Best Badge Engineered Cars

[asian_XL]

[Teriyaki]

Oh, this is a deep rabbit hole.

ALL of the Scion cars for one, in North America. Toyota has a long history of badge engineering vehicles for different markets, actually even in the same market like Japan. Need some time to dig up examples.

Edit:

Heres one such example. So, Japan has a tonne of the tiny cars, you might recognize them as Kei cars. This technically doesn't qualify because its a strict size and engine requirement, but anyways.

The car is originally the Daihatsu Thor.



So, Daihatsu is a subsidiary of Toyota. Toyota has an extremely convoluted dealer network in Japan. They also market this car as the Toyota Tank.




And, you can also buy it as the Toyota Roomy


Then, Subaru wants to join in the fun and makes it the Subaru Justy


This but just one example.
I've had this thought so many times as I kept seeing the same cars but slightly different names and brands on the streets of Japan. Thinking, hell call me crazy, thats gotta be the same car.

[punkwax]

I’ve learned of many new things in this thread. Thanks RS

[wing_woo]

Great thread. I still remember the first time I saw the Toyota Cavalier. Had to do a double take on that one. Also found it weird that they used the Pontiac Vibe styling for the Matrix in Japan too. But then again, they loved American cars back during that time which is why the Ford Probe was sold in Japan as a Ford instead of marketing it as a Mazda.

Don't know about now though whether they still have the fascination of American cars anymore.

[Teriyaki]

Originally Posted by wing_woo

Great thread. I still remember the first time I saw the Toyota Cavalier. Had to do a double take on that one. Also found it weird that they used the Pontiac Vibe styling for the Matrix in Japan too. But then again, they loved American cars back during that time which is why the Ford Probe was sold in Japan as a Ford instead of marketing it as a Mazda.

Don't know about now though whether they still have the fascination of American cars anymore.

Yea, the Voltz was completely new to me. Wasn't around when they were on the road I guess. Have never seen one IRL though.

Anecdotal evidence, but I think it's always rather been a more niche market with the American fixation, atleast for cars. Roads are so much narrower, and garages especially are hard to come by. You do see the odd standout here and there though still. Some examples that come to mind are of course H1 Hummers, Chevy Tahoes (those old ones from the 90s), and those old GMC rape vans. Takes a certain character to want to drive those around the streets of Japan though IMO.

[coneZONE]

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the Honda Civic yet...
We’ve got the obvious ones that most of us [should] know, like 6th & 7th Civic is the 1.6 and 1.7 EL, the 8th Civic is the CSX...

But at the same time the Rodeo and Trooper was sold as the Passport and SLX, respectively, the 1st gen Odyssey was sold as Isuzu Oasis in the US. In Japan the Accord also sold as Isuzu Aska, and the Domani was sold as an Isuzu Gemini.

So back to the 6th gen Civic. It was engineered into the 2nd gen Honda Domani, which was rebadged as the Isuzu Gemini in Japan and the Acura 1.6 EL in Canada. It was also engineered into the wagon chassis Honda Orthia and Honda Partner, the latter being a commercial van. And then there was the Honda Integra SJ which was an EK3 sedan with the Honda Orthia front clip. Didn’t look anything close to an Integra haha. So basically of 7 models, 6 were sold by Honda themselves. And if we do some more digging, i think there’s something about the Rover 400 being engineered from the Domani as well
You can find that people swap Civic (type R) front clips onto Orthias, which i find pretty cool.

Also, Honda Europe sold a Civic 5dr wagon and Aerodeck with the 6th gen lineup. But it wasn’t an Orthia. It was a 1st gen Domani badged as a Civic, but 1st gen Domani was engineered from the 5th gen Civic.

[bcedhk]

AHHhhh I'm having a brain fart, who was the RS member that would post a bunch of random ass cars a decade or so ago? I wish he/she could chime in on this thread

[twitchyzero]

some of the japanese cars have the worst names

justy
laputa
integra
brat
homy
orthia

[TypeRNammer]

Originally Posted by bcedhk

AHHhhh I'm having a brain fart, who was the RS member that would post a bunch of random ass cars a decade or so ago? I wish he/she could chime in on this thread

Timpo?