Ep. 30 Seeing Double: The History of Badge Engineering

Dodge Caravan- Chrysler Town & Country - VW Routan. 🤦‍♂️

Some of the new Dodge "hornets" are coming with Alfa badges in the US....

This is why I only buy independent stuff.

Aww man, now i desperately want an Aston Martin Cygnet.

Thanks a lot for that.

Toyota Aygo, Citroën C1, Peugeot 107

I first became aware of this in the 80s. Here in New Zealand, we got the Ford Telstar, which looked suspiciously like a Mazda 626, and the Ford Laser, a Mazda 323. At least they were reliable...

GM/Holden were great at Badgeering. The Toyota Camry and AE92 Corolla were both sold under differing names. The Corolla a Holden Nova, The Camry morphed into the Apollo. Badges changed but the inside of the door frames were stamped Toyota. Holden went on to use so much of Opel vehicles for their small vehicle range over the years.

Mistubishi colt (australia) and hyundia exel of 80s 90s nissan pulsar and holden astra (australia) holden commodore /toyota lexan, nissan patrol/ ford maverick, mazda 626/ford telsta to name a few as you got the gemini

You didnt even mention the GR86, BRZ and FRS

Forgot the Toyota Cavalier

Also, it's worth noting that the Sprinter was also sold as a Freightliner for a few years in the US

Growing up in Australia, I think it was the mid '80s, I remember seeing a Mazda 323 and a Ford Laser side by side and thinking, "Aren't they kinda the same looking"...

and then I saw the Ford focus and Mazda 3 about a decade or so ago... same deal.

Getting old and memory fails... but I have always thought that Mazda was making cars for Ford, at least in Australia.

No mention of DSM and the Eclipse/Talon/Laser or 3000GT/Stealth/GTO?

I used to drive a 2010 Volvo V50. It’s from an era where Ford owned Volvo, and as a result it shared its platform with the Ford Focus wagon and the Mazda 3. I have driven both the sister cars, and while they share very similar shapes and many of the same mechanical components, the drivetrains, exterior details, and interiors were all completely different. The Volvo and Mazda were quite nice and somewhat peppy, and they shared front and rear design language with other models from the same brand. The Ford had an almost laughably cheap interior and a sufficient powertrain. All had really awful transmissions and pathetic gas mileage. The otherwise lovely turbocharged 230hp PZEV I5 on the V50 got 5 mpg less than I get now with my T6 V90, a much larger and faster car.

Chevrolet City Express is just a Nissan nv200

Mercedes Benz, guilty of ZERO rebadging? Am I wrong?

Surprised you didn't include GM's entire brand based on rebadging, GEO. Every single GEO was a rebadged something and that's the way it was advertised.

Theme from ‘Terry And June’

Someone trademarked gabbanelli accordions in USA so now if you bring an accordion to the US that was built in the actual gabbanelli factory, it’s technically a counterfeit. And also. The new builder for USA Gabbanelli accordions can’t build a Gabbanelli branded accordion in Italy bc it’s a counterfeit there, so they brand them in Texas.

Subaru and saaburu are my favorite rebadge

The black car is it a Lada, or a Fiat??

Some of those Isuzus were not the same car. The Piazza/Impulse was rear wheel drive hatchback created in the 80s as a replacement to the 117 coupe. The gemini/Imark is front wheel drive built on a different chassis.

You forgot Holden.

The 1990s fiesta and Mazda 121 is the laziest rebadge. Great video loved it!!!

The Vauxhall Mokka….
Also Opel, Holden….many more. You know the drill

Peugeot make and have made some of the best diesel engines ever made. Rarely is any car in the USA any good and I find it hilarious when Americans think their cars are actually better than European ones

It doesn’t help that there’s literally less than ten car companies worldwide. They own all the rest

Where can I find the list of all rebadges?

I'm surprised the Cadillac Cimmaron wasn't mentioned... too easy lol.

Fiat 124 was the most rebadged and remanufactured car.

Pretty sure all GMCs are rebadged Chevys.

How did you miss rebadgineering? It was right there.

Ford was really good about mercury & Lincoln being the same cars the panther platform from the 1979 to 2012 model years

Cadillac Cimaron?
Fanciest Cavalier?

the isuzu gemini was also tied with the isuzu rodeo for most rebadged as il quiclky copy it from the wikipedia page
Isuzu Rodeo (Japan and Thailand; 4WD only)
Isuzu Dragon Eyes (Thailand; 1996–2002)
Isuzu Dragon Power (Thailand; 2000–2002)
Isuzu Fuego (Philippines)
Isuzu Invader (Malaysia)
Isuzu Ippon (Israel)
Isuzu KB (South Africa)
Isuzu Pickup (North America)
Isuzu TF
Isuzu TFR (Thailand)
Isuzu TT Fortigo
Chevrolet LUV
Chevrolet T-Series (Egypt)
Holden Rodeo
Honda Tourmaster (Thailand)
Opel Campo
Vauxhall Brava (United Kingdom)
Bedford Brava (United Kingdom)
Foton SUP (China)
Jinbei Jindian SY10 (China)
JiangLing Baodian (China)
JiangLing Hunter (Philippines)
Winnerway ZH6500/ZH1021LU2 (China)
Xinkai Century (China)
Autorrad Century (China)
GMC Dragon (Mexico; 1996–2001)
GMC Invader (Mexico; 1998–2002)

thats not even including the versions that were modified to be SUV's which i wont count cause they are different enough to me

i totally agree i have a 1992 holden rodeo its the exact same as the isuzu rodeo/faster (idk how the isuzus are categorised by 4x4 and whatnot) but the only main difference is it being RHD and getting the 2.6L in the rwd model as the isuzu only got the 2.6 in their 4x4 models

it has the isuzu 4ze1 engine but holden put longer and more aggressive extractors on it to make it more aggressive and make more power there are some other small things but it still has the builders plate that says isuzu motor company and the key has isuzu on it.

the other main difference is that the EU at the time had laws requireing an egr and catalytic converter system that wasnt required on the Holden models so the regular 4ze1 that the US knows has 120 to 130 hp but the 4ze1 from holden had closer to 160hp due to the more relaxed emissions

but overall the engine is also pretty much identical to the 2.6 from the Geminis

Lancia Thema/Chrysler 300

2 come in to mind.
Ford ranger and Mazda
And geo tracker and Chevy tracker

Austin 7/BMW Dixi

The Cadillac Cimarron was a joke, a rebadged Chevy Cavalier.

Bro forgot the Chevy forestor in India

If i ever need a lawyer, you've got the job.

TOYOTA Lexcen

ah yes daewoo... got so mistreated by GM. thankfully i had the expierence of growing up in a LEGIT daewoo lanos (so not a single rebadge or rename) that was owned by my mom for 12 years! sadly we did have to let go of it a few years ago.... now my mom drives a boring 2016 opel corsa... yuck

I always thought the ford explorer and mercury mariner were an exact copy

Ok thanks for the heads up on stuff we all can work out , now run along and feed the CATS like a good cat dad .

GM certainly put in the least effort on rebadging their cars. I remember when the Cadillac Cimarron came out. A Chevy Cavalier with a bigger grill and price tag. That took some balls GM.

The Alfa Romeo ARNA/Nissan Cherry, in which they flipped the script and used the design of the japanese and the electrics of the italians.

Im sure it's been mentioned somewhere in here, but the Subaru BRZ, Toyota 86, Scion FRS?