Interesting thread. I do remember quite well the outrage, almost feelings of betrayal, that some people felt when they discovered their Oldsmobiles (and Cadillacs) had generic motors <g> from Chevrolet. A common spoken complaint of my elders was: "why am I paying the price for an Olds when its only a Chev?" Now, if GM had been smart enough to badge certain upscale models of Chevy and Pontiac as 'Olds Rocket powered' or 'Cadillac powered' as Studebaker did with 'Avanti powered', there wouldn't have been any kerfuffle. Marketting mistake created by overpaid and out of touch execs listening to beancounters, and going for the shortest term gain.
I always understood--or I thought--that the S10 (and GMC versions) were actually from the Isuzu design. Same with various Ford models during the time of the close co-operation and major stake that Ford had in Mazda at the time: The Ranger was (to me) obviously a Mazda pickup design even if the vehicle was built by Ford and sold as a Mazda, the Mercury Tracer in N.A/Ford ?Telstar? Au/NZ and elsewhere? / Ford ??? were actually Mazda 323 designs. Where it became interesting was during the Ford Probe/Mazda MX 6 /Mystere which were reverse imports, being built uniquely in North America at the same plant same line, and exported (as Mazdas) to Japan. Again it was based on A Mazda platform design I think--and both the Probe and the MX6 were at bottom the same car BUT worlds apart in execution and details, and quite different in 'feel' or so I always thought from behind the wheel.
The North American manufacturers had a hard time envisioning a smaller car over here, no matter how successful their partners or subsiduaries were elsewhere, and unfortunately if they had a good design, they tended to dumb it down terribly for sale here. Out of all the bankruptcy (and debt-Ford isn't out of the woods yet) chaos, at least one good thing has happened: Ford deciding to bring over 'real deal' Focus/Fiesta etc models, even if they build them here, its the real thing. GM had good cars coming in from Holden Australia--too bad they called them Pontiacs!
I always understood--or I thought--that the S10 (and GMC versions) were actually from the Isuzu design. Same with various Ford models during the time of the close co-operation and major stake that Ford had in Mazda at the time: The Ranger was (to me) obviously a Mazda pickup design even if the vehicle was built by Ford and sold as a Mazda, the Mercury Tracer in N.A/Ford ?Telstar? Au/NZ and elsewhere? / Ford ??? were actually Mazda 323 designs. Where it became interesting was during the Ford Probe/Mazda MX 6 /Mystere which were reverse imports, being built uniquely in North America at the same plant same line, and exported (as Mazdas) to Japan. Again it was based on A Mazda platform design I think--and both the Probe and the MX6 were at bottom the same car BUT worlds apart in execution and details, and quite different in 'feel' or so I always thought from behind the wheel.
The North American manufacturers had a hard time envisioning a smaller car over here, no matter how successful their partners or subsiduaries were elsewhere, and unfortunately if they had a good design, they tended to dumb it down terribly for sale here. Out of all the bankruptcy (and debt-Ford isn't out of the woods yet) chaos, at least one good thing has happened: Ford deciding to bring over 'real deal' Focus/Fiesta etc models, even if they build them here, its the real thing. GM had good cars coming in from Holden Australia--too bad they called them Pontiacs!
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