Naming cars has been described by our co-founder Beau as “the sport of kings,” and I think he’s right, though you don’t technically have to have royal blood to name a car. It probably wouldn’t hurt, though? It’s not easy, which is why I’m always a bit surprised when I see a car that, thanks to the confusing magic of badge engineering, has multiple names. This usually happens when one basic car is sold in different markets through different subsidiaries of a given company, and it can lead to a single car having a lot of different names. I used to think I knew the car that had more aliases than any other, but I now realize I was wrong. I think there’s a new champion, a car that I suspect most of us know best as the Suzuki Swift.
Specifically, I mean the second-generation Suzuki Swift, which we knew here in America as the Geo Metro, still the darling of charmingly weird hypermiler obsessives everywhere. Based on my count, the Swift is known by 15 different names in different markets across the globe. Fifteen! Fifteen different names, different badges, different marketing, different identities! Why? Wow!
I used to think the Hillman Avenger was the most badge-engineered and re-named car ever, with 13 different aliases:
- Hillman Avenger
- Chrysler Avenger
- Chrysler Sunbeam
- Sunbeam 1250 TC
- Sunbeam 1300
- Sunbeam 1600
- Talbot Avenger
- Plymouth Cricket
- Dodge Polara
- Dodge 1500 (Argentina/Uruguay/Colombia)
- Dodge 1800 (Brazil)
- Dodge Avenger (New Zealand, built by Mitsubishi)
- Volkswagen 1500
I mean, that’s a hell of a lot! But I still think the Swift has it beat. I’m also realizing I’m calling it the Swift, but I’m not even sure if that’s the “orginal” or “base” name. It may be Cultus, which is what it was known in Japan, its country of birth. Anyway, here – I put together a chart of the 15 Names of the Swift:
- Suzuki Swift (Global)
- Suzuki Esteem (Indonesia, sedan only)
- Suzuki Forsa (Ecuador, Indonesia)
- Suzuki Avail (Asia, somewhere I think)
- Suzuki Margalla (Pakistan, sedan)
- Changan Suzuki Lingyang (China, sedan only)
- Geo Metro (America, Canada)
- Chevy Sprint (Canada, Chile)
- Suzuki Eleny (Indonesia)
- Holden Barina (Australia)
- Maruti Suzuki 1000 (India, sedan)
- Pontiac Firefly (Middle East, Canada)
- Subaru Justy (Europe)
- Suzuki Amenity (Indonesia)
- Suzuki Cultus (Japan)
These names were sometimes used in combination (Forsa Amenity, for example) but I’ve also seen examples of the names used alone. It’s all a bit confusing, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find I’ve missed one or misused one or some combination of all of that, because this is, fundamentally, 15 freaking names for what is, essentially, the same damn car.
This isn’t even really a situation like, say, the Ford Mustang/Mercury Cougar badge engineering, where there were a lot of trim changes and design detail changes, and the cars were marketed at slightly different target markets; in the case of these 15 cars, aside from the names and a few badges, they’re all still pretty much identical!
Why did Suzuki feel so compelled to give this car such wildly different names? I mean, Firefly and Sprint and Metro and Swift are all damn fine car names, but it’s not like there’s one conceptual theme that could be considered a through-line here. They’re truly different, distinct names!
It’s baffling. And amazing. I’m decreeing the Suzuki Cultus/Swift/Esteem/Forsa/Avail/Margalla/Lingyang/Metro/Sprint/Eleny/Barina/1000/Firefly/Justy/Amenity the most re-named car of all time. If anyone has anything that can beat this, please, let me know in the comments! Because maybe there is a car out there with, say 20 names! I want to know!
(Also, for you geeks: see if you can tell the significance and order of the colors used in the chart!)Â
I think you should look at the Suzuki Kei trucks/vans. They had a similar pattern of renaming for markets and were badge engineered for large makers like Ford and GM across the globe. Additonal fact, I was able to swap in the full front disc brakes sourced from rockauto for a Suzuki Esteem onto my Suzuki Every Joypop as a bolton with just a change from 12in to 13in wheels. https://minitrucktalk.com/threads/sourcing-local-parts-for-front-brakes.22603/
Suzuki Every Joypop has to be the most whimsical vehicle name
Possibly, but I submit for consideration the Suzuki Carry van in its rebadged form – the Holden Scurry!
In the UK it had an even better name; the Bedford Rascal.
What’s funny about the Indonesian names is that they are all recycled from elsewhere: Forsa was used in a number of markets for the first gen (including Canada, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico!). The four-door sedan was sold as the Cultus Esteem in Japan (and Maruti Esteem in India). Amenity and Eleny were both equipment levels used for the JDM Cultus.
16. Chevrolet Swift (Colombia) (And maybe other South American countries)
Which was available in Coupe 1.0, 1.3 Twin Cam GTI, and sedan 1,300 and 1600 GLX
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/qD8AAOSwv-5g7wUp/s-l1600.jpg
And I thought 5th gen Chrysler Voyager had a lot of names: Chrysler Voyager, Chrysler Town&Country, Dodge Grand Caravan, Volkswagen Routan, Lancia Voyager. I realized this when I was looking for one and had to switch between different makers to find examples of the same car.
The ’70s Hillman Avenger was always a Hillman in NZ and never a Dodge (unlike the much later 2000’s-era Dodge Avenger that was sold 2007-2014 in NZ). Torch probably meant to say it was sold in South Africa as the Dodge Avenger.
Holden Barina, like all Holdens were sold in NZ, of course.
If that’s the Amenity-C in that picture, who besides me is both frightened by and curious about the amenities you get at levels D and below?
The Subaru Justy moving to being a rebadged Suzuki Cultus always made me sad. The original Justy had selective 4WD and a CVT that didn’t suck because it didn’t have fake shift points. Then they replaced it with the Cultus, which was as basic as an economy hatchback can be.
At least they still had standard AWD even when they were rebadged Suzukis.
Alright, I’m hesitant to post this but….
We had one of these with a box and a 15 in the back and we’d roll rocking Posse’s on Broadway while chugging Lucks and snorting rails.
Not my proudest moment but damned straight fun when we’d roll up to a light.
Everyone hated us.
We’d go mooch 15 bucks from my buddy’s future ex wife with the top down and giggling the whole time at her bank location, Sir Mix A Lot cranked on the system while we looked like idiots.
I have a soft spot for open top sprints.
You forgot the Chevy Metro. The Geo Metro was rebranded as the Chevrolet Metro starting in the 1998 model year.
It was also known as the Chevy Sprint Metro in the early days before the Geo brand spun off of Chevy.
I’m not surprised at all these Pontiac variants. Pontiac Canada was strange. Heck, Canada IS strange. Pontiac, like the rest of its GM brethren, had their own vehicles uniquely engineered to their own specifications, but Pontiac Canada also cars that were rebadged Chevrolets. And if Pontiac US dealers saw it, they wanted the same things too.
Anyone remember the Pontiac Parisianne? Pontiac Canada got this gussied-up Chevy Caprice for 1982 after the original full-sized Bonneville and Catalina were cancelled. Pontiac’s US dealers demanded some Parisiannes to sell, and some were even willing to defy GM’s wrath for bringing some from Canada. GM finally gave in, and the Parisianne officially arrived stateside in 1983.
If GM were to introduce a new brand, it would likely be named Pontiac, and made available in Canada, complete with rebadged Chevys. And then someone in the US will raise a stink demanding Pontiac to come back here.
I think the reason why so many Chevys were duplicated for the Pontiac lineup was the same reason many Fords were duplicated as Canadian Mercuries. At least for Ford, there were a number of towns where there was only one FoMoCo dealer – either Ford or Mercury – and to make a full range available in those areas something less expensive (or more specialized, like the early postwar Mercury pickup) than the regular line had to be offered. There was also a Meteor marque carrying lower-priced weight in Mercury showrooms in the early ’60s as well.
It was the same with Pontiac in the ’70s and ’80s with the Astre (Vega) and T-1000 (Chevette) as well as those you listed. High fuel prices and inflation boosted demand for inexpensive and fuel-saving cars in the US, so Pontiac dealers demanded their own entries into that end of the market. And by the early ’80s, when the Bonneville nameplate had been shifted to a version of the formal-roofed A-body sedan Olds and Buick used to replace the Aerobacks, full-sized cars were selling well again. and the margin on them was probably a lot higher than the margins on the Astre and the T-1000.
And those Pontiaca came after the 1965 Auto Pact, before which import tariffs meant it saved a lot of money to build Canadian-market cars in Canadian factories, which limited the breadth of domestic offerings that were becoming common in the US by the early ’60s because they couldn’t achieve the same economies of scale. That meant minor trim changes to basic Chevys and Fords that could be produced in volume locally had to suffice for brand differentiation.
“Pontiac’s US dealers demanded some Parisiannes to sell”
I could have sworn this was gonna end w/ “and then they were disgusted by the Parisiennes” (I think it’s w/ an “e”?) Ha ha
I actually like the Caprices (A family car was a Caprice station wagon) so naturally I do like the Parisiennes, even the name (w/ the exception of the diesel versions of course)
Close but not quite is the Swift’s replacement with 13 variants.
Chevrolet Aveo
Chevrolet Kalos
Chevrolet Lova
Chevrolet Nexia
Daewoo Gentra
Daewoo Kalos
Holden Barina (TK)
Pontiac G3
Pontiac G3 Wave
Pontiac Wave
Ravon Nexia R3
Suzuki Swift+
ZAZ Vida
Also, it’s probably not in the spirit of the thing, but a lot of German alphanumeric stuff might qualify. Like, the E60 5-Series has like 14 different nameplates based on different engine options before you get into the AWD (x-suffix), and the wagons (if they still had the t-suffix).
We simultaneously had this car sold as the Suzuki Swift and the Holden Barina. That’s not that weird, this was the era of prolific badge engineering in Australia. What was weirder was when Suzuki decided to drop the Swift Moniker and release the same car as the Suzuki Cino, within the same generation.
I’ll be pedantic and add a 15.5 as it’s a mix of two others – the Maruti Suzuki Esteem with a 1.3 litre engine replaced the 1000. Father in law had a 1000 and it was s-l-o-w. I had the Justy as a Subaru service loaner once. 4WD engaged by a button on top of the gear knob but otherwise nothing of interest.
the esteems were a popular rally car too, only second in popularity to the gypsy iirc
Its an Esteem. Its an import.
Man suzuki LOVES to do this. How about the Vitara?
There’s a high likelihood I missed some. And that’s just for the 1st generation! Crazy.
Hah! forgot: 15. Suzuki VItara
OOOH, 16. Escudo Nomade! I guess that’s sort of cheating, kinda like the Vitara/Grand Vitara, but I say it still counts.
17: Santana Vitara (before it became the Santana 300)
The chinese model names being like serial numbers gave me a good chuckle. They sure roll off the tongue!
I thought the second gen Jimny might beat it, but it only clocks in with 12 names.
3rd Gen Isuzu Faster (pickup):
Isuzu Rodeo (Japan and Thailand; 4WD only)
Isuzu Dragon Eyes (Thailand; 1996–2002)
Isuzu Dragon Power (Thailand; 2000–2002)
Isuzu Fuego (Philippines)
Isuzu Invader (Malaysia)
Isuzu Ippon (Israel)
Isuzu KB (South Africa)
Isuzu Pickup (North America)
Isuzu TF
Isuzu TFR (Thailand)
Isuzu TT Fortigo
Chevrolet LUV
Chevrolet T-Series (Egypt)
Holden Rodeo
Honda Tourmaster (Thailand)
Opel Campo
Vauxhall Brava (United Kingdom)
Bedford Brava (United Kingdom)
Foton SUP (China)
Jinbei Jindian SY10 (China)
JiangLing Baodian (China)
JiangLing Hunter (Philippines)
Winnerway ZH6500/ZH1021LU2 (China)
Xinkai Century (China)
Autorrad Century (China)
GMC Dragon (Mexico; 1996–2001)
GMC Invader (Mexico; 1998–2002)
I count 28 names.
All the boys think she’s a spy
She’s got an Isuzu Dragon Eyes.
It was known as the P’up in the U.S. That may or not be an additional moniker.
That was the 2nd gen.
How about the second-generation Isuzu Trooper?
Oooh, 12! So close. I’m not certain that this list is complete, either.
I thought the Holden Monterey was just a spec/trim variant of the Jackaroo and not a different model?
TBH even the HSV version was only really a trim package at the end of the day, but it was marketed as a ‘separate’ thing to the Holden so I’d still count that.
The Holden Monterey was what it got called in New Zealand, and yes there was a Holden Jackaroo Monterey trim in Australia too.
I think the Opel Kadett E beats this if you count Opel vs Vauxhall as different cars and include all of the Daewoo built variants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Kadett_E
I was thinking of the Kadett C and its Chevrolet Chevette american cousin and all of their siblingswith some bodystyles being specific to being specifig to a certain market. Let’s see:
I’m probably missing some latin american renames.
The GM T body was sold under 13 different brands, and a total of 29 (by my quick count, I could be wrong) Brand/Names. Muc more than the Swift.
Topical, too, since Marty from Mighty Car Mods is FINALLY working on his Isuzu Gemini
Those are all shared platform cars, but not just badge engineered. An Isuzu Impulse looks nothing like a Pontiac T1000, whereas in Jason’s post all of the cars he listed shared the same sheetmetal which is what usually defines “badge engineering.”
Not as many names as the Suzuki Swift, but close:
The fourth generation Mazda truck (global production from ’85-’98) had ten different names, six of which were all still badged as Mazdas:
Mazda B####
Mazda Bravo
Mazda Thunder
Mazda Fighter
Mazda Magnum
Mazda Proceed
It was also sold as the Ford Courier, Ford Raider, Ford Marathon and Forta FZ1022/ FZ5020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_B_series#Fourth_generation_(UF;_1985%E2%80%931998)
I’m in a post lunch fog and I thought Mazda B##### was you blurring out a not so nice name. I actually thought, did they have a vehicle called Mazda Bitch before B2000 popped in my head
Good try, but you forgot the Iranian Avenger and the frankly terrifying Avenger Tiger which I think might have been an SA only thing, I think there was a an Avenger Tiger cub too!
The Avenger Tiger was sold in the UK. It’s the hi-po trim level rather than a separate car.
It can still be added to the list, the ones with the V8 were not to be mucked with.
I would add to this that the fact that this was a viable car in nations of all economic levels puts the Cultus, etc on par with the Volkswagen Type I in terms if greatness. It would take deep research to add up sales volumes worldwide, but I bet the total would be pretty impressive!
How many of them were offered as convertibles? Was it just the Metro, or did other markets get to have the oddball joy of being frugal but fun too?
Canada had both Chevy Sprint and Pontiac Firefly convertibles.
Be still my heart – I would love to drive around in a Pontiac Firefly convertible. The name perfectly implies the sort of mild pleasure you’d get from driving around a happy little convertible like that.
At a certain point in my life when I used to do a lot of road trips, it seems like I was always seeing Metro convertibles being flat-towed behind motorhomes.
It kind of reminds me of the Doctor’s scarf.
Looking at it some more, they are also complementary colors from the center out.