in 2005 also sold the Lumina, a Chinese sourced W-body Buick Regal, but was withdrawn in 2006 due to slow sales.
Unless it’s been mentioned in a past video there’s the Hyundai Excel rebadge the Mitsubishi Precis. Looking identical parked next to each other except for the name on the car! South Korea had a lot of rebadged/shared platform cars. The second generation 80’s Mazda 626 was sold there as the Kia Capital. There was a Nissan/Infiniti sold under the Samsung brand(strange). There were various past Daewoo cars which used various GM global platforms. The GM “T” platform(Chevette/Opel/Isuzu)was sold there as the Mapesy. The “Royale” model was based on the RWD Opel/Holden Rekord/Commodore and had different trims Prince/Duke. 4 cylinder engines were the only ones available with a diesel for taxi/fleet use. The later Pontiac/Holden G8/Commodore got a version there as the Daewoo Veritas. The Subaru Forester was sold with a Chevrolet badge in India and other places. Dodge Stratus was badged as a Volga in Russia. Seems like every company has a platform used globally under different names.
Now that you mentioned Samsung I recall seeing rebadged cars with Renault badges. But at the same time it made sense as Renault-Nissan had a non-majority stake in Samsung Motors. One of those Samsung factories produced and exported 2nd generation Nissan Rogues to North America as their factory had an excess of capacity. There was also a Nissan Sentra B15 rebadge produced by Samsung and sold in other countries as Renault Scala well into the 2010s
Kia never owned Lotus; they almost did, but Lotus wasn't really happy working on with Kia (too much interference, e.g. the Clarus was a restyled/elongated Mazda 626 with Lotus-adjusted handling but it never got the "Handling by Lotus" badge) so they eventually declined Kia's offer and went to Proton.
@@Section_8_Supercars And Proton got it's start making CKD Mitsubishis. It's a weird world of connections out there. Lotus' reinvention with the Elise in 1996 was a startling turnaround, but they are one of those companies that seem to survive in spite of themselves. TVR was a similarly chequered company, that saw more management changes than lineup changes, but couldn't stay afloat (it didn't help that their last saviour was a Russian money man with little interest in the cars).
Honda Odyssey - Isuzu Oasis Honda Domani - Isuzu Gemini It was a pretty successful trade, to be honest. There were more, including the Isuzu pickup and Amigo being badged as Hondas. There's quite a lot to the story.
This was a good video. I liked the fact you shared and mentioned the GM rebadges. It was good to see Cadillac BTS and Toyota Cavalier mentioned. There were many that were successful too ( Holden Commodore and Holden Caprice variants). There was the Holden Apollo which was a Toyota Camry. The Toyota Lexcen which was a Holden Commodore. There was the Buick Regal sold as the Chevrolet Lumina in The Philippines. There was the Opel Insignia sold as the Vauxhall insignia, the Holden Commodore and Buick Regal. The Opel Antara sold as Saturn VUE and Chevrolet Captiva and as a Holden also. Chrysler and Ford did it too.
Love your work as always. Would love to see an Aussie focssed release based on our car industry. We made some great cars, and some not so great cars. We had badge reengineering as well between Holden and Toyota not to mention many others.
The "Cavalier" name was first used by Vauxhall in the UK from the 70's to the 90's on their mid sized saloons / hatchbacks, and was itself a rebadge of the Opel Ascona from Germany, both companies being owned by GM.
Everyone I know who owned a Suzuki vehicle really liked them. I personally owned 2 Metro’s. I bought my first one in November of 93 as a 94 year model. In 2 years I put 210K miles on it. It burned a 1/2 a quart of oil between oil changes from the day I bought it until I sold it. Yes I changed the oil every 3K miles and the transmission grease every 30K miles. My 2nd Metro was a 96, and I drove it for 13 years, but it had only 95K miles on it when I sold it.
I have a '92 metro convertible! The poor thing sat for 20 years and with just the bare minimum to get it back up and running its been running fantastic for years. I drive it everyday all over the place and if you could hear the engine over all the rattling then you would know it purrs.
@@skippygirl959 Thank you. My 23 TRD is already on its way to becoming a 1 of a kind. I installed a cold air intake and the OTT. It came with the TRD Performance exhaust, but eventually an AWE dual exhaust system will be installed. It currently has 318 horsepower and 295 lb ft of torque at 2,300 RPM. My wife informed me that she wants me to have it 2 toned in Barcelona Red metallic on the lower body. My Tacoma is White. Next year for my birthday my wife has told me that she’s buying my Tacoma “Lava Red” Leather seat covers with black trim and stitching from Katzkin. They’ll remove the black leather seat covers and install the Lava Red. I’ll then sell the factory black leather seat covers. My Tacoma has running boards but I don’t need them, but my wife is short and needs them to get into my truck. We decided that we’ll purchase power running boards. The drop down and out when the doors are opened and then move up to the bottom of the truck when the doors are closed. I think that Bronze wheels will look great with the White over Red paint. We enjoy taking the Tacoma on Forest and service roads and sections of the WA BDR, so full length skid plates are a must, including the fuel tank. I baby my truck because it has to last for the rest of my life, as well as the rest of my wife’s life as I’m sure she’ll be using it to plow the 5-7 feet of snow off our private road we get every winter until she too passes away. I changed our last pickup into a 1 of a kind, though it was mainly used for work around our property.
I had one friend with a '94 Metro 5-speed coupe with power steering, it wasn't super-fast, but if you shifted at the right times (not when the "Upshift" light came on), it wasn't too bad. 32 mpg easily from a 1.0L 3-cylinder. Another friend had a '92 Metro automatic convertible, without power steering. It was slow, but it really loved curvy back roads (especially with the LSi trim, on the optional 13" wheels, wrapped in Yokohama tires). I considered it a "Poor Man's Miata." I also owned a '94 Geo Tracker 4x4 (Suzuki Sidekick) and it was a surprisingly-capable compact SUV. You'd get tossed around like a rag doll on a windy day, but I could get it down some tight trails that larger SUVs couldn't negotiate (usually ATV trails) so it spent a lot of time off-road. It was a cinch to parallel-park, and I once squeezed it neatly between a Ford Excursion and Chevy Suburban that were both over the lines in a parking lot. (I climbed out through the convertible top. 😆) The friend that had the '92 Metro and I would often trade vehicles for the day, since she loved my Tracker as much as I did, and I loved zipping around in her Metro.
Yea did you mention in your first video about the GEO Tracker? Back in the early years of our 36 year marriage, in 1991, we were just starting out with a new house and relationship. With most of our budget dedicated towards our mortgage, used car headaches were not to be trouble for us, so we bought what I correctly assumed were good cheap vehicles. We both bought ourselves a new car. She got a GEO Tracker 4x4, with only skid plates and alloy wheels with rollup windows and convertible top, brand new for under $9,990! For me I needed a 4 dr, trying a star as a Realestate agent. So I got a new GEO Prizm LSI automatic loaded with power windows and locks, AM/FM Cassette and alloy wheels I added BF Goodrich T/A tires that helped it handle great. Both were fine trouble free cars for a few years, till I gave up real estate and went back to Trailer Driver.
I drove ( borrowed) an " Pup" for a year before I bought a used first generation S10. S10 was more refined but, the Pup in my mind definitely had a better power train. I remember seeing the Suzuki pickup truck at a farm/ fair show at a dealer display. By the time I went looking into it? Suzuki pulled out of the US market. Finally got the information of who actually made it! Thank you for your indepth History
I can think of one American-only rebadge flop, the Dodge Ramcharger / Plymouth Trail Duster. Although mostly forgotten today, the Ramcharger was a successful 2-door SUV for Dodge that competed with the Ford Bronco and Chevy Blazer of the 1970’s and ‘80’s. The model lasted from 1974-1993, before the market changed and Chrysler made their SUV’s more family oriented. But what’s even less known is that from 1974-1981, Chrysler also offered a Plymouth version of that SUV that was called the Trail Duster. Chrysler intended for the Trail Duster to be a more upscale version of the Ramcharger when it came out for the 1974 model year, both models being available for the first time that year. But the Trail Duster was obviously just a re-branded Ramcharger that shared almost all of the same parts as the first generation Ramcharger. And as far as I know, the trim was virtually the same for both models, and the Trail Duster was discontinued in 1981 due to low sales. And it was the Plymouth division’s one and only venture into the SUV market. And things got even worse for Plymouth in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, which brought an end to the brand in 2001. Obviously Chrysler didn’t succeed in re-badging their 2-door SUV model as well as General Motors did when they re-badged the K5 Chevy Blazer and called it the GMC Jimmy.
Chrysler was horrible for rebranding their own cars....The peak of their rebranding craze was the Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler Neon.... The Dodge Shadow was also rebranded as both a Plymouth and Chrysler model....
There was another Mitsubishi with a V8, the Dignity, but only in Japan. That enginge was in fact developed by Mitsubishi. 12:09 the Kia Elan was sold in Europe too, as the Kia Roadster
I have a suggestion for a future video: The Plymouth Arrow. It's the result of a collaborative effort between Chrysler and Mitsubishi, which they made a car *and* a pickup of carrying the *same* marquee. I once owned a 1978 Plymouth Arrow hatchback until an old lady decided to turn in front of me back in 2003.
I've seen 2 Toyota cavaliers on the road here in Miami. They stuck out because they have Amber colored rear turned signals rather than the solid red blinkers on the US first. Did you ever mention the izuzu eyemark/Chevrolet spectrum/GO spectrum? There were a lot of those down here in the late 1980s when I was a kid but by the time I was old enough to get my learners permit in 1995 there were none left on the road.
one of the most elusive rebadges I've seen is the Mitsubishi Precis, a rebadged Hyundai Excel. I saw a handful of them in the 90s but it looks like they all disappeared with the turn of the century
When I lived in Japan 20 years ago, they were giddy for Chevy Astro vans, but when I spotted Toyota Cavaliers, I just shook my head and exclaimed, “Poor bastard!” 🤦🏾♂️
@john_barnett next year will mark 20 years since GM killed the Astro/Safari. I had a 92 Safari AWD, and with a little maintenance, it was a great daily. One of the few GM products I like.
Most Toyota Cavaliers weren't so much sent back, but shipped off to neighbouring Australia and New Zealand. In fact, the first time I became aware of this model was when HubNut toured a scrap yard in New Zealand in which one could be seen.
In about late 2013 my grandfather bought an almost brand new Suzuki Equator and he absolutely loved it. Unfortunately only about two years later he parked it in a low lying area before it rained and the whole thing got flooded and totaled. I’ve always wondered if it was still around today how much it would be worth due to its rarity.
One interesting thing about the Suzuki Equator was that Suzuki offered a 7- year 100k mile powertrain warranty, which was 2 years and 40k miles more than Nissan gave for the identical Frontier. I remember this as I was truck shopping at the time and it got good reviews simply because of that.
Here's a few I thought of, so I don't know if they've been previously mentioned: Isuzu Ascender-Saab 97X/GM Traiblazer-GMC Envoy, Dodge Stealth/Mitsubishi GT3000, Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky.
In the late 90's when I was a poor airman in the AF, I had an 87 5 speed Chevy Nova shitbox. It was a meh-mobile, but holy god that thing was reliable, and when something minor would actually break, it was dead easy to repair/replace. Probably put 50k extra miles on it, and when I sold it, it was because we finally got a new car and didn't need it anymore. that ugly little square shitbox is probably still driving somewhere in this country, it was unstoppable.
I got my licence in a 1991 Nova. Had good power for a small car and I wanted dad to buy one. He refused as they used them at work. Sadly had to put up with our Mitsubishi Sigma for another 6 years. That thing was so gutless it was dangerous.
@@2DogsVlogs The Mitsubishi 6G72 is a weird engine. It's really Jekyll and Hyde. You get the basic overhead cam V6, like the ones supplied to Chrysler for the minivans with 136 wheezy horsepower, and you also could have the 222hp dual overhead cam version made for the Diamante and the 3000GT (GTO to the world outside North America), and you could also add a turbo per bank to get 320hp. From the same basic engine. They're not Mitsubishi's best design, though. I bet the Sigma was weighed down by bad transmission gearing.
I owned a 1988 Chevy Sprint that I bought from new. I think it became the Geo Metro just one year later. Both made, or just powered, by Suzuki. With an anemic 1 liter, 3 cylinder engine and weighing as much as a sack of potatoes. It was always scary to drive it on any highway as it was easily pushed around by crosswinds and other vehicles passing it. Which was pretty much every other car and truck around it. Trying to maintain your speed going up any hill was nearly impossible unless you had a tailwind or a good running start at it.
I proudly own my 2020 Toyota/Mazda Yaris/Mazda2 LE Sedan. After only 4 years, I only have 26,374 miles on it, and average 43-57 mpg on roadtrips. Best "daily driver" ever for my purpose!
I owned the 79 Nova and had it for a couple of years, I then sold it to my brother who kept it for a few years, he then sold it to my other brother's ex-wife, who also kept it for a few years, she then sold it back to me and I gave it to my son who drove it for a few years. It was one of the most reliable cars I’ve ever owned and I had a used Corvette dealership so I’ve owned 100’s of cars of all makes and models.
Loved my 2009 awd Pontiac Vibe .Put 115000 miles on it. Replaced brakes once, repaired exhaust pipe and new headlight bezels. One o2 sensor at 100000. Gave it to my niece. She's still driving it.
Cool video! I had an 87 dodge raider a long time ago. Fun little 4 wheeler. Would love to see a video on the 1st gen Isuzu impulse. Had one in college and loved that car. Engine was garbage but the cockpit was so cool!
Another rebadge flub was in the Daimler-Chrysler days, the Sterling Bullet medium duty cab and chassis that was just a Dodge Ram with a different grille. "Fake" Sterlings existed since they only had the C&C offerings, people would rebadge their Dodge pickups.
If I'm not mistaken, the FWD Elan was based on the same platform as the 2nd generation Isuzu Piazza (in Japan), Isuzu Impulse (in North America), Geo Storm (in North America) and Asuna Sunfire (in Canada).
My first vehicle was a rebadge. 1979 Chevy Luv which was just a rebadged Isuzu Pup (1972-1981), and included the weak 1.8L Izusu engine with the name right on top of the valve cover. GM continued working with Isuzu for years, they continued the Pup as S10, then Colorado. Mazda and Ford shared a few vehicles into the 1990s. Chrysler worked with Mitsubishi on and off through the 80s into the late 2000s including the Stealth, D3000, Dakota, and Durango with Mitsubhsi variants.
I saw a late 90's or 2000 Isuzu Hombre at work today. It was the last S-10 model. It was a nice little pickup. I wonder if it had the 4.3 liter 6 cyl, those things were quick.
Here's a few interesting rebadgings for you... Various years and models of Australian Holdens were made in the 70s. The strangest one was the 1975-7 Mazda Roadpacer, which was a Holden HJ Premier with a Mazda 13B Wankel rotary drivetrain. There was also an Izusu version from 1973 to 1976 of the Holden HQ Statesman Caprice exported to Japan as an Izusu Statesman deVille. And various Holdens were sold in South Africa as Chevrolets including Holden Utes badged as Chevrolet El Caminos amongst others.
The VW Taro is such a strange product. I had never heard of it. Here in Portugal, during the 80s and til' this day, Toyota is the number one pickup truck seller. In my home region of Azores, you still see plenty of 80s Hilux being used as everyday work and personal vehicles, since it's a very agricultural region. Those things are bulletproof
In Australia around late 80s, early 90s, Toyota sold a rebadged Holden Commodore as the Toyota Lexen and as part of the deal Holden got to sell rebadged Toyota Camrys as the Holden Apollo and rebadged Corollas as Holden Novas. Before this Holden had a deal with Nissan to sell Nissan Pulsars (N12 and N13 generation) as Holden Astras and in the N13 generation they actually used the GM engine instead of the Nissan engine. Throughout most of this time they were also selling the Suzuki Swift as the Holden Barina and the Isuzu Trooper as the Holden Jackaroo. Ford Australia was also at it selling various Mazdas as the Ford Laser and Kias as the Ford Festiva, the Nissan Pintara was rebadged as a Ford Corsair and the Nissan Patrol as the Ford Maverick and maybe strangest of all, Nissan got to sell the Ford Falcon Ute rebadged as the Nissan Ute, this must be the rarest as I have never seen one in real life, but all the others used to be relatively common to see on the roads here.
This was the Button plan in action. A horrible failure of an idea which lead to so much automotive inbreeding in Australia that it wasn't funny. Holden of course was an excellent practitioner of the rebadge from a long time back - HB Torana, the Gemini. Even the GTO/Monaro platform was based on the VX Commodore, which in turn is a heavily re-engineered version of an Opel Omega.
My grandpa owns a 1989 Raider V6 5 speed that he bought brand new. 226,000 miles with a lot of those being offroad in the mountains still going strong.
Don't forget the 04-06 Pontiac GTO (the rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia) as well as the 08-09 Pontiac G8 (the rebadged Holden Commodore from Australia) and of course the 2014-2017 Chevy SS (the rebadged Holden Commodore from Australia).
I got a Prizm LSi hatchback the first year it came out. It was cheaper than the Toyota Corolla, had fuel injection (either the Corolla didn’t have it, or only had it in the most expensive trim level), and was a hatchback. Toyota only sold those Corolla hatchbacks in other countries. I loved everything about that Prizm except for two things. The seats got uncomfortable after maybe 20 minutes- I think they were designed for smaller people than me (I?). And, the rear end got squirrelly at higher speeds (I think the curved hatch created lift). But, that car was great, and it saved my life when I got rear-ended by an 18 wheeler. That hatchback added a lot of strength to the frame, and it redirected some of the force of impact up into the roof so that it didn’t all go into me. If I could, I’d still have that car as a daily driver.
Ford Laser outsold donor Mazda 323 in Australia in the 80s and 90s. It was initially assembled in New South Wales while Mazdas were fully imported from Japan and were, hence, pricier. The balance shifted somewhat when the Homebush production line closed and Lasers were imported from Japan. Similar story with Telstar/626.
The Toyota Cavalier wasn't Toyota thinking they could sell the Cavalier in Japan. If you recall there was a lot of noise during that time about "trade deficits". To help calm the waters, Toyota agreed to sell Cavaliers in Japan. GM touted this as "hey look, Toyota thinks we're good!". Shockingly, the Cavalier could not endear itself to the Japanese public.
Ned Flanders yelling ITS A GEO!!!! Will crack me up till the day I die.
That is a Terminator reference
Man, the one rebadge they export to Japan is the Cavalier? I think that just doomed them to never try that again
Actually they do it again Toyota think bring Pontiac Vibe to Japan with blacked Pontiac logo better then sell directly thier Toyota Matrix
İt's bein f--- up to
@@ozgurmehmet4258at least the Vibe had a Toyota engine.
@@ozgurmehmet4258 well the Vibe was basically a Toyota, so not as bad. Cavalier was one of the worst in a time of bad GM products
My 1983 Buick Skyhawk is a daily driver.
@@ozgurmehmet4258Toyota Volts, rather than doing the logical thing which is bringing the Matrix back home
GM can kill any brand. It's so sad how many classic brands they just let die by not putting any effort whatsoever other than slapping a different badge on.
Undoubtedly one of the best things GM ever did was release the Geo Prizm/Chevy Prizm, which were Toyota Corollas.
I agree...I'm still mad that Saab doesn't exist anymore!
@@dashcamandy2242 The Geo brand also sold rebadged Suzuki Vitaras/Sidekicks as the Tracker
0:41 Pontiac Vibe should have its own video. Between the partnership with Toyota, through the later acquisition of the factory by Tesla, there’s a pretty interesting story there.
I agree. Also something missing in the video is that from 2002 to 2004, a rebadged right-hand drive variant of the Vibe was exported as the Toyota Voltz
Third! The Pontiac Vibe has a great story! Also I owned one
@@chased6222 I just learned today that the Vibe sold more than the Matrix.
For the record I was going to buy a 2003 with the 5 spd and my aunt owned a 2004 with the auto.
Styling wise, I prefer the Matrix over the Vibe in the first gen, but once we get to the second gen I prefer the Pontiac, particularly the GT in red as seen in the press photos.
So that mean the Chevy Aveo was a Matrix too?
14:06 I feel this in my BONES. No one understands why I get excited to spot an Equator. "It's considerably rarer than a Lamborghini Gallardo" doesn't win anyone over.
It is?? I see Equators in my town all the time!!
Lmfao
@@caleblastname6969 are you sure that's not the same few units over and over again?
One time I pointed out a Buick Terraza (I don’t know if I spelled that right, nor do I care) in traffic and my friend looked at me like I had 7 eyes and said “how the fuck do you know that?”
Fun fact, the S10 in Brazil is the Isuzu Hombre Design, which Consumers thought it was prettier, the second generation of the S10 remained in production until 2011 in Brazil
This is correct. There are videos of them here on You Tube.
@@OLDS98 They actually offered the Hombre in the U.S. for a short time.
The Hombre was sold in U.S.
I believe they even produced the 2nd gen Blazer in Russia with the front end of the Hombre
@@golfguy25 I think you might be correct sir.
Don't forget the late 80's Pontiac Le Mans. I had a 2001 KIA Spectra, and I had to replace all 4 struts. Lotus made the suspension for the Spectra. It cost me $2,000. The KIA dealership had to order them from Lotus. It took 3 weeks to get them.
The Le Mans was a previous Opel Kadett body style from Germany that was re-used in Korea by Daewoo, and sold in the US as a Pontiac.
Weird. Never heard of the lotus made spectra struts. I have always bought them with no fuzz. Maybe the dealer tried to pull a fast one.
I had a 02 Spectra and had a hard time replacing 2 damaged front lug studs.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they were Lotus parts too?
No auto parts stores stocked them and the only place I could find them was the Kia dealer!
Th Le Mans as sold by Daewoo as its first car when it launched into the Australian Market in 1994, with the 1.5L F.I GM Family motor. I tnnk it was the cheapest brand new car at the time. It was simply ( uninspiringly) called the 1.5i it was a joke of a car (poor 80’s quality), Being sold in the mid 90’s..
was that not more than that kia was worth lol?
I remember working at a honda dealer when the passport came out… they literally just changed a few (not all) of the emblems from the isuzu rodeo… nothing else.
You should make an episode on the Mazda MX-3! I just got one, and have been really enjoying it. It has a underpowered but crazy sounding 1.8 liter V6, and some interesting styling (Mine is metallic pink). You truly never see these anymore, and it is a very interesting story how they were designed and sold.
Toyota Cavalier? That is ridiculous and I never knew!
Hey, a few others spring to mind for another episode, the Nissan Cherry/Alfa Romeo Arna, and the many Rover/Honda/Land Rover re-badges.
Thanks for another great upload.
Your channel never disappoints
I appreciated your mention of the "Toyota" Cavalier.
The mazda 2 was also itself based on the ford fiesta platform so that Scion was a rebadge of a rebadge
Mazda Navajo - soft spot for those as my first car was 92 explorer 2 door
Navajos had far better seats and a battery vent shroud that prevented corrosion, which Ford did not have.
Here's an interesting note. I was an auto technician most of my life. And had continuous education. At a class I attended, I found out that. Say... a Toyota and a Lexus that shared parts. When QC'd at the part manufacturer. There are 2 tolerance ranges for parts. The parts that were in the tighter tolerance range went on to Lexus cars. The parts in the secondary range went on to Toyota cars. Lots of manufacturers do this.
Yet if you take a Lexus Gs400 and a Gs430, their electrical components are completely different.
A similar practice with semi-conductor chip manufacturing results in lower quality product going into applications where it still meets minimum specifications.
Interesting one for Europe is the B7 Audi A4 where after production ended, the tooling was shipped to Spain and it was sold as a Seat Exeo with mile styling changes alongside the B8 A4
Fun Fact: the Pontiac Vibe was also manufactured at NUMMI until the plant closed in 2010.
All it needed was more power. 2.0L turbo from the Solstice would have been a hit
@@NapoleonDynobyte theres more pontiac vibes on the road in the us than the toyota matrixes.. i still see a ton of the pontiac vibes on the road! and most of them are pre 2010 ones that i saw!
One car (or wagon) that I thought was kind of neat was the SAAB 9-2X or SUBARU Impreza Wagon of 2005-2006.
Also known as the Saabaru.. 😅
Here in the U.K…
The NOVA name he’s best known as Vauxhall’s version of Opel’s Corsa A (exactly the same car but RHD); 20:31
Mitsubishi’s Pajero/Montero (US) was officially called SHOGUN here, although plenty of Pajero’s came in as private JDM imports;
Your ‘un-named’ Toyota van was called MODEL-F SPACECRUISER here;
Another Vauxhall had been using the CAVALIER name since the mid-‘Seventies, which was our equivalent to the Opel Ascona A in mainland Europe.
Lastly, the Toyota Hilux, despite the videos assertions, actually sold very well in Europe, UK included.
just isnt the same without the old familiar music, its like losing your favorite pair of old shoes
I agree
There is so much history with the Big Three and Mazda/Isuzu/Mitsubishi selling each other's pickup trucks, it makes my head spin.
Here in Australia, the current Mazda BT-50 "pickup" truck is a rebadged Isuzu with a different body kit.
Just wait until you see how Isuzu's choice to stop making cars played out in Japan. There's so much cross-badging over there.
The Buick Rendezvous sold better than the Aztek
I have a fondness for the Chevrolet Cavalier, because it was the car used by my driving instructor, making it the first car I ever drove, parallel parked, etc.
My first job (high school) lead had the last name of Cavalier. She drove a Sunfire (same thing) and her then boyfriend had a red Cav. We always joked he drove two.. 😅
My driving instructor took us out in an '88 Cavalier.
My fourth car was a '94 Cavvie 2.2L 5-speed (one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned, aside from my '99 Toyota Camry), and I admit I beat the snot out of that car. Even hacked a cold air intake from a '91 Honda Civic onto it, and embarrassed a few Civic owners with it. Then, I embarrassed them even further when they asked me to pop the hood, and they discovered it was a mostly-stock Cavalier.
My mom owned a '97 Cavalier for a time, it was very good to her, until the ignition module failed and it decided it was going to pulse the fuel injectors and fire the spark plugs at the wrong time, destroying the timing chain and filling the engine with shards of metal. The Chevy dealership said they'd never seen a catastrophic failure of a 2.2L like that ever before.
Oh man this brings back memories! In the spring of 1995 my parents bought a blue 4 door 1986 Chevy Nova for $600 for my younger sister and I to drive. It was so cheap as it needed a head gasket, which my dad had done at a local shop, but otherwise the car was in good shape. That car barely lasted 2 years and was a total POS the entire time!
Not just the engine, the entire car was trying to fall apart at every turn! I remember in the winter of 95-96 driving over a small rut of snow between 2 major streets and the muffler tore itself right off the car. My sister and I had to stop in the parking lot of a church that was near that intersection, hop out and pick the muffler as it was lying in the road!
The head gasket catastrophically failed again while my sister was driving home after dropping a friend off who lived in the country. This was in the summer of 97 and by the time she got home the engine was ruined. So the car was hauled away by a neighbor to a local scrapyard as it was not at all worth fixing. That Nova barely had 100K miles in the end!
😂 I feel like you're talking about me just 2 years later same car
Yea but I bet those were the best memories u can laugh about with family knowing u loved through it knowing that car was a pos
As a comparison, my grandparents got fed up with Chrysler and GM reliability in the 1980s, and switched to Toyotas. Having had good luck with their Tercel SR5 4WD wagon (awesome car for the time), they bought an 1986 Corolla hatch. It hit 520,000km on the original engine before rust claimed it. That converted them pretty effectively.
Suzuki Reno which was a Gm/Daewoo built vehicle sold world wide as a Daewoo, Chevrolet, Holden, and a Suzuki in the USA
Don't forget the Suzuki Forenza.
It was just the sedan version of the Reno which itself was a Daewoo Lacetti.
@@Father_of_Death the Lacetti was also sold as Chevrolet Optra in Latin America for a number of years.
@@engineer_alv In the Philippines, Chevy's past car lineup comprised of the Aveo and Optra, both Daewoo-based cars. The Optra was sold as a sedan and station wagon.
@@92LennyGodspeed16 yes the Aveo too
@@engineer_alv The Aveo was sold here as a sedan and a hatchback. Aside from the Optra and Aveo, Chevy in 2005 also sold the Lumina, a Chinese sourced W-body Buick Regal, but was withdrawn in 2006 due to slow sales.
Sir, I really enjoy your commentary. You do a fantastic job 100%. Thank you so much for sharing.💕☺️
Unless it’s been mentioned in a past video there’s the Hyundai Excel rebadge the Mitsubishi Precis.
Looking identical parked next to each other except for the name on the car!
South Korea had a lot of rebadged/shared platform cars.
The second generation 80’s Mazda 626 was sold there as the Kia Capital.
There was a Nissan/Infiniti sold under the Samsung brand(strange).
There were various past Daewoo cars which used various GM global platforms.
The GM “T” platform(Chevette/Opel/Isuzu)was sold there as the Mapesy.
The “Royale” model was based on the RWD Opel/Holden Rekord/Commodore and had different trims Prince/Duke.
4 cylinder engines were the only ones available with a diesel for taxi/fleet use.
The later Pontiac/Holden G8/Commodore got a version there as the Daewoo Veritas.
The Subaru Forester was sold with a Chevrolet badge in India and other places.
Dodge Stratus was badged as a Volga in Russia.
Seems like every company has a platform used globally under different names.
Now that you mentioned Samsung I recall seeing rebadged cars with Renault badges. But at the same time it made sense as Renault-Nissan had a non-majority stake in Samsung Motors. One of those Samsung factories produced and exported 2nd generation Nissan Rogues to North America as their factory had an excess of capacity. There was also a Nissan Sentra B15 rebadge produced by Samsung and sold in other countries as Renault Scala well into the 2010s
The Kia Elan isn't just rebadging. Kia owned Lotus by that time, so that's why they put their own name on it.
Kia never owned Lotus; they almost did, but Lotus wasn't really happy working on with Kia (too much interference, e.g. the Clarus was a restyled/elongated Mazda 626 with Lotus-adjusted handling but it never got the "Handling by Lotus" badge) so they eventually declined Kia's offer and went to Proton.
Proton owned lotus back in the 90s
@@Section_8_Supercars And Proton got it's start making CKD Mitsubishis. It's a weird world of connections out there. Lotus' reinvention with the Elise in 1996 was a startling turnaround, but they are one of those companies that seem to survive in spite of themselves. TVR was a similarly chequered company, that saw more management changes than lineup changes, but couldn't stay afloat (it didn't help that their last saviour was a Russian money man with little interest in the cars).
Dude this was mind blowing! Again! I always hated the Cavalier of that style but a right hand drive is just nuts!
Three notable omissions for me:
Isuzu Trooper - Acura SLX
Isuzu Rodeo - Honda Passport
Scion iQ- Aston Martin Cygnet
Honda Odyssey - Isuzu Oasis
Honda Domani - Isuzu Gemini
It was a pretty successful trade, to be honest. There were more, including the Isuzu pickup and Amigo being badged as Hondas. There's quite a lot to the story.
Those were mentioned in the first video....
I worked at a VW workshop back in the late 80's (YTS for the UK guys), it was around this time they launched the Taro in the UK.
You make some of the most honest car reviews
This is a great guide to obscure versions of mainstream cars. Thank you.
This was a good video. I liked the fact you shared and mentioned the GM rebadges. It was good to see Cadillac BTS and Toyota Cavalier mentioned. There were many that were successful too ( Holden Commodore and Holden Caprice variants). There was the Holden Apollo which was a Toyota Camry. The Toyota Lexcen which was a Holden Commodore. There was the Buick Regal sold as the Chevrolet Lumina in The Philippines. There was the Opel Insignia sold as the Vauxhall insignia, the Holden Commodore and Buick Regal. The Opel Antara sold as Saturn VUE and Chevrolet Captiva and as a Holden also. Chrysler and Ford did it too.
I had an 85 Nova CL! Loved that car.
Also had a 96 Prizm LSi... Loved that one, too!
Great video! I love the new music! It is a great choice!
Love your work as always. Would love to see an Aussie focssed release based on our car industry. We made some great cars, and some not so great cars. We had badge reengineering as well between Holden and Toyota not to mention many others.
The "Cavalier" name was first used by Vauxhall in the UK from the 70's to the 90's on their mid sized saloons / hatchbacks, and was itself a rebadge of the Opel Ascona from Germany, both companies being owned by GM.
Everyone I know who owned a Suzuki vehicle really liked them.
I personally owned 2 Metro’s.
I bought my first one in November of 93 as a 94 year model.
In 2 years I put 210K miles on it.
It burned a 1/2 a quart of oil between oil changes from the day I bought it until I sold it. Yes I changed the oil every 3K miles and the transmission grease every 30K miles.
My 2nd Metro was a 96, and I drove it for 13 years, but it had only 95K miles on it when I sold it.
I have a '92 metro convertible! The poor thing sat for 20 years and with just the bare minimum to get it back up and running its been running fantastic for years. I drive it everyday all over the place and if you could hear the engine over all the rattling then you would know it purrs.
@@skippygirl959 If I didn’t just buy a new 23 Tacoma TRD, I’d like to buy your Metro Convertible.
@@Doc1855
Congrats on the taco! Beautiful trucks.
@@skippygirl959 Thank you.
My 23 TRD is already on its way to becoming a 1 of a kind.
I installed a cold air intake and the OTT. It came with the TRD Performance exhaust, but eventually an AWE dual exhaust system will be installed.
It currently has 318 horsepower and 295 lb ft of torque at 2,300 RPM.
My wife informed me that she wants me to have it 2 toned in Barcelona Red metallic on the lower body. My Tacoma is White.
Next year for my birthday my wife has told me that she’s buying my Tacoma “Lava Red” Leather seat covers with black trim and stitching from Katzkin. They’ll remove the black leather seat covers and install the Lava Red. I’ll then sell the factory black leather seat covers.
My Tacoma has running boards but I don’t need them, but my wife is short and needs them to get into my truck. We decided that we’ll purchase power running boards. The drop down and out when the doors are opened and then move up to the bottom of the truck when the doors are closed.
I think that Bronze wheels will look great with the White over Red paint.
We enjoy taking the Tacoma on Forest and service roads and sections of the WA BDR, so full length skid plates are a must, including the fuel tank.
I baby my truck because it has to last for the rest of my life, as well as the rest of my wife’s life as I’m sure she’ll be using it to plow the 5-7 feet of snow off our private road we get every winter until she too passes away.
I changed our last pickup into a 1 of a kind, though it was mainly used for work around our property.
I had one friend with a '94 Metro 5-speed coupe with power steering, it wasn't super-fast, but if you shifted at the right times (not when the "Upshift" light came on), it wasn't too bad. 32 mpg easily from a 1.0L 3-cylinder.
Another friend had a '92 Metro automatic convertible, without power steering. It was slow, but it really loved curvy back roads (especially with the LSi trim, on the optional 13" wheels, wrapped in Yokohama tires). I considered it a "Poor Man's Miata."
I also owned a '94 Geo Tracker 4x4 (Suzuki Sidekick) and it was a surprisingly-capable compact SUV. You'd get tossed around like a rag doll on a windy day, but I could get it down some tight trails that larger SUVs couldn't negotiate (usually ATV trails) so it spent a lot of time off-road. It was a cinch to parallel-park, and I once squeezed it neatly between a Ford Excursion and Chevy Suburban that were both over the lines in a parking lot. (I climbed out through the convertible top. 😆)
The friend that had the '92 Metro and I would often trade vehicles for the day, since she loved my Tracker as much as I did, and I loved zipping around in her Metro.
The Isuzu Oasis: A rebadged 1st gen Honda Odyssey. I have _never_ seen one. Not since I was born.
I don’t believe that anybody
Feels the way I do
About it now
In return, Honda sold the Isuzu Rodeo as the Passport. And the Trooper as the Acura SRX(I think that's what it was called)
@@user-pgchargerse71Close! Acura MDX/SLX. The SRX was a Cadillac (always imagined the ladies driving them were lovers of pool boys 😂).
11:12 - Kia also bought the Mazda 929 from Mazda around this time and began selling it as a Kia.
Not in the US
@@Jack_Stafford Neither was the Kia Elan. 🙄
I have a 09 Vibe GT! Good to see my car being mentioned positively lol.
Yea did you mention in your first video about the GEO Tracker? Back in the early years of our 36 year marriage, in 1991, we were just starting out with a new house and relationship. With most of our budget dedicated towards our mortgage, used car headaches were not to be trouble for us, so we bought what I correctly assumed were good cheap vehicles. We both bought ourselves a new car. She got a GEO Tracker 4x4, with only skid plates and alloy wheels with rollup windows and convertible top, brand new for under $9,990! For me I needed a 4 dr, trying a star as a Realestate agent. So I got a new GEO Prizm LSI automatic loaded with power windows and locks, AM/FM Cassette and alloy wheels I added BF Goodrich T/A tires that helped it handle great. Both were fine trouble free cars for a few years, till I gave up real estate and went back to Trailer Driver.
I drove ( borrowed) an " Pup" for a year before I bought a used first generation S10. S10 was more refined but, the Pup in my mind definitely had a better power train. I remember seeing the Suzuki pickup truck at a farm/ fair show at a dealer display. By the time I went looking into it? Suzuki pulled out of the US market. Finally got the information of who actually made it! Thank you for your indepth History
Funny that Mazda are selling a Toyota Yaris as a Mazda 2 hybrid in Europe to meet emissions averages.
Ahhh turn tables and all that jazz
I can think of one American-only rebadge flop, the Dodge Ramcharger / Plymouth Trail Duster. Although mostly forgotten today, the Ramcharger was a successful 2-door SUV for Dodge that competed with the Ford Bronco and Chevy Blazer of the 1970’s and ‘80’s. The model lasted from 1974-1993, before the market changed and Chrysler made their SUV’s more family oriented. But what’s even less known is that from 1974-1981, Chrysler also offered a Plymouth version of that SUV that was called the Trail Duster. Chrysler intended for the Trail Duster to be a more upscale version of the Ramcharger when it came out for the 1974 model year, both models being available for the first time that year. But the Trail Duster was obviously just a re-branded Ramcharger that shared almost all of the same parts as the first generation Ramcharger. And as far as I know, the trim was virtually the same for both models, and the Trail Duster was discontinued in 1981 due to low sales. And it was the Plymouth division’s one and only venture into the SUV market. And things got even worse for Plymouth in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, which brought an end to the brand in 2001.
Obviously Chrysler didn’t succeed in re-badging their 2-door SUV model as well as General Motors did when they re-badged the K5 Chevy Blazer and called it the GMC Jimmy.
Chrysler was horrible for rebranding their own cars....The peak of their rebranding craze was the Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler Neon.... The Dodge Shadow was also rebranded as both a Plymouth and Chrysler model....
There was another Mitsubishi with a V8, the Dignity, but only in Japan. That enginge was in fact developed by Mitsubishi.
12:09 the Kia Elan was sold in Europe too, as the Kia Roadster
I have a suggestion for a future video: The Plymouth Arrow. It's the result of a collaborative effort between Chrysler and Mitsubishi, which they made a car *and* a pickup of carrying the *same* marquee. I once owned a 1978 Plymouth Arrow hatchback until an old lady decided to turn in front of me back in 2003.
This is another awesome video. Love this channel.
Rebadge/ badge engineering are some of my favorite aspects of vehicle hyperfocusing
I've seen 2 Toyota cavaliers on the road here in Miami. They stuck out because they have Amber colored rear turned signals rather than the solid red blinkers on the US first. Did you ever mention the izuzu eyemark/Chevrolet spectrum/GO spectrum? There were a lot of those down here in the late 1980s when I was a kid but by the time I was old enough to get my learners permit in 1995 there were none left on the road.
one of the most elusive rebadges I've seen is the Mitsubishi Precis, a rebadged Hyundai Excel.
I saw a handful of them in the 90s but it looks like they all disappeared with the turn of the century
When I lived in Japan 20 years ago, they were giddy for Chevy Astro vans, but when I spotted Toyota Cavaliers, I just shook my head and exclaimed, “Poor bastard!” 🤦🏾♂️
are you sure it was only 20 years ago?
@john_barnett next year will mark 20 years since GM killed the Astro/Safari. I had a 92 Safari AWD, and with a little maintenance, it was a great daily. One of the few GM products I like.
So sad that even the return of "Joe Isuzu" couldn't save the automaker's US retail sales.
The editing on this vid is amazing
That exact Nova is what my high school janitor with the bad limp and anger problem drove nice
Most Toyota Cavaliers weren't so much sent back, but shipped off to neighbouring Australia and New Zealand. In fact, the first time I became aware of this model was when HubNut toured a scrap yard in New Zealand in which one could be seen.
In about late 2013 my grandfather bought an almost brand new Suzuki Equator and he absolutely loved it. Unfortunately only about two years later he parked it in a low lying area before it rained and the whole thing got flooded and totaled. I’ve always wondered if it was still around today how much it would be worth due to its rarity.
One interesting thing about the Suzuki Equator was that Suzuki offered a 7- year 100k mile powertrain warranty, which was 2 years and 40k miles more than Nissan gave for the identical Frontier. I remember this as I was truck shopping at the time and it got good reviews simply because of that.
Here's a few I thought of, so I don't know if they've been previously mentioned: Isuzu Ascender-Saab 97X/GM Traiblazer-GMC Envoy, Dodge Stealth/Mitsubishi GT3000, Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky.
Last time I was this early I had to be put in a Neonatal ICU
This is an absolutely wild comment 🤣🤣🤣🤣
In the late 90's when I was a poor airman in the AF, I had an 87 5 speed Chevy Nova shitbox. It was a meh-mobile, but holy god that thing was reliable, and when something minor would actually break, it was dead easy to repair/replace. Probably put 50k extra miles on it, and when I sold it, it was because we finally got a new car and didn't need it anymore. that ugly little square shitbox is probably still driving somewhere in this country, it was unstoppable.
I got my licence in a 1991 Nova. Had good power for a small car and I wanted dad to buy one. He refused as they used them at work. Sadly had to put up with our Mitsubishi Sigma for another 6 years. That thing was so gutless it was dangerous.
@@2DogsVlogs The Mitsubishi 6G72 is a weird engine. It's really Jekyll and Hyde. You get the basic overhead cam V6, like the ones supplied to Chrysler for the minivans with 136 wheezy horsepower, and you also could have the 222hp dual overhead cam version made for the Diamante and the 3000GT (GTO to the world outside North America), and you could also add a turbo per bank to get 320hp. From the same basic engine. They're not Mitsubishi's best design, though. I bet the Sigma was weighed down by bad transmission gearing.
Thanks for another great Saturday night video. 👍👍👍
The Dodge Hornet has entered the chat.
Awesome! I thought it was very weird when I first learned about the Toyota Cavalier, there was just no way it had the quality of a real Toyota.
I love 3rd gen Dakota's, I've had 7 of them and still own the 1st on I bought.
Isuzu still makes incredibly popular D-Max pickups for the Asian market. Mazda also still makes the BT-50 pickup although not as popular as the D-Max.
I owned a 1988 Chevy Sprint that I bought from new. I think it became the Geo Metro just one year later. Both made, or just powered, by Suzuki. With an anemic 1 liter, 3 cylinder engine and weighing as much as a sack of potatoes. It was always scary to drive it on any highway as it was easily pushed around by crosswinds and other vehicles passing it. Which was pretty much every other car and truck around it. Trying to maintain your speed going up any hill was nearly impossible unless you had a tailwind or a good running start at it.
Subaru Chaser? Two door hb, 4wd on demand, and hi/lo transfer case... miss it so much!
And the Dodge D50 compact pickup? Mitsubishi engine...
I proudly own my 2020 Toyota/Mazda Yaris/Mazda2 LE Sedan.
After only 4 years, I only have 26,374 miles on it, and average 43-57 mpg on roadtrips.
Best "daily driver" ever for my purpose!
My dad has one as a company car and always says how reliable and cheap it is to run🙂
I owned the 79 Nova and had it for a couple of years, I then sold it to my brother who kept it for a few years, he then sold it to my other brother's ex-wife, who also kept it for a few years, she then sold it back to me and I gave it to my son who drove it for a few years. It was one of the most reliable cars I’ve ever owned and I had a used Corvette dealership so I’ve owned 100’s of cars of all makes and models.
My mom had an 80s Nova. Did great.
One of my favorite rebadges was the Honda Passport which was a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo.
8:22 my first car was a 1987 Montero. Nice
Loved my 2009 awd Pontiac Vibe .Put 115000 miles on it. Replaced brakes once, repaired exhaust pipe and new headlight bezels. One o2 sensor at 100000. Gave it to my niece. She's still driving it.
Cool video! I had an 87 dodge raider a long time ago. Fun little 4 wheeler. Would love to see a video on the 1st gen Isuzu impulse. Had one in college and loved that car. Engine was garbage but the cockpit was so cool!
Another rebadge flub was in the Daimler-Chrysler days, the Sterling Bullet medium duty cab and chassis that was just a Dodge Ram with a different grille. "Fake" Sterlings existed since they only had the C&C offerings, people would rebadge their Dodge pickups.
If I'm not mistaken, the FWD Elan was based on the same platform as the 2nd generation Isuzu Piazza (in Japan), Isuzu Impulse (in North America), Geo Storm (in North America) and Asuna Sunfire (in Canada).
love the videos!
I remember my aunt had one of those novas back in the 80s. It was a workhorse of a car.
My first vehicle was a rebadge. 1979 Chevy Luv which was just a rebadged Isuzu Pup (1972-1981), and included the weak 1.8L Izusu engine with the name right on top of the valve cover. GM continued working with Isuzu for years, they continued the Pup as S10, then Colorado. Mazda and Ford shared a few vehicles into the 1990s. Chrysler worked with Mitsubishi on and off through the 80s into the late 2000s including the Stealth, D3000, Dakota, and Durango with Mitsubhsi variants.
‘88 Chevy Nova was my first car. I loved that car!!
Would consider doing a video on the Toyota Paseo?
I saw a late 90's or 2000 Isuzu Hombre at work today. It was the last S-10 model. It was a nice little pickup. I wonder if it had the 4.3 liter 6 cyl, those things were quick.
Here's a few interesting rebadgings for you... Various years and models of Australian Holdens were made in the 70s. The strangest one was the 1975-7 Mazda Roadpacer, which was a Holden HJ Premier with a Mazda 13B Wankel rotary drivetrain. There was also an Izusu version from 1973 to 1976 of the Holden HQ Statesman Caprice exported to Japan as an Izusu Statesman deVille. And various Holdens were sold in South Africa as Chevrolets including Holden Utes badged as Chevrolet El Caminos amongst others.
I had a 1982 Toyota Tercel (Rust Colour) 4 Speed Longitudinal Engine and a Transverse Manual Transmission. Have you done a video on them???
The VW Taro is such a strange product. I had never heard of it. Here in Portugal, during the 80s and til' this day, Toyota is the number one pickup truck seller. In my home region of Azores, you still see plenty of 80s Hilux being used as everyday work and personal vehicles, since it's a very agricultural region. Those things are bulletproof
My first car was a 93 Navajo, I absolutely loved it. Such a weird capable SUV lol
In Australia around late 80s, early 90s, Toyota sold a rebadged Holden Commodore as the Toyota Lexen and as part of the deal Holden got to sell rebadged Toyota Camrys as the Holden Apollo and rebadged Corollas as Holden Novas. Before this Holden had a deal with Nissan to sell Nissan Pulsars (N12 and N13 generation) as Holden Astras and in the N13 generation they actually used the GM engine instead of the Nissan engine. Throughout most of this time they were also selling the Suzuki Swift as the Holden Barina and the Isuzu Trooper as the Holden Jackaroo.
Ford Australia was also at it selling various Mazdas as the Ford Laser and Kias as the Ford Festiva, the Nissan Pintara was rebadged as a Ford Corsair and the Nissan Patrol as the Ford Maverick and maybe strangest of all, Nissan got to sell the Ford Falcon Ute rebadged as the Nissan Ute, this must be the rarest as I have never seen one in real life, but all the others used to be relatively common to see on the roads here.
This was the Button plan in action. A horrible failure of an idea which lead to so much automotive inbreeding in Australia that it wasn't funny.
Holden of course was an excellent practitioner of the rebadge from a long time back - HB Torana, the Gemini.
Even the GTO/Monaro platform was based on the VX Commodore, which in turn is a heavily re-engineered version of an Opel Omega.
My grandpa owns a 1989 Raider V6 5 speed that he bought brand new. 226,000 miles with a lot of those being offroad in the mountains still going strong.
First ever saw a corolla nova in Australia but they were Holden Nova
Don't forget the 04-06 Pontiac GTO (the rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia) as well as the 08-09 Pontiac G8 (the rebadged Holden Commodore from Australia) and of course the 2014-2017 Chevy SS (the rebadged Holden Commodore from Australia).
I wouldn't call it a failure though. They didn't sell that many, but they also kept the amount they imported low.
They were in the first video
I got a Prizm LSi hatchback the first year it came out. It was cheaper than the Toyota Corolla, had fuel injection (either the Corolla didn’t have it, or only had it in the most expensive trim level), and was a hatchback. Toyota only sold those Corolla hatchbacks in other countries. I loved everything about that Prizm except for two things. The seats got uncomfortable after maybe 20 minutes- I think they were designed for smaller people than me (I?). And, the rear end got squirrelly at higher speeds (I think the curved hatch created lift). But, that car was great, and it saved my life when I got rear-ended by an 18 wheeler. That hatchback added a lot of strength to the frame, and it redirected some of the force of impact up into the roof so that it didn’t all go into me.
If I could, I’d still have that car as a daily driver.
Plymouth Breeze was a rebadge flop, as was the Lincoln Versailles. As an episode been done on the Honda CR-Z?
How about segment on the GM sportbacks circa 79-80. Mine was a 79 Buick Century.
Ford Laser outsold donor Mazda 323 in Australia in the 80s and 90s. It was initially assembled in New South Wales while Mazdas were fully imported from Japan and were, hence, pricier. The balance shifted somewhat when the Homebush production line closed and Lasers were imported from Japan. Similar story with Telstar/626.
Love the history and vids.
12:00 The Kia Elan was also sold (or at least offered) in Germany, but i doubt that they sold more than a hand ful of them.
Great videos. Would love to see a Who was worse Domagoj Dukec, or Chris bangle video.
The Toyota Cavalier wasn't Toyota thinking they could sell the Cavalier in Japan. If you recall there was a lot of noise during that time about "trade deficits". To help calm the waters, Toyota agreed to sell Cavaliers in Japan. GM touted this as "hey look, Toyota thinks we're good!". Shockingly, the Cavalier could not endear itself to the Japanese public.