same car different badge

[pshome]

The Hillman Avenger ended up in Argentina,badged as a Volkswagen!

 

 

... while the VW Santana was sold as Ford Versailles there

[pshome]

Simca Horizon = Chrysler Horizon = Dodge Omni = Plymouth Horizon = Talbot Horizon

[pshome]

Oltcit Club = Citroën Axel

[Christine]

O.P said 60's 70's........ MG midget   Austin Healey Sprite

[pshome]

Talbot Express = Peugeot J5 = Citroën C25 = Fiat Ducato = Alfa Romeo AR6 = Fiat Talento

[Parky]

No i meant like the cars are exact same models just badged by different companies.... my teacher had a renault 12 in the 1970's but i don't recall ever seeing it's dacia namesake on the road at the same time..

The Dacia wasn’t sold here until the Denem made a brief appearance in 1983, but the Dacia 1300 was built at the same time as the Renault 12.

 

I suspect that Renault weren’t allowed to ship decadent western autos to decent hardworking Soviet style citizens so had to get the car built by a local firm. They probably insisted that the Dacia couldn’t be exported so as not to be a rival to the 12, and I dare say the Iron curtain wouldn’t have allowed anything out anyway.

 

Summary - R12 and Dacia were built at the same time but we weren’t allowed to sample the superior eastern bloc build quality

[pshome]

Simca Vedette marketed as Ford Vedette in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.

[captain_70s]

Honda Ballade mk1 = Triumph Acclaim

 

 

Honda Ballade Mk2 = Rover SD3

 

Honda Concerto = Rover R8

 

 

[Parky]

Honda Crossroad - Land Rover Discovery

 

Honda Passport - Isuzu Amigo - Vauxhall Frontera - Chevrolet Rodeo

Chevette/Kadett/Holden Gemini, the Isuzu one whose name I can never remember and definitely at least one American brand used this car.

 

Also the Vauxhall Cavalier had numerous “J” car derivatives with Opel, Holden, and even Cadillac badging.

 

Anyone had Triumph Acclaim and Honda Ballade yet? - edit GAH, BEATEN TO IT BY SECONDS!

 

Rover R8 and Honda Concerto are also closely related but quite a few detail differences including different suspension design IIRC.

[STUNO]

Holden Premier

 

 

Mazda roadpacer

 

 

 

[maxpower]

Ah! i remember seeing the mazda 121  fiesta 

[Datsuncog]

Very much nothing new, I'm afraid - even when we're talking about cars marketed new in the UK alongside each other, rather than old pensioned-off designs sold elsewhere in the world.

As mentioned, the BMC were the kings of badge engineering in the 1960s, e.g. the aforementioned ADO16 range (where an Austin was also a Morris, and a Riley, and an MG, and a Wolseley, and a Vanden Plas - just as with the big Farina saloons).

 

Sports versions weren't immune either (Austin-Healey Sprite and MG Midget).

 

Even the BL Wedge saw a confused launch in 1975 under three competing badges as the Austin 18-22, Morris 1800/2200 and Wolseley Six, before management finally saw sense after a few months and rebadged them all under the newly invented Princess marque as the 1800 and 2200 for 1976.

 

The Arrow-range Hillman Hunter put in simultaneous appearances as the Singer Vogue, the Humber Sceptre and, briefly, the Sunbeam Vogue, eventually ending its career with Chrysler badges, while the Hillman Imp also moonlighted as the Singer Chamois and Sunbeam Imp Sport.

 

The practice was still alive and well in the 1990s and 2000s and has kept going up to the present day.

In terms of 'same car, different badge', so separate from just 'familial' versions (e.g. Vauxhall Corsa, Opel Corsa, Holden Barina - same car yes, but badged by GM for different markets and not sold alongside each other), then off the top of my head...

The Ford Maverick and the Nissan Terrano II were the same vehicle, sold at the same time through different dealerships.

 

 

Also the Isuzu Trooper and Vauxhall Monterey. GM connection of course, but quite a different marketing base and dealer network.

 

 

 

In a similar vein, the Isuzu Midi and the Vauxhall Midi vans, and the more upmarket MPV versions, the Isuzu Fargo and Vauxhall Albany differed little in anything more than badge. Albany is a surefire winner as 'the most forgotten Vauxhall'. pub-quiz fans.

 

 

Ford Galaxy, Volkswagen Sharan, SEAT Alhambra - all launched in 1995 and all the same basic vehicle with slightly different grille and light treatments. Ford/VAG co-operation was notable at the time.

 

 

 

Fiat Ulysse, Peugeot 806 and Citroen Synergie (plus the Lancia Zeta version not sold in the UK) - same thing, collectively known as the Eurovan Project.

 

 

 

 

 

Citroen C1, Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo.

PSA connection is of course well established since they pulled a similar trick previously with the Peugeot 106 and Citroen Saxo, but the Toyota variant was leftfield.

 

 

Looking further back to the 1980s, the Nissan Cherry Europe was also sold as the Alfa Romeo Arna.
 

 

 

To paraphrase Jalopy magazine, you'd have thought that a Nissan/Alfa alliance would bring Italian styling flair with Japanese reliability. Instead the lucky* owner got Japanese styling flair with Italian reliability...

 

Even more bizarre was the Lancia Delta, also sold as the Saab 600 as part of the deal that allowed platform-sharing between the Fiat Croma, Lancia Thema and Saab 9000 - though I'm not sure the 600 was ever officially made available in the UK. Apparently the Saab badged Delta did not adapt terribly well to Scandinavian winters. Shocker.

 

 

 

The Citroen LNA and Peugeot 104 have already been mentioned; the Talbot Samba was also based on the same floorpan, and in fact the LNA's replacement, the Citroen AX, would have also been sold with Talbot badging had PSA management not wound up the Talbot name for passenger cars shortly before its launch.

 

The Daf 66 morphed into the Volvo 66 as part of Volvo's takeover (the Volvo 300 series was conceived as a new Daf, but never wore that badge).

 

 

What we know more commonly as the Mk1 Volkswagen Polo was actually a rebadged Audi 50, with the Polo following on afterwards as the cheaper VW offering - though again, the Audi version wasn't marketed in the UK.

 

 

The Fiat Panda and SEAT Marbella were also more than just kissing cousins - though the Marbella continued to use the original Mk1 Panda shape from 1979, since they were no longer able to avail of Fiat's facelifts once they became fully independent in the early '80s. Both cars soldiered on in the UK market until about 1996.

 

 

 

The run-out of Fiat's 128 in 1984 overlapped with sales of the Yugo Zastava 311, which started off as a straight 128 clone but was available in hatchback form in the UK by the early '80s.

 

 

 

Other cast-offs reappeared almost immediately wearing a different badge, but without much else to disguise their roots.

The defunct Mazda 121 reappeared almost immediately as the Kia Pride...

 

 

 

...with more success than the Sao Penza, which was the older version of the Mazda 323.

 

 

The Daewoo Nexia was very clearly the Mk2 Vauxhall Astra and Belmont risen from the grave with a smoothed over nose and rump.

 

 

 

As mentioned upthread, the Renault 12 was killed off in 1980 only to regenerate as the Dacia Denem for 1983.

 

Fiat's 125 vanished from UK showrooms in 1972, but only three years later the FSO 125 popped up, recognisably the same car (Lada's version of the smaller 124 didn't hit these shores until 1977).

 

 

 

Although these examples may not have overlapped in terms of new car sales, certainly they would have encountered each other in a car park or at the traffic lights. To Joe and Josephine Public, they very likely would have appeared as same car, different badge (assuming they noticed).

 

I'm sure others can also think of plenty! As mentioned, Australia did particularly well with 'homegrown' clone cars sold alongside the more familiar Japanese versions, mainly conceived to get around quotas on overseas manufacturers IIRC - like the Ford Telstar (Mazda 626), Ford Laser (Mazda 323), Holden Nova (Toyota Corolla E90), Holden Apollo (Toyota Carina) and Holden Jackaroo (Isuzu Trooper) to name but a very few...

[Christine]

  Chevrolet Camaro    Pontiac Firebird    nearly...

[Christine]

Aston Martin , Toyota IQ thing ? 

[STUNO]

Ford Laser

 

 

Mazda 323 with it's different rear quarter panel

 

[pshome]

nobody mentioned Rolls-Royce = Bentley yet?

[STUNO]

Toyota Corolla

 

 

Holden Nova

 

[New POD]

ADO nearly all !

 

Vauxhalls and Opels

Caddy catera 3.2

Vs

Opal omega 3.2

Vs

Vauxhall omega 3.2

Vs Chevy lumina

Vs

Holden Commodore VT. VX. 5.7

Which spawned the Monaro

[pshome]

Nash Metropolitan = Hudson Metropolitan = Austin Metropolitan

[pshome]

Peugeot P4 = Mercedes G

[pshome]

all the Daimler = Jaguar models

[pshome]

Audi 50 = VW Polo

[pshome]

[Datsuncog]

Back in the 1970s, Vauxhall and Opel had a separate UK dealership network and once the independent Vauxhall design studios were wound down, for a five-year period the two basically sold the same GM range with a different nose.

 

So the Chevette and the Kadette were direct competitiors, as were the Cavalier and Ascona, the Cavalier Sports Hatch/Coupé and the Manta, the Carlton and the Rekord, and the Royale and the Senator (and the Royale Coupé and the Monza).

From about 1980 on the Opel dealerships were phased out and, other than the Manta which continued to sell through Vauxhall dealers, the Opel name was only used on cars sold in European countries outside the UK.

[vulgalour]

Holden

 

Chevrolet

 

Opel

 

Vauxhall

[vulgalour]

Toyota

 

Citroen

 

Peugeot

 

In a similar vein...

 

Skoda

 

VW

 

Seat

[vulgalour]

The Corsa selection is more blatant, on the newer ones they change some of the bodywork and panels and lights, but it's still the same car underneath, ergo badge engineering.

[Junkman]

Plodge Granfifthlomat.

 

 

 

[New POD]

The Corsa selection is more blatant, on the newer ones they change some of the bodywork and panels and lights, but it's still the same car underneath, ergo badge engineering.

The thing is that they are all General(ly shit) Motors so just badges and trim and occasionally lights.

 

I think it's more interesting when two separate companies set up a joint company and factory to produce the same car with different badges.

 

I imagine all sorts of interesting technical discussions from designers who have "always done it like this"

 

For instance. The brakes on the Honda Concerto / Rover 200/400 range come from Lucas in Wales, but had different machining and bolts because Rover happy with a straight bolt and a chamber to relieve the corner, but Honda insisting that all bolts have a small radius where the shank meets the head for stress relief.

This meant two different machining processes and 2 different bolt part numbers.

If they are that pedantic about parts with pedigree, they might as well be different cars.

[Richard]

 

I think it's more interesting when two separate companies set up a joint company and factory to produce the same car with different badges.

 

 

Were there any examples of this before the Triumph Acclaim?