Cars and car versions mostly unique to a specific country.

32,385 · May 13

Cars and versions of cars mostly unique to a specific country.

In Norway, it is obvious that Volvo was strong and sold well before, but here Japanese cars have also been popular ever since they came in the 60s and cars with all-wheel drive have been preferred when they became a thing. So here are some car models and versions of them mostly unique to Norway as few have been sold in big numbers elsewhere.

Toyota Hiace these were among Norway's best-selling vans for decades and loved for their reliability and durability and good traction with AWD in the snow. Few of these were sold with 2wd and those that were were bought by tight fleet buyers who hated their employees and people who liked to be stuck.

The last model sold here came in the mid-90s and was sold with upgrades and facelifts until about 2012 when the EU put an end to them. And they hold their value and will possibly just increase in value as no other van will ever replace them. This is a well maintained low mileage 2012 Hiace van with awd for sale now in Norway £20,920.

The first generation Toyota Urban Cruiser sold reasonably well here and almost all had AWD, something that I've understood is rare elsewhere.

Other car models that sold well here were awd estates such as the Toyota Tercel, and the 1990s awd Toyota Corollas as below and the newer bug eye ones.

Also the mk3 Golf Syncro found lots of buyers here and also some 90s awd Mondeo where sold. And the awd Mitsubishi Lancer estate was a good seller here.

Suzuki is another unique thing here, perhaps a niche brand elsewhere in Europe, but here it sold well and has had several bestsellers and almost all models, even the small ones like the Ignis and Swift, were AWD. My mom had a 2000s Baleno estate with awd which I think was not so common in other places but very common here.

Norway also had some special vans as vans received less tax and the only requirement to be a van was a maximum of 3 seats and space for a box of a certain size in the cargo area. So many were sold here with higher roofs wich was a local conversion to make the cargo area big enough the be vans like this Grand Vitara.

And this Honda CRV.

And the Lada Niva and sevral more.

32,385 · May 13

Swedish so-called EPA tractors were introduced during WW2 as a measure against a shortage of tractors. They were converted old cars and trucks into simple tractors. This later became popular among young people as they could be driven before normal cars and have therefore survived.

A orginal EPA tractor.

A later one based on a Volvo Duett.

A modern one.

9,526 · May 13

I enjoy these kind of oddities too.

The CitiGolf, MK1 golf produced until 2010 or so and sold in South Africa, latterly they had a MK1 Skoda Fabia interior grafted in.

The Volkswagen Fox was the hateful hatchback with shit 1.2 3 banger here, but in other countries there were a lot of other versions, including the Spacefox. Believe these were for the South American market.

Staying in South America there are some belters from Brazil, the Volkswagen Apollo sold there, it was a rebadged Ford Orion

The Fiat Palio is a developing market specific budget model, the "Palio Weekend Adventure" is a raised version with added plastic cladding, however in Brazil you could get a Palio Weekend Adventure "locker" with locking diffs.

9,526 · May 13

The Toyota Qualis was introduced in India in 2000, it was actually a third generation Toyota Kijang which had first been launched in 1986. Safe to say it's not a looker but was a very big seller I believe.

32,385 · May 13

Volvo's 800 series were large cars built mostly for taxi use and mostly only sold in Sweden. They were made until 1958 and were very outdated by the end with their flathead 6-cylinder engine and 3-speed gearbox. But they were durable and reliable and many continued to work as taxis until the 1970s.

And a good example of how overbuilt these were, they shared parts like the engine and probably more with Volvo trucks like this L341.

68,537 · May 13

The one that always springs to mind is the Renault 7

Plus those lovely late model 3 door Sierras we weren't allowed

17,746 · May 13

I thought these BX vans were ROI only (where I saw them in the 90s) but it looks like they were French designed and sold elsewhere in Europe.

The Netherlands used to have tax laws relating to commercial vehicles (something about accommodating a cube of a given size) which led to high-roof versions of certain vehicles.

8,699 · May 13

Just now, Tayne said:

The Netherlands used to have tax laws relating to commercial vehicles (something about accommodating a cube of a given size) which led to high-roof versions of certain vehicles.

A V8, nice!

44,660 · May 13

Ireland had preferential tax rates for vans and commercial vehicles, so a lot of cars ended up being sold as vans here with the rear windows blanked off and the seats removed.

I've a pic somewhere of an Irish Sierra van - should say, although these were official vehicles sold new with warranty by dealers, many were 'converted' on site.

12,083 · May 13

1 hour ago, davehedgehog31 said:

Staying in South America there are some belters from Brazil, the Volkswagen Apollo sold there, it was a rebadged Ford Orion

Not quite a rebadged Orion - count the doors. It's more accurately a rebadged Ford Verona, a South American special based on the Orion but uniquely with only two doors, and the 1.8 had a Volkswagen engine in Ford form so the Verona itself counts as a country-specific model.

4,367 · May 13

SEAT had some interesting variations on FIAT designs, only sold in Spain.

4 -door 600s and 850s

and the 133, which put a 127 styled body on the 850 rear- engined platform

And the very cool 1200 and 1430 coupe which were 127 based, but with engines from the 124.

3,369 · May 13

SEAT also did 4/5 door versions of the 127. Surprising that FIAT didn't develop their own.

The SEAT 133 was sold here for a short time, badged as a FIAT.

Over the pond in Murrica, they seem to favour saloons, or sedans I guess, over hatchbacks. So they tend to have 4dr versions. For example the oddly proportioned Fiesta 4dr

We got the 4dr Focus over here, but they only seemed to sell in high spec Ghia form, generally to people over the age of 75.

Back in 2019 I hired a Hyundai Elantra, which I initially assumed to be a 5dr hatch, but nope, 4dr.

8,475 · May 13

There's some good ones in Japan because their tax is banded by the size of the car, but I'll go with this one:

Here's an original Smart:

Mercedes wanted to sell it in Japan, but while it was short enough and had a small enough engine, it was 3cm too wide to qualify as a kei car (which means massively lower tax and less restrictions on parking), so no one would have bought one. They designed a 'Smart K' for Japan with redesigned rear suspension, narrower rear wheels and less flared rear arches to sneak in under the threshold:

(no one bought one anyway)

17,746 · May 13

55 minutes ago, Volksy said:

SEAT also did 4/5 door versions of the 127. Surprising that FIAT didn't develop their own.

These also made it to Chile (and possibly other bits of South America) along with a few other Seats.

6,475 · May 13

Tata Nano. An attempt to persuade families off their motorcycles in India. It was cheap but not cheap enough. This, plus production facility delays and reports of fires did nothing to boost sales. It did not have a rear hatch at first. Production ceased after a few years. A European version never materialised. I am not aware of it being officially exported to other markets.

68,537 · May 13

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Puma van seems like an entirely fruitless exercise

8,878 · May 13

22 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Puma van seems like an entirely fruitless exercise

I'd put that entirely down to Irish pragmatism, whereby avoiding whacking a great increase in road tax is more important than the loss of appearance due to no rear side or back windows or rear seats.

IIRC people in the UK used to buy vans back when they were exempt from purchase tax then converted them by fitting extra seats and side windows.

7,908 · May 13

It would be an absolute hoot delivering small parcels down the country lanes, also I would have thought great for a track day toy with no rear windows or back seat

6,717 · May 13

8 hours ago, davehedgehog31 said:

I enjoy these kind of oddities too.

The CitiGolf, MK1 golf produced until 2010 or so and sold in South Africa, latterly they had a MK1 Skoda Fabia interior grafted in.

The Volkswagen Fox was the hateful hatchback with shit 1.2 3 banger here, but in other countries there were a lot of other versions, including the Spacefox. Believe these were for the South American market.

Staying in South America there are some belters from Brazil, the Volkswagen Apollo sold there, it was a rebadged Ford Orion

The Fiat Palio is a developing market specific budget model, the "Palio Weekend Adventure" is a raised version with added plastic cladding, however in Brazil you could get a Palio Weekend Adventure "locker" with locking diffs.

The special thing re the VW Apollo is that it's a 2dr Orion.

Some other oddities over there Inc the ford falcon ( 60s American version) sold for several decades Inc 80s version that had Mk5 Cortina grille , front & rear lights, Mk5 Taunus coupe with American 2.3 ohc Lima engine & Borg Warner T5 5spd gearbox. Ford tercel an even squarer Reno 12 based saloon, A60 farina pickup ( Riley grilled), 70s Merc pickup, chevette & Corsa pick-up, fiesta pickup.

Strangely they had the MK3 shape Taunus upto 79 the Mk5 ( MK4 was never sold )

South Africa had plenty of oddities mk3-4-5 cortinas pick ups Inc inV4/6 Essex versions,

Mk3-4 Escort pickup,MK3 on fiesta pick ups,,Essex V6 engines MK2 Granada's, straight & coke bottle coupe MK1 Granada, Sierra's with ohv,Essex V6 ( Inc efi )plus 200 MK1 302 V8 5speed ones. All from the factory,

Mini saloon,

Chevrolet firenzas ( all HC Vivas were thus named) which Inc the 4cyl Pontiac iron duke eng, & 200 coupes with the (Camaro Z28 302 V8), Corsa pickup,rekords with 6cyl iron duke.

Australia mk3-4-5 cortinas with 3.3/4.1 straight 6 ,transits with same engine, 2.0 ohc escorts in high spec ,vans & 4dr RS2000,the MK2 cavalier estate was developed here as was the Corsa C convertible. V8 vauxhall royale s 6cyl CFs

Ford mk1-2 Zcar picks aswell as E493A prefect pickups ,land crab pickups, 6cyl low spec farinas etc , 6 cylinder (E series 2200) marina 🤣🤣🤣, mini clubman vans (70s),

This lot is just some of the UK derived oddities.

Likewise this stuff fascinates me too.

12,083 · May 13

Aussie BMC/Leyland stuff is fascinating. As well as those already mentioned there's the Kimberley/Tasman, Morris 1500/Nomad and of course the P76, all totally different from anything we got over here. South Africa had the Apache that was adopted in Spain as the Victoria but nowhere else.

32,385 · May 13

This is Norway in the 1970s. Datsun estate converted here into a van and also fitted with a hefty towbar.

https://www.finn.no/mobility/item/460454004?ci=1

6,717 · May 13

5 hours ago, angle said:

There's some good ones in Japan because their tax is banded by the size of the car, but I'll go with this one:

Here's an original Smart:

Mercedes wanted to sell it in Japan, but while it was short enough and had a small enough engine, it was 3cm too wide to qualify as a kei car (which means massively lower tax and less restrictions on parking), so no one would have bought one. They designed a 'Smart K' for Japan with redesigned rear suspension, narrower rear wheels and less flared rear arches to sneak in under the threshold:

(no one bought one anyway)

In the larger car market ford narrowed MK3 cortinas for there by pulling the shells inwards at hip hit in the rear door/wing area as they were a few mm to wide.

Have a photo somewhere showing a tool that bolted to the rear striker plate mounts on the C pillar with a threaded centre section ,

It was fitted before the rear seat back rest & someone would sit inside & tighten it until it reached the desired dimension then removed & fit rear seat🤯

6,717 · May 13

5 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

This is Norway in the 1970s. Datsun estate converted here into a van and also fitted with a hefty towbar.

https://www.finn.no/mobility/item/460454004?ci=1

Forgot about those I've seen the following with/without rear windows,

Mk5 Taunus,minor traveller, 105e,Austin 1100 ,sierra, mk3-4 Escort ( these were sold in the UK along with mk1-2 aswell doubt any left as would've had seats retro fitted).

6,717 · May 13

There was also those tall rear hatchback ones 205,etc & original panda with the add on rear with a pair of vertical doors in place of tailgate.

Poland had air-cooled fiat 126 pick up & I think a van ( was once shown a pic of one by "urchin" but can't remember if it was a conversion) had a purpose built box integral with body & again vertical rear doors

8,475 · May 13

While I'm doing Japan, let's do branding. Over here, we have Toyota dealers or Honda dealers or whatever, but up until about 20 years ago in Japan they split themselves up into different sales channels aimed at different people. So, you had Toyota dealers but they only sold the top of the range stuff - Centuries, Crowns etc. If you wanted a mid-range saloon, you had to go to go to the Toyopet store, hatchbacks and estates were in the Corolla store. They also had Netz which was their 'youth-oriented' chain.

So, here's a Previa: