Worst Rebadges In History

[ashmicro]

Roewe 750

 

 

Rover 75

 

[Ratdat]

The rear suspension is Cherry, and I imagine that most of the floorpan is too, as the Arna has the Cherry, rather than 'sud wheelbase.I always wondered how you'd operate the heater fan on these, by the switch on the Cherry dash (that the Arna uses) or the Alfasud wiper switch (that the Arna also uses). In the days of great 'Car' scoops, the Arna's photos were accompanied by the text "... and our pictures show it's impressive." Hmm.

The rear suspension and the floorpan is more or less the same up as far as the front footwells. The entire understructure of the front end is different as id the rear panel to accomodate different tail lights. Most of the outer body pressing are the same minus some detail differences such as the tailgate. About 95% of the components are Alfa Romeo made, even items like the glass which is essentially the same and this applies to the Cherry Europe too. Ironically, the Cherry Europe is actually a hastily rebadged Alfa Romeo rather the the other way round. Even the chassis plate makes it as an Alfa Romeo. The Arna was never intended to be sold as a Nissan initially which was done only for this market as ARGB refused to import it to start with.

[Volksy]

 

Ford Telstar, another 626 clone

[Leyland Australia]

A few aussie stuners.

 

Toyota Lexcen (Holden Commodore)

 

Ford Telstar (Mazda 626)

 

Holden Nova (Toyota Corolla)

 

Holden Apollo (Toyota Camry)

 

Holden Astra (Nissan Pulsar in Australia)

For the stylish

For the frisky, A HSV version, just like a monaro GR8 4 MAXXING

 

And rebadging at its best

The Mazda Roadpacer, a japanese special. Rotary with 135 horses pulling 1575kg. Also known as the Holden Kingswood in Aus and Chevrolet Kommando in South Africa, but they had V6s and V8s, unfortunatly .

[wilko]

Austin Cambridge A55mk2 / A60Morris Oxford IV & VMG Magnette III & IVWolesley 15/60 & 16/60Riley 4/68 & 4/72Joking about A60 Coupes and Saabs aside, 1 car, 5 manufacturer badges - is it a record? VAG can still only boast 4? My Triumph Acclaim is a Honda Ballade with twin carbs, cortina seats & stiffer springs, but I think that's quite a good rebadge really - got to be better than anything BL themselves would have come up with at the time!?Do Hyundai built Cortinas count?

[Nervy Si]

 

Strong whiff of Vauxhall Senator mk2 about that, not really a huge surprise I suppose.

 

 

That's a Holden HQ isn't it??? Avec rotary engine

 

Great thread, loads of these I've never seen or heard of.

[Milford Cubicle]

Austin Cambridge A55mk2 / A60

Morris Oxford IV & V

MG Magnette III & IV

Wolesley 15/60 & 16/60

Riley 4/68 & 4/72

 

Joking about A60 Coupes and Saabs aside, 1 car, 5 manufacturer badges - is it a record? VAG can still only boast 4?

 

Vauxhall Cavalier

Opel Ascona

Chevrolet Cavalier

Isuzu Aska

Holden Camira

Cadillac Cimarron

Pontiac Sunbird

Buick Skyhawk

Oldsmobile Firenza

 

Heck, there was probably even a Daewoo version of it...

 

(cheers wikipedia!)

[Richard]

If that's a Mk2 Cav the Daewoo Espero was based on it (but with a different fuel tank).The ADO16 wore multiple badges in the UK, even if you don't count the foreign versions- Austin, Morris, Wolseley, MG, Riley, Vanden Plas.

[Mr H Sceptre]

Hillman HunterHillman MinxHumber SceptreSinger VogueSinger GazellePeykanAnd my A-Z of Cars of the 1970s also states that the Huntere was also badged a Chrysler Hunter for its final 2yrs of production, which I didnt realise.

[whitevanman]

If that's a Mk2 Cav the Daewoo Espero was based on it (but with a different fuel tank)..

glad somebody listned

[Milford Cubicle]

If that's a Mk2 Cav the Daewoo Espero was based on it (but with a different fuel tank).

Aye, but I meant a direct rebadging/facelift, not the heavily revised Espero.

[Station]

Mitsubishi Starion 2000cc

 

 

Dodge Conquest TSi (for which the stodgy 2.6 was made to satisfy Americans)

 

[UglyAmerican]

Citroen C-Crosser is just the Mitsubishi Outlander

 

Buick Excelle is a version of the Daewoo Lacetti in China

 

Mercury Capri is a scummy rebadge job of the Fox body Ford Mustang

 

Merkur Scorpio

 

Merkur XR4Ti

 

Nissan Aprio (Dacia Logan sold in Mexico)

 

Acura EL 1.7 (version of Honda Civic sold in Canada with leather seats)

 

Acura CSX (replaced the Acura EL in Canada as Civic with leather, plus 200 bhp engine)

 

Dodge Sprinter

 

Pontiac G3 (USA and Canada, elsewhere maybe too, is a Daewoo Kalos/Chevy Aveo)

 

Buick Regal (Opel/Vaux Insignia)

[trigger]

Isuzu Gemini

 

 

Opel Kadett

 

 

Saehan/Daewoo Gemini

 

 

Holden Gemini

 

 

Vauxhall Chevette

 

[Pillock]

Have a two-door Orion cunningly wearing "Volkswagen Apollo" badging. Got a VW engine too.

 

[AnthonyG]

Weren't those B-body Caprices and Ford Crown Vics essentially the same car?

The 'square' 76-91 Caprice and 79-92 Crown Vics did look similar at a quick glance but are totally different. The Chevrolet Impala/Caprice was also the Pontiac Bonneville/Parisienne and Olsmobile Delta 88 for a while, and the station wagon was also offered as a Oldsmobile, (great name, the 'Custom Cruiser'!) and IIRC a Buick.The Crown Vic is and was also offered as a Mercury - the Grand Marquis. The Lincoln Town Car uses the same running gear and body frame/chassis, but the panelwork is pretty different.

[AnthonyG]

Hillman HunterHillman MinxHumber SceptreSinger VogueSinger GazellePeykanAnd my A-Z of Cars of the 1970s also states that the Huntere was also badged a Chrysler Hunter for its final 2yrs of production, which I didnt realise.

Plus Sunbeam Arrow in the USA, from 1967 to 1970!BTW, Peykan means Arrow in Persian.

[AnthonyG]

All those Holdens reminds me that the Viva HB was sold as a Holden in Australia, as Holden didn't have a 'small' car to compete with the Cortina and Corolla/Bluebird etc.I think it was badged as a 'Torana', which soon become an all-Aussie design in the early 1970s.The Viva HC was sold as a Pontiac Firenza in Canada, and 'Firenza' was then confusingly used on an 1980s Oldsmobile!

[Andrew353w]

The Renault 12's re-incarnation as the Dacia Denem has already received a mention but the eastern Europeans were experts at these re-badges... The Fiat 124 became the Lada 1200 (and its numerous spin-offs), which is still being built in Russia! Fortunately (for most of us..) the Fiat 125's osmosis into the Polski-Fiat 125 and later the FSO 125p didn't quite last as long! mind you, I bought one...Not quite on topic, but the pre-WW2 Auto-Union morphed into the D.K.W. F8... which, by an odd process of automotive history became the Wartburg (which is where I came in!) Oddly the "Wartburg" name is being resurrected by Opel, who took over the factory after the demise of the D.D.R. and are using it to badge an up-market car in the future. What goes around comes around....

[Captain Mainwaring]

Cheers AnthonyG.As far as the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis thing goes, I've never put two and two together. That's how badge engineering is supposed to be done I guess.

[Clevtrev]

Subaru Traviq or Vauxhall/Opel Zafira??

 

Or what about these triplets?

 

Subaru Justy

 

or

 

Suzuki Swift

 

or

 

Geo Metro

 

But maybe not this...!

 

 

And these triplets...

 

Daihatsu Sirion

 

Subaru Justy (again)

 

Perodua Myvi

[KruJoe]

Subaru Traviq or Vauxhall/Opel Zafira??

That's a new one on me... another Subaru fan are you?

 

Or what about these triplets?

 

Subaru Justy

 

or

 

Suzuki Swift

 

or

 

Geo Metro

 

erm... they were not triplets, there's a few more! May I add the Pontiac Firefly:

 

 

(yes, available in 'vert and saloon versions, just like the Swift!)

 

 

That's a Chevrolet Metro Saloon ^

 

Chevy Sprint:

 

 

...and Suzuki Cultus was a JDM only Swift GTI AWD:

 

 

Only 300 were made, so there are not many good pictures googleable!

 

I have a Subaru Justy project like the one above, but with the earlier face:

 

 

Remember the Swift Saloon 1.6 4WD saloons? I had a white one years ago. Here's a FWD 1.3 saloon I spotted in Thailand:

 

 

Also In Thailand:

 

 

Anyone else seen one? It's an Isuzu Aska, as mentioned by Milford C.

 

And a Holden Camira:

 

 

Both close relatives of the Mk2 Cav.

 

[Betaphile]

Those Camiras were major-grade shockers, rolled-gold shite. I haven't seen one for about a decade that wasn't a total shed.

 

More Aussie rebadge jobs:

 

 

Locally built 323/Laser-based ragtop Capri, also sent to the US as a Mercury:

 

 

First-gen Mercury Tracer (three-doors built in Japan, five-doors in Mexico):

 

 

KC Laser (Australian-built):

 

 

(Second-gen twin of these things as well.)

 

And possibly the biggest locally-built mainstream failure to hit the Australian market since the P76, the Nissan Pintara/Ford Corsair twins:

 

Pintara:

 

 

 

Corsair:

 

 

 

Somewhat more successful, Ford's alliance with Mazda produced this:

 

 

 

This latter car was replaced by the first Mondeo in 1996, generally reckoned to be not as good (or at least as well-suited to conditions here). Ho-hum.

[Leyland Australia]

The reason for Australias 'sharing is caring' attitude to the car industry in the 1980s, 90's.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_plan

[STUNO]

Am I the only one who says "no wonder they all went bust, the sold most of their cars to each other".

[Betaphile]

The industry here is obscure but it's pretty interesting. Those shotgun marriages were really driven by the Button Plan and the forced requirement to rationalise quite quickly or shut up shop. To be honest, Nissan was always going to go (and everyone knew it) because there was no way Australia's market was geared up to accommodate five domestic producers. Their monumental miscalculation on their Clayton investment in Victoria ($1 billion and the ability to produce 100,000 cars a year) meant they were always up against it, so it was inevitable the pin was going to be pulled when the banking crisis arrived at home. Mitsu, too, struggled on for a long time before the inevitable occurred - a few fundamental mistakes throughout the '90s, like wide-ranging dealer discounts (backed by the factory), didn't help their cause either, as they crushed residual values on Magnas and cost the company a fortune into the bargain.

[155V6]

Apologies if it's already been mentioned,but how about this Winnebago?

[Lukas]

Looks like a Renault Trafic.

[Tayne]

.

[simmo]

Austin 1100/1300 VariantsAustinMorrisMGWolseleyVandan PlasAustin AmericaMorris NomadThere must be some more, what about the booted ones? Keef?