Ever walked right into a automotive showroom feeling such as you’re starring in “The Truman Present” – the place all the pieces appears actual however one thing’s suspiciously acquainted? Welcome to badge engineering – the automotive world’s biggest magic trick. It’s how producers promote principally the identical automobile underneath totally different model names whereas altering simply sufficient to make you assume you’re shopping for one thing distinctive. Like an identical twins sporting totally different outfits to idiot their dates.
This company sleight-of-hand isn’t simply intelligent advertising and marketing – it’s sensible economics. Automakers slash improvement prices quicker than a hedge fund supervisor cuts jobs, whereas concentrating on totally different pockets sizes with primarily the identical mechanical bits.
For you, the savvy shopper who can spot these automotive doppelgängers, it means doubtlessly getting that luxurious automotive expertise whereas paying Honda costs. The badge recreation is afoot.
13. The Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ: Twins Separated at Start
The Toyota 86 household (together with the Scion FRS, GT86, and GR86) and Subaru BRZ are the automotive equal of that Spider-Man pointing meme. Each pack Subaru’s 2.4L flat-4 boxer engine pumping out 228 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. These mechanical siblings tip the scales at a svelte 2,800 lbs – concerning the weight of a hippo’s leg – making them correct driver’s automobiles with shared chassis and transmission choices.
Look nearer although, and also you’ll spot the refined variations between these Japanese dance companions. The BRZ wears softer shock tuning for each day driving consolation – assume slippers versus monitor footwear. In the meantime, the 86 comes with firmer suspension that corners flatter than Kansas. Every will get its personal taste of traction management programming too.
12. Basic Motors’ Truck Technique: Silverado and Sierra
The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are company cousins sharing a lot DNA they may swap kidneys. Each vehicles roll on an identical platforms with the identical engine lineup – from the two.7L turbo 4-cylinder that drinks prefer it’s on a weight loss plan to the brawny 6.2L V8 that guzzles gas as if the Nineteen Seventies by no means ended. The 3.0L Duramax diesel choice offers each vehicles sufficient torque to tug a small moon into orbit whereas delivering gas financial system that gained’t require a second mortgage.
The place these vehicles diverge is of their Sunday garments. The Sierra struts round with fancy LED headlights, chrome that blinds satellites, and a six-function tailgate so intelligent it virtually deserves its personal engineering diploma. Step as much as the Denali trim and also you’re principally in a leather-wrapped luxurious condominium with wooden trim harvested from enchanted forests.
In the meantime, the Silverado retains issues workman-like, specializing in the enterprise of being a truck quite than impressing the nation membership valet. It’s the identical actor in two totally different costumes – one taking part in a development employee, the opposite a company govt.
11. Chrysler’s Minivan Evolution: The Household Hauler Multiverse
Chrysler invented the trendy minivan again when shoulder pads have been trend statements, then proceeded to clone it quicker than characters in a sci-fi film. The Dodge Caravan, Chrysler City & Nation, Pacifica, and Voyager all sprang from the identical household tree, concentrating on everybody from budget-conscious soccer mother and father to luxury-seeking executives who occurred to have produced a number of offspring.
Beneath their pores and skin, these household haulers shared mechanical hearts – the 3.6L Pentastar V6 pumping out 283 horsepower via a six-speed computerized transmission. This engine has the passion of a labrador pet regardless of having to maneuver what quantities to a small condominium constructing.
The City & Nation added leather-based seats softer than a remedy session and audio techniques that made live performance halls jealous, whereas all variations featured the sensible Stow ‘n Go seating system – the closest factor to automotive origami ever invented. Later, the Pacifica arrived with a nine-speed gearbox and hybrid choice that allow suburban mother and father silently stalk their neighborhoods like automotive ninjas.
10. Ford and Mazda’s SUV Collaboration: The Company Roommates
When Ford and Mazda shacked as much as create the Escape and Tribute in 2001, they have been principally roommates who shared all the pieces however toothbrushes. These SUVs have been mechanical twins constructed on the identical platform, powered by an identical engines starting from a modest 2.0L four-pot to a extra muscular 3.0L V6 pushing 200 horses – about what you’d must outrun the style police for driving an early 2000s compact SUV.
Constructed facet by facet within the identical Kansas Metropolis manufacturing facility, these SUVs have been so comparable they most likely confused their very own designers. The one actual distinction? The Mazda dealt with corners with barely extra enthusiasm, whereas the Ford floated over bumps with the consolation of your favourite recliner.
Their relationship standing finally modified to “it’s difficult” when Mazda moved on with the sleeker CX-7 and later the CX-5, whereas Ford gave the Escape in depth cosmetic surgery in 2013. Like highschool sweethearts going separate methods at commencement, this automotive pair finally grew aside regardless of their shared beginnings.
9. Luxurious Badge Engineering: When Nissan and Mercedes Had a Child
Within the automotive equal of placing caviar on a hamburger, Mercedes-Benz tried slapping its prestigious three-pointed star onto Nissan’s workhorse pickup truck. The ensuing X-Class was primarily a Nissan Navara/Frontier sporting a designer swimsuit, sharing chassis, suspension, and drivetrain elements like children swapping lunch objects.
Energy got here from both Nissan’s 2.3L twin-turbo diesel with 187 horsepower or Mercedes’ personal 3.0L V6 diesel – the latter being the one real piece of German engineering within the combine.
Mercedes tried to fancy-up the package deal with a wider physique, LED headlights brighter than a Hollywood premiere, and an inside wrapped in supplies really value touching. However truck consumers aren’t simply fooled – they noticed the Nissan bones quicker than youngsters establish a substitute instructor.
The market responded with all the passion of a cat being bathed, and Mercedes pulled the plug in 2020 after simply three years.
8. Volkswagen Group’s Platform Technique: The Touareg and Cayenne Connection
The Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne are the automotive equal of fraternal twins raised in numerous neighborhoods – one despatched to army college, the opposite to a Swiss ending academy.
Born from the identical VW Group womb, these SUVs share core structure however diverged quicker than plot traces in a cleaning soap opera. Porsche engineers tuned the Cayenne to nook prefer it’s auditioning for a task in “Quick and Livid,” whereas Volkswagen made the Touareg as comfortable and capable off-road as a mountain goat in reminiscence foam booties.
Beneath their distinctly styled sheet metallic, these Germanic siblings share a smorgasbord of engines – all the pieces from smart V6s to thunderous V8s and even a ridiculous 5.0L V10 TDI diesel with sufficient torque to change Earth’s rotation.
The Touareg packed severe off-road {hardware} with locking differentials and adjustable air suspension that would rise increased than a young person’s eyebrows when given automotive keys for the primary time. In the meantime, the Cayenne bought sharper steering and sportier suspension calibration that sacrificed some consolation within the title of dealing with prowess. Similar recipe, two very totally different flavors – and each commanding costs that make accountants weep.
7. Honda’s SUV Entry Via Badge Engineering: The Passport Identification Disaster
The Nineties Honda Passport was automotive catfishing earlier than catfishing was a factor. Honda, determined to hitch the booming SUV gold rush however missing a correct entry, merely slapped its badges on an Isuzu Rodeo quicker than you possibly can say “company shortcut.” This automotive costume change fooled roughly nobody, as each automobiles shared all the pieces from frames to engines – starting from a wheezy 2.6L four-cylinder to a extra respectable 3.2L V6 placing out 205 horsepower.
Constructed at Isuzu’s Indiana manufacturing facility, the Passport acquired beauty adjustments so minimal they wouldn’t even qualify as a Hollywood celeb’s “minor work.” Honda principally redesigned the grille, modified the badges, and referred to as it a day – the automotive equal of sporting a faux mustache as a disguise.
The Passport experiment lasted till 2002 when Honda lastly developed the Pilot – an SUV really designed by Honda engineers quite than borrowed from a company accomplice’s closet. It’s like borrowing your roommate’s garments for a job interview earlier than lastly shopping for your individual swimsuit.
6. Efficiency Siblings: The RSQ8 and Urus – When Germans and Italians Share Custody
The Audi RSQ8 and Lamborghini Urus are what occurs when German engineering has a passionate weekend with Italian design – then shares joint custody of the ensuing offspring. These super-SUVs are essentially the identical automobile beneath their dramatically totally different exteriors, each using on Volkswagen Group’s MLB Evo platform and packing twin-turbocharged 4.0L V8 engines that make abnormal SUVs seem like they’re shifting in sluggish movement.
The RSQ8 churns out 591 horsepower whereas the Urus, with typical Italian dramatic aptitude, bumps that to 641 – simply sufficient further to win arguments at stoplight drag races.
Each these mechanical siblings can teleport to 60 mph in about 3.5 seconds – physics-defying efficiency for automobiles weighing greater than a small battleship. The RSQ8 even held the Nürburgring lap document for SUVs, proving that German engineers don’t consider within the legal guidelines of physics. The place they diverge is in persona – the Urus wears bodywork that appears prefer it’s able to struggle you in a nightclub parking zone, with knife-edge styling and steering sharp sufficient to slice prosciutto.
The RSQ8, in the meantime, retains issues understated and comfy, like a hitman in a bespoke swimsuit. Similar mechanical recipe, two very totally different flavors – one screaming for consideration, the opposite quietly assured in its capabilities.
5. Basic Motors’ Sporty Convertibles: The Roadsters That Time Forgot
The Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice have been GM’s try to show they may construct sports activities automobiles that didn’t require evacuation of small cities after they crashed. These badge-engineered roadsters shared GM’s Kappa platform and really managed to be genuinely enjoyable – stunning everybody who remembered GM’s earlier sports activities automotive makes an attempt.
The bottom fashions got here with a 177-horsepower engine that offered sufficient pep, however the turbocharged GXP and Pink Line variations packed 260 horses – sufficient to make Miata house owners develop a sudden curiosity of their footwear when parked subsequent to you.
These mechanical twins got here with guide transmissions that made driving them really feel such as you have been really doing one thing different than simply pointing and clicking, as with trendy automobiles. Tragically, these funky little roadsters bought Thanos-snapped out of existence when GM’s chapter vaporized each Saturn and Pontiac manufacturers in the course of the financial recession.
4. Worldwide Badge Engineering: The Chevrolet SS and Holden Commodore VF Conspiracy
The Chevrolet SS and Holden Commodore VF uncovered GM’s secret worldwide romance – an Australian-American love baby shipped throughout oceans quicker than you possibly can say “G’day, mate.” These mechanical twins packed the legendary LS3 engine – a 6.2L V8 monster producing over 400 horsepower that would wake the useless in neighboring counties.
But someway these rocket-powered household sedans managed gas financial system that wouldn’t instantly bankrupt you, reaching the automotive equal of getting each cake and barely smaller cake.
These mechanical doppelgängers blended consolation and efficiency like an ideal smoothie, providing a guide transmission choice when most sedans have been abandoning stick shifts quicker than teenagers abandoning Fb. In the present day, their values are skyrocketing like Bitcoin in 2017 as fanatics lastly acknowledge what they missed – sensible four-door efficiency automobiles that didn’t require a belief fund to buy.
These undercover muscle automobiles symbolize the final gasp of smart pace earlier than crossovers took over the world like an invasive species, leaving us nostalgic for a time when household automobiles may do burnouts worthy of a Hollywood motion sequence.
3. Platform Siblings: The Porsche Boxster and Cayman Fable
The Porsche Boxster and Cayman relationship exposes the largest automotive conspiracy because the electrical automotive documentary – the parable that convertibles can’t sustain with coupes. These mid-engine siblings share extra elements than an identical twins share DNA, differing primarily in whether or not your hair will get tousled throughout spirited driving.
The hardtop Cayman visually flexes tougher, trying notably swole in GT4 and GT4 RS spec, whereas the Boxster lets the solar shine in your more and more receding hairline.
Porsche reserves its most excessive efficiency variants for the Cayman, like mother and father choosing a favourite baby. But when equally geared up, these automobiles carry out so equally that any perceived variations require tools extra delicate than a young person’s emotions. Each ship the razor-sharp dealing with that makes Porsche engineers smirk knowingly at each other throughout boardroom tables.
2. American-Japanese Partnership: The Toyota Corolla and Geo/Chevrolet Prizm Switcheroo
The Geo/Chevrolet Prizm stands as essentially the most blatant automotive identification theft since Nicolas Cage stole 50 automobiles in “Gone in 60 Seconds.” This shameless rebadge was actually a Toyota Corolla with totally different logos slapped on, constructed on the identical NUMMI manufacturing facility in California the place staff most likely bought confused about which badges to put in earlier than espresso break.
These mechanical clones shared all the pieces – engines, transmissions, even the place of cup holders that have been inevitably too small for American-sized drinks.
This company cosplay gave budget-conscious consumers entry to Toyota’s bulletproof reliability with out the Toyota tax. You may primarily purchase Japanese engineering via a GM vendor – the automotive equal of getting name-brand cereal in a generic field.
Whereas customers scored offers, GM bought dependable compact automobiles with out really studying easy methods to construct them, and Toyota quietly infiltrated extra American driveways than they may via their very own sellers. It was the proper automotive Computer virus – a Japanese automotive in American garments that confused patriotic automotive consumers in every single place.
1. Mainstream to Luxurious: The Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ Identification Disaster
The Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ exhibit what occurs when your middle-class cousin marries into outdated cash. These platform-sharing sedans are primarily the identical automotive beneath, however one retailers at common malls whereas the opposite insists on boutiques.
Each sedans share bones, engines, and primary structure – however Lincoln desperately tried to persuade consumers that their model justified a vital value premium with fancy LED headlights and leather-based gentle sufficient to make cows voluntarily donate their hides.
Lincoln’s technique relied on consumers not trying too intently on the similarities – the automotive equal of promoting Walmart cookies in Tiffany packaging. The MKZ acquired fancier styling cues and upscale advertising and marketing that positioned it alongside European luxurious manufacturers, whereas the Fusion remained the good choice for individuals who calculate their cost-per-mile.
Each supplied in depth personalization choices so consumers may trick themselves into pondering they’d created one thing distinctive – just like how everybody thinks their avocado toast recipe is particular. This method retains increasing as automakers understand sharing elements throughout manufacturers is cheaper than really growing distinctive automobiles.
About The Author
