For me, the clearest example of badge engineering/platform engineering is Rolls Royce and Bentley. Back in the day, the only way to tell them apart - close up - was to glance at the hood ornament or hubcaps. Otherwise, they were identical vehicles.
Actually, the radiator shell was different also, and that was the fastest way to tell the difference between a Rolls and a Bentley from a distance. Back in the early '60s, the cost difference between the “basic” Rolls sedan and the “basic” Bentley sedan was $300. Reputedly, that reflected the extra cost of fabricating the hand-made Rolls radiator shell.
"GM should have killed off Chevrolet Trucks and sold only GMC trucks at all of their dealerships nation-wide. "
I think that would be a mistake. There still too many buyers out there who still feel there is a difference between GMC and Chevy trucks. So much so, some might go to Ford if they could not buy a Chevy on a Chevy lot and were forced to buy a red neck’s GMC. Chevy dealer networks are more numerous and selling GMC on their lot might drive away the “real” truck buyer.
It took a while and and lots of articles to convince a friend, that there was a SAABaru, mechanically identical to the Subaru. This guy was very aware, usually, but a complete SAAB fanatic. He finally came to me and said, you’re right…but SAAB does do “the final inspection”…what ever that meant. Identity is EVERYTHING.
Dealers May Have A Different Perspective And Their Loyal Customers, too.
Not Everybody Lives In A City Where There Are Dealers On Every Corner.
I live in a very rural resort/recreational area (that’s the main industry). The nearest town, with car dealers, is 20 miles away. There are no Asian or European car dealers there or anywhere near there.
My nearest small town (my town) that has the dealers has a Ford/Jeep dealer (grandfathered Jeep), a Chevrolet/Buick dealer, and a Cadillac/GMC dealer. Each has been in business forever and has generations of loyal repeat customers.
It really hurt the Cadillac/GMC dealer when they lost the entire Pontiac line. It gave them a wider range of vehicles to sell to a larger audience when they had Pontiac. They had that neon Chielf on their window for decades. With lost sales/service, I think they will eventually have to close this dealer, giving customers fewer options.
All 3 competing dealers sell pick-up trucks. It would really hurt one of 2 of the dealers if GM scrapped either Chevrolet pick-ups or GMC pick-ups.
It hurts the customers, too. Some have long working relationships with dealers and the personnel.
CSA
Just an aside but the most ambitious ( or stupid I suppose) was GM rebadging a J-body Cavalier as a Cadillac. WTF were they thinking? Take a Cavalier, cram some cheesy leather seats in it, some cosmetic trim and call it a Cadillac Cimarron. I’d love to meet the Cadillac buyers who were duped into buying one of these.
Mike
…and to add insult to injury, IIRC, those Cimarrons were priced at approximately double the cost of a Cavalier!
One of the best reasons to have both Chevrolet C truck stores is that someone owns the dealerships. How do you tell either the GMC or Chevy truck dealers that they are out of business? And it is always better to lose business to another of your products.
Back in the mid to late 1930s and in the early 1940s (before WW II) Chrysler sold pickup trucks under both the Dodge and Plymouth nameplates. The trucks were practically identical, although I think that the Plymouth truck had a slightly smaller displacement engine. I imagine this was done because Chrysler corporation had three different dealer franchises: 1) Dodge/Plymouth; 2) DeSoto/Plymouth; 3) Chrysler/Plymouth. The Dodge/Plymouth dealers really had the advantage in that the Dodge was in the more affordable just above the low priced three (Chevrolet, Ford, Plymouth) and Dodge also had a truck to sell. My guess is that the DeSoto/Plymouth and Chrysler/Plymouth dealers wanted a truck to sell as well.
The four cars sold by Chrysler were all different up through 1950. The Plymouth had a smaller body and a 217 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine. The Dodge got the senior body and had the same block as the Plymouth engine but with a longer stroke giving it 230 cubic inch displacement. The DeSoto had the senior body with the bigger six cylinder block that displaced 236 cubic inches. The Chrysler had the bigger six cylinder block, but the engine was stroked to 250 cubic inches and Chrysler offered an inline 8 of 322 cubic inch displacememt. The cars were all different. My parents at one timed owned both a 1947 Dodge and a 1947 DeSoto and the DeSoto was a far better car than the Dodge. However, in the later 1950s, the Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler became more alike and there was no need for the DeSoto. In the mid-1950s, Chysler added the Imperial which knocked the Chrysler out of the flagship position. Sometime in the 1960s, the Imperial went from having its own chassis to just a gussied up Chrysler. Ultimately, Dodges became rebadged Plymouths and the Chysler squeezed out DeSoto from the top and Imperial from the bottom. I guess not as many nameplates are needed if all the cars are essentially the same.
@Triedaq. , you are right. The Dodge had a 262 cubic inch motor while the Plymouth was only 4.3 liters.
Dag,I thought 4.3 was about the same as 262 cid?-Kevin
km–1 liter = 61 c.i., so a 4.3 liter engine actually displaces 262.3 c.i.
Dagosa was being sarcastic.
I lived in Europe shortly after WWII. Chrysler Corp. had Dodge, Fargo, Plymouth and De Soto trucks. These trucks were supplied under the Marshall Plan and other countries like Canada also helped out. Hence the proliferation of names.
GM had Chevrolet, Maple Leaf (GM Canada), and GMC truck lines… All the same except for the badges.
In England British Leyland was the master of badge engineering, with (for example) various versions of the Mini coming out in MANY different models/makes.
Thanks,VDC-Kevin
“you are right. The Dodge had a 262 cubic inch motor while the Plymouth was only 4.3 liters”.
@dagosa
Actually, the prewar Plymouth truck had a 201 cubic inch engine and the Dodge had a 217 cubic inch engine. I’ll leave it to you to convert it to liters.
OK ‘‘badge engineering’’ specialists…
What is now equal to what was the Pontiac Solstice ? anything ?
Nope, the Saturn Sky was, but it’s gone, too. There may still be an equivalent Opel, if you want to move to Germany!
VCDriver, I don’t intend to dispute you. I too thot the Chevy Blazer, the GMC Jimmy, and the Olds Bravada, were the same, but I discovered that some, if not all, Beavadas had a 3.1 V6 instead of the 4.3 that the Chevy and GMC models had.
@kevin Just checking to see if anyone was Paying attention…
TRideq, I believe that 4.3 liters figures out to be very close to 262 cubic inches.
I don’t know how this took so much space.
q