Today The Autopian published Sam Abuelsamid’s review of the Jeep Wagoneer S, an electric Jeep SUV sharing most of its name with a body-on-frame, Hurricane inline-six powered vehicle in the Jeep lineup. Both these vehicles in the Jeep lineup are — like the Jeep XJ and ZJ before — leveraging the name of one of the most legendary nameplates in history, one based on a beautiful Brooks Stevens-designed vehicle whose production run lasted from the early 1960s until 1991. Most remember that car from the show Breaking Bad, the moving Without a Paddle, the label of Founders IPA, or any other number of appearances, which is why Jeep keeps bringing it back. But while the new Wagoneers could be considered a blasphemous take on the old Wagoneer given their lack of woodgrain, it’s definitely not the worst example.
So, I think the most obvious example of “misuse” of a legendary brand name might be the Ford Mustang Mach-E, but that’s actually a decent vehicle, plus I’m a Jeep person so I’m just going to vent a bit about the Jeep Cherokee “KJ” model for a bit (this was called the Liberty in the U.S.). I realize that there are some other, modern examples of legendary names being chucked on vehicles without an ounce of the original’s soul/capability, but the KJ Cherokee/Liberty sticks out to me because of just how much of a downgrade it was over the XJ it succeeded.
To be sure, on paper, it was an upgrade. It had more power, a better ride, an updated interior, and more space. But the problem was: It gave up three key things that made its predecessor so great: Off-road capability, reliability, and soul.
The old Jeep Cherokee XJ was an off-road billygoat, with a solid front axle that offered articulation, durability, and above all, lift-ability. It’s a key reason why you see so many lifted XJs, and that’s a key reason why they’re so legendary in the off-road scene.
The successor, the Cherokee/Liberty, had a smooth independent front suspension, it it wasn’t as durable, couldn’t be fixed as easily, and didn’t offer the articulation or lift-ability. What’s more, the 3.7-liter V6 was a clear downgrade from a reliability standpoint, and thanks to the added weight over the predecessor, it really didn’t feel any quicker or more efficient. What’s more, the Liberty’s transmission was also a major reliability downgrade. All these compromises, plus the softer, more-forgettable styling, make the Jeep Cherokee/Liberty KJ a blasphemous sequel in my eyes. I’ll admit that these days I’m starting to come around to the styling a bit, but it’s blasphemous nonetheless.
But there are so many more examples. What do you consider the most blasphemous use of a legendary nameplate?
Images: Jeep
Pontiac LeMans.
The car that become the GOAT.
And a Korean built cheap Opel economy car.
Depending on the year.
A car that depreciated 60% in the first year, according me my at the time current KBB guide
Late 70’s Challenger
https://www.dodgegarage.com/news-api/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/1978-Dodge-Challenger-ad-e1614949694513.jpg
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 78 Challenger is the best generation Dodge Challenger. Yeah the second gen from 78-83 is the best! I mean, it’s actually a real car with real engineering behind it and real build quality too 😀
Cannot tell if you’re being sarcastic, or making a cry for help….
HATER! 😛
Yeah, my dad wanted the Mitsubishi version, I thought it was junk, and the 626 was better. He bought the 626 and by all accounts it was a fine car serving him well and my sister an I were fine in the back seat during road trips. Well when the Mazda got totaled (freak accident, a Fiesta literally fell on him at a traffic light) he went on a hunt for the Sapporo, found one, and was constantly repairing it. Being the stubborn SOB he was he refused to replace it, or even admit it wasn’t a fine vehicle. Thankfully for all involved, and my parents property value, it finally died. the wheel wells completely rotted, and the driver’s door skin flapped in the breeze, but hey, the lady still told you when the lights were on. He traded it for a first gen Talon, I say “traded” more likely he left it at the Chrysler dealership and sped away in the Talon..
Wait, are you saying a Mitsubishi rusted faster than a Mazda? Is that even possible? 😛
My eyes! Warn us before we click on something so heinous.
I don’t feel all that strongly about name revivals other than it can feel like pandering. Eclipse Cross would be up there, Wagoneer too – I don’t think needs retro styling or woodgrain applique, just kind of a silly use.
I think the Trailblazer reuse is worse than Blazer. The current Blazer is probably about what it would have been like if the nameplate had never left. The average customer probably would think of S10 Blazers more than K5s.
The earlier TrailBlazers, both S10 and GMT360 based, may have been bottom of the rung on the GM ladder but could tow, some off road chops, load up with luxury features. New Trailblazer probably isn’t even as tough as an old Tracker but that name would fit, only it’s a different global Chevy crossover now.
Smaller in scope: Corolla FX Special Edition. Those that do have memories and care of the old Corolla FX aren’t buying into a tape and trim job on a Corolla sedan.
Has to be that Eclipse – Eclipse Cross mess.
As a former owner of multiple DSMs this is the one that upsets me the most.
Totally. The Eclipse GSX was one of the coolest cars in the 90’s. Putting the name on a boring crossover isn’t going to help one sell.
While not egregious, I have always been confused by that period in the mid-late 00s when VW decided to bring back the Rabbit name instead of continuing on with the Golf. I’m pretty sure I still called it a Golf whenever I encountered one despite what the badge said.
I had one, it always confused people. They thought I drove a 1977 instead of a 2007.
I think the question was why call it the Rabbit to begin with and if so why shift back to Golf? I mean only about 6 people in the US knew VW was using the wind nomenclature at the time..
Mustang Mach-E is the worst. And I drive one. I just call it a Mach-E.
Mustang Mockery
Mustang Maquis.
In it’s defense, it is one of the more sporty EVs. My buddy loves his. He named it Sall-E. Now que some Wilson Picket.
I don’t mind the name revivals as long as the new version has some sort of clear connection to whatever old version people are splooshing over on the auction sites. The new NSX was still a high performance sports car, for example. If you pry the my little boomer badges (thanks Mr. Regular!) off the off the Mach-E and just call it the Mach-E the blasphemy is gone, so that one doesn’t bother me. I’ve even stopped caring about the EclipseCross because the prior two generations of the Eclipse had already ruined the name by going from turbo sports cars to personal luxury cars based on a midsize sedan.
I guess most of these revivals don’t bother me. I understand why people who love the old school BOF Blazers were pissed when it came back in its current form. My in-laws had one and it is a good vehicle in the CUV market, but it’s nothing like the cheap and rugged truck that it was before.
One reason why I don’t have a problem with Blazer is the same reason you don’t have a problem with the EclipseCross. There were two generations of Blazer/Trailblazer that were unremarkable at best.
In most of the rest of world, the Infiniti EX was called the Skyline Crossover. And you could option it with a turbo diesel.
well the diesel has torque for burnouts, so that counts for something to those drifters 😉
I’m surprised nobody has said Dodge Hornet yet.
Doc Hudson rolling over in his grave!
And Sherriff Pepper rolling over in the back seat.
And for the best re-use of nameplate, I humbly submit the upcoming Ramcharger.
Also just as good, and coincidentally for the same purpose, is Scout’s use of the name “Harvester” for their range extender.
Just as long as they don’t introduce a music-oriented trim package called the Scout Organ.
I doubt focus groups would be perceptive to the idea of “riding an organ” from any brand, Harvester or otherwise.
An older one, but the arc of watching the Impala start out as a market leader with iconic style, slowly deteriorate and disappear over the course of the malaise era, come back as an awesome 94-96 SS, go away again, then be revived for 20 years of FWD V6 lameness was pretty sad.
If they had not done this, the 2014-17 “SS” could have been properly called “Impala SS” and been a direct spiritual successor to the 94-96 model.
It’s disappointing how much potential was lost from GM not bringing over Holden RWD platforms earlier than they did.
Hey, the Dubya-era SSs were not v6 or lame. They had LS4 5.3 liter and could seriously boogie.
Just don’t ask too much of that transmission.
I know I’m going sound like a boomer for this but MUSTANG. It’s not about it being on an electric car. I’m honestly surprised that ford hasn’t made an actual electric mustang yet. For me it’s the fact that it’s on the back of a dumpy looking crossover.
Remember the 6th gen Pontiac LeMans that was actually a rebadged Daewoo? Woof.
That was the one with the cardboard front disc pads….
Tell me more about this cardboard…
I don’t think they were actually cardboard but they had a notoriously short service life. While the base Opel vehicle design was pretty solid, the Daewoo cost cutting and poor quality made this vehicle a definite loser.
This was in the GM era of Inaki Lopez the notorious cost (and quality) chopper.
My college roommate bought one brand new. The clunking at the rear was ‘unadjusted’ brake shoes…10k miles in. Oil pressure sensor went out on long trip…thought he had lost oil pressure in interstate, also at low mileage.
He should have went for the Dodge Colt he was also looking at.
I got frostbite trying to fix the washer fluid pump on my cousin’s Daewoo LeMans. What a complete pile of garbage on tiny wheels.
The Aventador based Countach
I thankfully forgot about that awful cash grab. You win this game. Absolute blasphemy!
Fun side not, I still have my 6ft Lamborghini Countach poster from 30 years ago in my garage.
I have owned jeeps for 30 years and driven them for nearly 40 I agree with David on the Cherokee and Wagoneer blasphemy. I would like to also submit the current Blazer.
I wish Toyota would have put “Prado” after the new 250 series Land Cruiser sold in the US.
Adding on to the complaint pile regarding the Blazer/Mach-E.
In principal, I think every single “name revival” sucks ass. In that, I’m typically more of a numbers guy, like ze Germans do. Nameplates can be a good thing, so long as they represent a progression not a cash grab. Something with a long and storied history will find its place. Something named for something legendary will quickly find itself being compared to the original and usually that just does not end well.
Take the successful brands (true things get a bit murky these days what with new directions and shit) but if you’re buying a 3/5/7-series, an E/S-Class, a Grand Cherokee/Wrangler, Explorer, any of the Big-3 full size pickups etc to name a few, you have a pretty good idea of what you’re getting.While the cars themselves are much evolved from what they once were, they are an evolution of what they represented at the time to match the present.
Names often come and go. I think it’s especially bad if you make a great model, with a fantastic name and then have no idea or plan for a follow up. The name dies with the car an no amount of revival will bring it back.
MG, any now that it’s a Chinese OEM building non-MGs
So sad to see the logo on ugly ass vehicles
I kind of feel the same way about the BMW non-mini Minis. The original new Mini was cute for about five minutes, but fire burned out pretty quickly.
Any Monte Carlo after 1988.
I was just thinking the same as I was running thru the comments. Mid 90s MC were crap. Especially the few that had the V6 3.4l DOHC.
Dodge Charger
The Charger went from a 2-door B-body Mopar to a four-door… car. It was very disappointing when it was announced. The new/revised Challenger was a reasonable homage to the original, which was nice.
(Yes, I know about the 1980s 4-cylinder versions. The four-door is somehow worse, even if it did have some V-8 options.)
I feel like the designer was going for a Coronet look and then corporate decided to call it the Charger, and then over the years they tried to make it more ‘charger-esque’ but could only do so much.
May I counter with the 78-83 Dodge Challenger, which was a rebadged Mitsubishi?
I would say anything labeled Charger after 1970 qualifies as blasphemy. That’s not a slight on the actual vehicles themselves, just the use of the nameplate on models that couldn’t live up to the earliest versions. Jury’s still out on the 2025.
Can I just ask why? You even acknowledge the Omni-based cars, so you do know about the FWD “sport” coupe. Even as the weirdo who would take an 80’s Charger in a heartbeat, it’s definitely one of the most blasphemous things anyone could’ve done to a legendary name, not even just car names.
It’s far worse for the Charger name then even the modern EV one, let alone the sedan.
Can we go beyond names and consider ‘trim levels’ as well? Because I know of a couple of Chevy ‘SS’ cars that definitely did not qualify as ‘Super Sport’.
Cough Cough Malibu MAXX
Surely you don’t mean the HHR SS.
The drivers can easily make up for the SS-ness by chanting “God With Us.” Ideally in German.
Soon to be announced: “SS” variants of all Tesla models.
Came here to say “Blazer” but two people already beat me to it.
The Mustang Mach-E is bad but Mitsubishi slapping the Eclipse name on a CUV is even worse
Mitsubishi “Eclipse Cross” is an abomination to the Eclipse model name. Ditto for the new Chevy Blazer.
Came here to say Mitsubishi Eclipse as well. There is nothing remotely related between the OG Eclipse and the “SUV” that carries that name.
Also egregious is the use of the name “Mustang” for the Ford MachE, which to me was a clear marketing trick designed to make people angry but still talk about the frigging EV for free publicity.
YIKES
Blazer was my first thought too. And I may be crucified for this, but I actually think it’s kind of a sharp looking car… at least for a crossover. I’ve never driven one so I have know idea how it drives, but I’m assuming it’s in line with the RAV-4s and CRVs of the world. I also think this is one of those circumstances where the callback-name may have hurt sales. It created so much vitriol and hate upon its reveal. If Chevy had just given it some other benign/boring crossover name, they may have had a hit or semi-hit.
I own one. Drives fine. The V6 has some guts. Hard for me to park it straight, but probably because I’m not used to it. I really don’t give a crap about the name revival. I have zero memories, fond or otherwise, of the K5. In fact, the Blazer I remember most was S-10 based.
Any crossover named after a previous sporty car model is immediately hated. Some other examples include the upcoming Ford Capri and Acura RSX.
I was going to say Blazer, though it may be a perfectly fine CUV in and of itself. I don’t see how people think it looks “Camaro-inspired” though; it resembles a Camaro about as much as it resembles a Toyota Previa.
Blazer/Trailblazer
The K5 gods weep when they look upon what has happened.
“Man, I wish Chevy made the Blazer like they used to.”
“What are you talking about? They have brand new Blazers available right now, even electric versions.”
“No, I mean like a new K5.”
“Oh, you can get one of those new too, just head to your local Kia dealer!”
Yeah arguably GM letting Kia have “K5” is worse than Blazer going from a blah truck based midsize (S10 of course) to a blah car based midsized.
I feel like that conversation would go more like this:
“Man, I wish Chevy made the Blazer like they used to.”
“You mean like the GMC360 Trailblazer?”
“No, that thing sucked”
“Oh, you must mean the S-10 based version.”
“No, that was terrible, too.”
“What, then?”
“The old K5!”
“The Kia?”
“No, the old Chevy truck!”
“When the hell did they make that?”
“Way back in the 70s and 80s. I’m still mad that the new Blazer isn’t like that.”
“Did you get mad about the S-10 version?”
“No”
“Did you get mad about the GMC360?”
“No”
“Then what the hell is the problem now?”
“…”
The S10 Blazer was produced alongside the full size K5 Blazer for about 8 years, and it was still a body on frame SUV with a two-door version available, so it wasn’t a very abrupt transition for people to get mad about. It also aligned with the industry trends of the time, like Jeep downsizing the Cherokee from the SJ to the XJ and Ford offering the Bronco Sport alongside the full-size Bronco. The GMT360 Trailblazer was a natural evolution of the S10 Blazer as it continued the body on frame construction and being called the Trailblazer helped distance it further from the original.
The new Blazer also aligns with the industry trends of the time. Like it or not. And both of those in-between versions took the name down dark paths long before the new one was ever conceived. At least the new Blazer is a nice car.
Indeed. However, I suspect one of the more stinging aspects is that, just two years after the new Blazer’s release, Ford brought back the Bronco as a more faithful follow-up to the original nameplate and seeing Ford enthusiasts get what they wanted elicited some jealousy from the Chevy enthusiasts.
This.
Also, @Red Barchetta, even though the descent into blasphemy was step-wise, it was a pretty large drop overall.
To muddy the waters even more, one could argue that the C/K series 2 door Tahoe from the early-mid 90s was really the spiritual successor to the K5, while the S10 versions moved the Blazer name down the pecking order.
Man, I wanted a 2 door Yukon/Tahoe Z-71 so badly in high school.
That does throw a wrench in things.
Also consider in South America they had the S10 Blazer and called the Tahoe the Grand Blazer.