A blog devoted to RANTS ON AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN, car reviews, and - above all - fugly autos. whether looking for vehicular plagiarism or rides of extreme tastelessness, you've come to the right place.


Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Badge Engineering




We all know that GM is the king of badge engineering. But even back in the '80's with all the Buick/Olds/Chev clones parading around, I have yet to see something this balantly cheap. And GM has done so good with it's badge engineering as of late. I mean - they actually have different bodywork. Usually.

This is not the case. At first you may think, "Hey - an Isuzu Rodeo isn't that bad." Well, it isn't. But this is an Australian version of the Rodeo, rebadged as a Holden Frontera. Still it's not all that bad. But look at the grille. Are you telling me they couldn't afford an NEW GRILLE?!? You can see the freaking rectangular box where the Isuzu logo usually goes!! How cheap can you possibly be?? For those that may argue "my American Rodeo has a different grille" well it does - they used basically the same front end setup as on the Amigo - the American 2-door convertable Rodeo.

If that's not bad enough, the unfortunetly named Holden Jackaroo (isn't that the name of that stupid jackrabbit muppet thing on America's Funniest Home Videos?) has a similar afflication. PS: Although the license plate says Monterey, it's a trim package on the Jackaroo.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Holy Badge-Swapping, BeanMan!!!
Wonder if Lincoln-Mercury will be suing them for ripping off their "Monterey" moniker from their customized Volvo s80???

Anonymous said...

Rampant Fug-Swapping-Gone-Wild!

Anonymous said...

here in New Zealand we have a Holden Montral, Isuzu Bighorn and a Honda dont know the name of it but they all are the same vehicle except for the badge