Ugly, weird, silly, and just plain stupid car rebadges

  • Thread starter Turbo
  • 287 comments
  • 56,872 views
Liquid
The Vauxpel Kadastra E also took on the glorious incarnation as both the Pontiac Le Mans and the Daewoo Le Mans Racer

Pontiac_LeMans_GSS.jpg


20101003_daewoo_new_lemans_van_02.jpg
Click to expand...

Random point, but I love how you picked the most haggard, trashy examples possible. May not have even been deliberate; I suspect most of these are scrapped now!
 
INEEDNAWZZZ
Random point, but I love how you picked the most haggard, trashy examples possible. May not have even been deliberate; I suspect most of these are scrapped now!
Click to expand...
Here are some photos of these cars in better condition:

Pontiac LeMans:



Daewoo LeMans Racer:



Oddly enough, it appears the Daewoo version had both Daewoo and Pontiac badging on it...
 
Nissan Sunny (or whatever you call it in your area)

nissan-sunny-1-6-s-saloon-automatic-2006-8211809.png


Was sold as a...Renault Samsung SM3

eYTRD108-091.jpg

----
Chevrolet Niva

chevroletniva-2.jpg


Based on the Lada of the same name:

S7-Lada-4x4-son-remplacant-debarquera-en-2018-106332.jpg


---
Bitter Vero
photo_1_bitter_vero_v8_12_28802_original.jpg


Yep...this is based on the VE Commodore
 
Just found out that the third-generation Dodge Caravan was rebadged as the Sanxing G-Star for the Chinese market.



 
Turbo
I had mentioned that rebadge earlier. It certainly doesn't live up to its name.
Click to expand...
Must be a modern day reminder that the Challenger in the '80s was basically a Mitsubishi.
 
RandomCarGuy17
Ford Verona (it reminds me of the Tempo)
ford-verona-01.jpg


It got rebadged as a Volkswagen Apollo, I didn't think I would ever see a Ford rebadged as a VW, but whatever I guess.
Click to expand...

Which in it's self was a lightly restyled Ford of Europe Escort/Orion.
 
Mazda Navajo, a rebadged first-generation Ford Explorer. Strangely enough, it was only available in 2-door configuration.





Compared to other rebadges, this was a massive sales flop. The explorer which it was based on was consistently selling over 400k units annually, while the Navajo couldn't even surpass 40k units even on it's best year.
 
RandomCarGuy17
Oh, I'm well aware of that.
Click to expand...
I'd argue that because it's what the company does, the existence of such vehicles shouldn't be seen as unusual. What I find unusual, or would if the reason wasn't apparent, is the inconsistency of badge engineering at GM...why was there never an Olds or Buick version of the Camaro/Firebird? The Corvette?

Ugly is subjective, of course, and while one might not find one or more of those examples particularly attractive, the areas where each differ from the base conform to design language exhibited on other models sharing the same nameplate. Perhaps what's ugly isn't actually ugly at all, but instead unfamiliar--unfamiliar because the one car most likely seen if the characteristics unique to each nameplate aren't in view is a Nova. That's probably due in part to that particular generation of the Nova (the third, for those interested) having been on the road for three years before the clones were made available; and this is the truly odd thing to me, when GM rollouts were, and still are, pretty synchronized.
 
1992-1995 GMC Chevette







This rebadge had nothing to do with the Chevrolet Chevette or even the Vauxhall Chevette; instead it was based off the Opel Kadett D. The GMC Chevette is the only vehicle branded as a GMC that is not a truck, crossover, or SUV, and it was sold only in Argentina. And that's not even the strangest part; the Kadett D's design had dated back to 1979 and ended production in 1984, therefore the GMC Chevette had a 13 year-old design when it hit the market.

​
 
Turbo
This rebadge had nothing to do with the Chevrolet Chevette or even the Vauxhall Chevette; instead it was based off the Opel Kadett D. The GMC Chevette is the only vehicle branded as a GMC that is not a truck, crossover, or SUV, and it was sold only in Argentina. And that's not even the strangest part; the Kadett D's design had dated back to 1979 and ended production in 1984, therefore the GMC Chevette had a 13 year-old design when it hit the market.​
Click to expand...
I'm guessing the idea behind it was to do the same thing Nissan is doing with the revived Datsun marque, and use GMC in developing countries as their entry market brand. Around that time period it was still synonymous with utility vehicles and not option-gorged rebadge SUVs, so it wouldn't have been too out of place to be used as a cheap car brand. And it certainly wouldn't be the first time a carmaker had recycled an old European design for the South American market.
 
1993-1996 Honda Jazz





Nope, not the compact hatch you're probably thinking of; this was the original Honda Jazz. Essentially, it was the result of Honda and Isuzu's partnership during the 1990s. The Honda Jazz was a rebadged Isuzu MU/Amigo exclusively for Japan.​
 
The Last Gen Pontiac GTO was sold as a Holden/Vauxhall Monaro
And the G8 is a rebadged commodore

Panoz
2751111520481581600x1060.jpg


A Toyota iQ dressed up as the Aston Martin Cygnet.

Maybe the highest markup of all time for a rebadge?
Click to expand...


Who wants to buy our luxury shopping trolley?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Turbo
1993-1996 Honda Jazz



Nope, not the compact hatch you're probably thinking of; this was the original Honda Jazz. Essentially, it was the result of Honda and Isuzu's partnership during the 1990s. The Honda Jazz was a rebadged Isuzu MU/Amigo exclusively for Japan.​
Click to expand...

OPEL Frontera ..in europe !

IR
 
CSMDuty11
Aw man, and here I thought the US Lumina was
6039_800x600_gt7.jpg

Also most mainland-Europe got for Holden products was an unofficial import with the Bitter Vero that was stupid expensive
....And it was also ugly
Click to expand...

Well to be fair it is still a Lumina, just with the added APV. The Lumina (sans APV) was a sedan or coupe in the early 90's, with the coupe version becoming the Monte Carlo in the mid 90's.
 

Latest Posts

Back