Badge Engineering

[sirwiggum]

I guess it is the attitude that is stopping downsizing.

Driving a "Full Size" V8 sedan, then being asked to downsize to an I4 turbo "compact" saloon would be like you being asked to downsize from the 406 to a 206.
I know countrypug has done this successfully, but if you are used to a big car you probably still want a big car

[FarmerPug]

my car is an upsize from a clio, i prefer something the size of the 406, it just feels nicer.
But the engines in yank cars is the issue, surely you can take a big car and put a smaller more powerful engine in it.
Would that be possible on a range rover, put a scooby engine in it?

[sirwiggum]

my car is an upsize from a clio, i prefer something the size of the 406, it just feels nicer.
But the engines in yank cars is the issue, surely you can take a big car and put a smaller more powerful engine in it.
Would that be possible on a range rover, put a scooby engine in it?

My first car was a Clio, and then it got wrote off I used to the insurance money to upsize to a Ford Orion
It lasted about 6 months and was scrapped (although it did get round Scotland, England and Ireland North and South in it's short lifespan, albeit losing half the electrics halfway up England).

The issue is that if they put a small engine in it, the emissions would have constrained it. I know colleagues who drove a 2 litre Chrysler PT hire car trying to cross Colorado, and they said it didn't have the power to get up hills

Also if petrol is relatively cheap, you might as well put a big lazy V6/V8 in.

[FarmerPug]

So the americans are still driving big cars, and over in europe all the makers are putting smaller engines in cars, the new m5 is apparently downsizing from a N/A v10 to a twin turbo V8.

But back to badge engineering
Ive always had a suspicion over these two cars:

the 604, never much of a success, but i think peugeot rebadged it a talbot to try and shift a few:


they do look quite similar

[sirwiggum]

While Pug did badge engineer the 104 into the Samba, the Tagora had already been developed by Chrysler when PSA bought their European department.

What Pug did do was to re-engineer the car to accomodate PSA suspension, axles and engines, so some of the parts may have been interchangable with the 604, to save costs, but it was not based on the 604.

Speaking of big pugs:

The 605



Alfa Romeo 164



While the two looked very similar, the 605 was related to the XM whereas the 164 was related to the Saab 9000, Lancia Thema and Fiat Croma.

[sirwiggum]

Speaking of Clios



Nissan Platina

[FarmerPug]

the citroen fukang basically a zx for the chinese market.

A very good example of badge engineering:


does the chrysler 300c count its an old e class.

[sirwiggum]

I would say the 300 doesn't count as it is based on an E class, but not a rebadged E class, in the same way that the 406 is based on the Xantia platform, but isn't a rebadged Xantia.

The Daewoo Chairman is also based on the E class, although again different and not simply a rebadged E class



Their most famous rebadging effort was also sold as a Pontiac

[sirwiggum]

The Honda - Rover tie up had plenty of rebadged cars we saw here.

A few from the other side of the planet:

Honda Crossroad



Rover Quintet



Rover 416i

[FarmerPug]

the disco as a honda, that must have been the worlds most unreliable honda
The daywho chairman does look very like a rip off mercedes
this sangsong is even more a rip off of the s class:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SsangYong_ ... present.29
why would mercedes let them do this.

here is a bit of badge engineering, or copying, a chinese fiat panda:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_Peri

[sirwiggum]

Reading up on that Peri Peri Panda, I was laughing at the legal consequences.

Fiat sued Great Wall, got the Peri banned from Europe, and a €50k import fee.

Great Wall then sued Fiat, claiming "Fiat once instigated espionage to prowl into its research center and take photos of Peri small car that was still under development."

Most infamous Chinese copy was the Chery QQ.



GM sued Chery, and demonstrated that a Matiz's door would fit on a QQ without modification!

Bootleg Citroen ZX

[FarmerPug]

seat did a long range of rebadged fiats.

[sirwiggum]

seat did a long range of rebadged fiats.

This is very true.

Before VW took them over and turned them into a brand of MPVs and second hand A4s.

Marbella was the original Panda, and I remember the van was sold as the Terra.

They lost the licence and gave their version of the Ritmo (aka Strada) a mild makeover and sold it as the Seat Ronda. Fiat went pointy and took them to court.

And the Malaga, which wasn't a Fiat Regata as the Fiat Regata was a saloon based on the Fiat Ritmo whereas the Malaga was based upon the SEAT Ronda, a restyled version of the SEAT Ritmo which in its turn was a rebadged version of the Fiat Ritmo.

[sirwiggum]

wtf

[steve_earwig]

I see Fiat have facelifted the Multiplah again

And the Malaga, which wasn't a Fiat Regata as the Fiat Regata was a saloon based on the Fiat Ritmo whereas the Malaga was based upon the SEAT Ronda, a restyled version of the SEAT Ritmo which in its turn was a rebadged version of the Fiat Ritmo.

Confused? You won't be, after this week's episode of...Soap