It’s time once again for you to plumb the depths of your piston-power psyche as you ponder a speculative automotive scenario and return a well-honed reply when (pause for dramatic effect) The Autopian Asks!
This time, we’re talking about those great car concepts that fell short of what they could have been (or heck, never even made it to production) with the brands that originally spawned them, but would have been better/great/not garbage if another maker had the opportunity to manufacture the machine in question.
I asked the gang …
Thomas Hundal
The new electric Dodge Charger Daytona is an interesting proposition. Unfortunately, due to recent marketing efforts around V8s and traditional muscle cars, it’s also seeing some serious pushback from the community. However, you know what American car manufacturer could use a big, fast, electric three-door or five-door liftback and doesn’t have the baggage of the Hellcat engine? Chevrolet. Build in the budget for a brand new Chevelle with plenty of power and grand touring sensibilities, and GM would have a halo car for the Ultium platform that isn’t a completely unattainable handbuilt Cadillac.
The Bishop
I still think the Allante is a nice-looking car that never should have been flown by 747 to Detroit to be burdened by Cadillac underpinnings Also, nobody went to a Subaru dealership in 1992 for a $30,000 sport luxury coupe. SVX was doomed at the start Mazda 929 shoulda been a Jag. It would have sold. Again, nobody goes to a Mazda dealer for a big fancy luxury sedan.
Stephen Walter Gossin
The Crossfire should’ve actually been made by Chrysler, rather than brought to showrooms as a restyled Mercedes R170 (first-gen SLK) built by Karmann and badged as a Chrysler. The Chrysler guys could have used whatever plan/parts/chassis they were going to use for the Dodge Razor or Dodge Slingshot (or the other, similar prospects/concepts of the day) and made a car that wouldn’t require you to finagle discontinued $800 keys (In certain cases) from old Mercedes suppliers for a security system nobody supports 10 years after the cars were made om top of a myriad of parts and service-related challenges as a result of the divorce.
Which car (or cars) do you wish had come out of some other brand’s factory? To the comments!
Oh, here we go….
Remember the Last/3rd Gen Lincoln Towncar – the rather bulbous looking one that was in production for 15 years, and was introduced with a Hitler-moustache grille that was later widened into something sightly less fascist?
That car was designed to be an Aston Martin Lagonda – and it should have stayed a Lagonda.
…plus, it would have given space for Lincoln to build a proper Continental – such as the 2002 concept – which incidentally had an Aston Martin V12 engine embedded within it’s late-Panther platform.
If the Lucid Air had a Mercedes-Benz or Audi badge on the front – that lovely car would be selling in abundance.
You know what would have been a great Thunderbird in the early 90s -and would have been appropriate given the existing corporate alliance?
The Mazda/Eunos Cosmo.
Everything about that car says “Thunderbird”
Meanwhile, nothing about the Mazda 323-derived convertible of the 90’s was in any way a “Mercury Capri”
But would have made a great Mercury Capri – and gotten the jump on the 4-door coupe trend?
The Mazda Astina
Remember the Renault Espace? That would have been a great VW Transporter – or even a Ford Aerostar. That would have blown the GM Dustbusters out of the water – and given the Chrysler K-vans a run for their money.
Without going down a rabbit hole or sitting here Pondering™ for the next 5 hours, I’ll just say “if a foreign manufacturer made a full-size van in the U.S., such as Toyota.”
The idea that (using the aughts as an example here) we were stuck between E-series vans (myriad of problems I personally experienced, not including Triton spark plug issues I never experienced), Express/Savana (“4-L-slippy” and a stupidly complicated radio replacement process), or the Sprinter (Mercedes parts and labor pricing) is truly trying to choose the least bad option.
Then Nissan came along with something gorgeous and with a hood to maneuver in (…I hope…) and amber rear turn signals and the market didn’t give them a chance. Bollocks.
Friends of mine have a Nissan passenger van, and it’s pretty damn good.
Fisker Ocean.
It’s actually pretty neat, apart from the disaster of a company that made it. It would be a lot more compelling than the Busyforks, for example, if Toyota and their overwhelming competence had the design.
BYD would have made a killing out of it. Fisker design + BYD scale & supply chain integration = global dominance.
I mean I like the Fiero and would like one built better but the Toyota MR2 out fiero’ed the Fiero.
Oh I have some OPINIONS.
Not all of them are going to make sense and I don’t have time to explain, but I’ve given this very subject more thought than any rational person should. Here:
Jeep Wrangler but it’s a Toyota
Toyota Supra but It’s all Chevy Camaro chassis and powertrain
Honda Odyssey but with GMC styling in and out (It would absolutely have an off road package and an A-Team red stripe)
C7 Corvette but it’s a Cadillac
Dodge Charger Hellcat but it’s a Ford with the GT350 powertrain (The Galaxy!)
Kia Stinger but it’s a Buick (GNX!)
Suzuki Jimny but it’s a Chevy (obvious what we’d call it)
Toyota Corolla GR but it’s a Dodge that “goes like hell”
I could go on, but I won’t.
But I could.
i mean how different is a C6 chassis from a C7 Other than styling a 2nd Gen XLR would be close to a first gen
Jaguar X-type. A 3 series fighter Jag? that should be a runaway success in the early 2000’s! Oh it’s from Ford and based on the Mondeo? uh….
I’d like to think that any other ownership would have realized not to base a luxury sport sedan on a FWD Camry fighter. Should have been on a RWD platform at the very least
If the X Type had been introduced first, the Mondeo would have been perceived as a budget Jaguar.
It’s all about timing and perception.
The US got a Mitsubishi Lancer wagon somewhere around 2005-ish. I loved the design, thought it looked like a 3/4 scale Volvo V70. If someone besides Mitsubishi had made it, I’d have bought it.
Miata, obviously. Just kidding. I’ll see myself out
S2000, Sky, Speedster, and Solstice?
I think Honda did fine with the S2000, but the Sky/Solstice would have been much better from Toyota.
I want to say the Vega—but, then I can’t really name a domestic that would have done it right at that time. I rather like the look, and just hate that GM cut stuff to get down to $2k; no fender liners?
Anyone have an opinion on a manufacturer that would have done it better?
Well, if only proper rust protection were not a sin in GM’s religion at the time, I would say nobody else.
Maybe Toyota, if the Celica line had encompassed other body styles?
His thesis does throw an interesting wrench into the cogs.
What IF Chevy used more Opel components including the established 1.9 IHC four (at this point in time) and some Kadett components in the work.
Both my parents loved their Vegas, but the engine was garbage. One was running when the other was in the shop, and vice-versa.
The Opel GT/Manta had pretty good bones, and the GT only stopped production due to manufacturing limitations vs anything bad.
Maybe a Chevy/Opel Vega could have worked.
GM dusted off that book for the first gen Cruze.
Wow, Peter, you’re a master of the dramatic…pause!
I have a Triumph Acclaim which is a Honda Ballade built by BL Cars Ltd. and I have a Volvo 66 GL which is a DAF 66 built by Volvo Car BV. I think it’s fairly self-evident that I shouldn’t be encouraged, or indeed allowed, to express an opinion in this matter.
The PT Cruiser, built by Ford.
Ford was pretty good at doing retro (inspired, but not yet full on that is) cars in the early 2000s, and I’d loved have to have seen a modern take on a ’30s Ford/hot rod deuce coupe.
Also would have hit the baby boomer market at a really good point, spending-wise.
TBF, the PT hit the boomer market solidly and did very well riding that initial wave.
Chrysler just didn’t do anything with it once it came out, and demand trickled down.
If Ford had a design that was built on the 1st gen Focus platform that was a 30s styled hatchback available for 2006/2007, they probably wouldn’t have been able to make them fast enough. I’m guessing the only reason it didn’t happen is that Ford was in dire financial straits at the time and didn’t have the resources (financial or otherwise) and the executive will to make it happen. I can imagine it being a much better alternative to the HHR!
SO many small GM cars would have been better had anyone else built them.
Fiero, Saturn, spark, sonic, bolt, vega, etc.
A Ford Fiero designed and built with intent of, rather than fear of, cannibalizing Corvette sales would have have been awesome.
When will the automakers learn: you can only build a Corvette killer if you are not a GM division?