By Peter Tanshanomi
[EDIT: Either I didn’t explain this very well, or my text is TL;DR. This question is about vehicles in which both the brand ownership and production packed up and moved from “Country A” to “Country B”. Hope this helps.]
This past week, I had the opportunity to explain the convoluted — some may say tortured — history of the Husqvarna motorcycle. “Husky’s” headquarters and manufacturing facilities were based in their eponymous Swedish town for 84 years, until the motorcycle manufacturing branch was sold to the Castiglioni brothers’ Cagiva/MV Agusta concern. Suddenly, Husqvarna was an Italian-owned marque manufacturing bikes in Varese. Production remained in Italy while the marque’s ownership was passed around, first to Harley-Davidson, then BMW. However, after again being sold to Pierer Industrie AG, KTM’s parent company, production moved to Mattighofen, Austria. This move now made Husqvarna an Austrian-owned, Austrian-manufactured brand.
I share all this because it led me to today’s Encyclopedia entry: Vehicles of many nations. Can you name another vehicle brand that has been simultaneously headquartered and manufactured in two or more nations in its history?
The Caveats (there are always caveats):
- Being owned and manufactured in different countries doesn’t count. International manufacturing alliances, multinational corporate holdings, and captive import branding have resulted in a quagmire we just don’t need to get into. (Mini, anyone?) I want you to name brands that have been unquestionably based in two or more particular nations: that means the boardroom big-wigs and at least some assembly-line production, at the same time.
- We are identifying “brand” by the marque (the brand name under which a vehicle is marketed to the public) not the name of the parent company. (e.g., Dodge is a marque, FCA is a corporate parent.)
- Cars, light trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and motorcycles are all fair game. Airplanes are go this week, just because I’m personally curious what might come up there. I’m nixing boats and ships because those guys are just an incestuous stew of tax evasion and politics.
Difficulty: Wrench-benders: 7+; History nerds: probably no higher than 3-4.
How This Works: Read the comments first and don’t post duplicates! Bonus points for adding photos.
Image Sources: 1994, 2004 & 2016 Husqvarna sales brochures.
Robert Crespo 
Jeff Glucker 
Kamil Kaluski
I’m not sure I understand. Does Rolls Royce of America count as separate headquarters?
http://www.rroc.org/content.asp?contentid=595
No, because the trademark/intellectual property of Rolls was still in England.
I still don’t think I understand.
Is it owned in country A and built in A and later owned in B and built in B, or does it need to be owned in A and B while built in A and B?
The former.
So where do the MegaTech Vector M12s fall?
How about DeLorean? Headquartered in Detroit, but made in Northern Ireland?
Or the Texas company that bought the inventory and plans (with the passage of the new law exempting certain low-production new builds of historic models from having to meet modern regulations) to make “new” Deloreans?
Was the Delorean brand identity ever British-owned?
According to Wikipedia, in 1995 some guy in Liverpool bought the name rights and al leftover parts inventory.
Re airplanes: Eurofighter Typhoon & Panavia Tornado?
Porsche was originally an Austrian company. The Gmund cars.
Here’s a twist: Bugatti was started in Molsheim (and still exists there under VW ownership). However, when it started in 1909, Molsheim was in Germany. Then, after WW2 the Alsace region was returned to France.
After going defunct in the 1960s, Bugatti was reborn as Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. in Modena, Italy. This venture went belly up in the early 1990s and Volkswagen bought it in 1995 and began production of new Bugattis in 1998. The original factory in Molsheim was under new ownership, so a new factory was built nearby and Bugatti’s headquarters were returned to France, but now under German ownership.
So, to recap, Bugatti is a German then French then Italian company who is currently located in France, but owned by Germans.
Fun fact : the original door from the Molsheim plant is still preserved inside the Bugatti Automobili factory in Modena. I think i read somewhere that it’s the only thing left from the original Bugatti factory.
http://media.autoblog.it/l/lex/lex-stabilimento-bugatti-di-campogalliano/th/campogalliano-bugatti-plant-16.jpg
fun fact 2 : Romano Artioli, founder of Bugatti Automobili, was also (briefly) the owner of Lotus. The Elise was named after his granddaughter.
M100 Elan?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lotus_Elan_M100_Fed.jpg
General Dynamics purchased Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge and produces the Pandur II APC for the Portuguese army. Not sure if the Steyr branding persists, however.
Here’s another two-wheeled example: Norton motorcycles. From 1902–92, they were a British-built product with a British owned brand name. In 2002, American Kenny Dreer bought rights to all the intellectual pieces of the old Norton brand and produced Norton motorcycles in Oregon until 2006. After production ceased, he sold the Norton name back to a British owner, and new Nortons are being manufactured in England at Donington. It was all British, then all American, then all British again.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1461/6266009/20225943/332254382.jpg
Those wheels.
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/6d/6d3bccddeffff2e5c25bf21cca9883ba2b6bab0c1ab674c37aa304361aaf1a29.jpg
That was just the prototype. I picked that photo for the “Norton America” watermark. Here’s Dreer’s ultimate production bike:
http://www.caferacer.net/forum/attachments/project-builds/11686d1421342237-dreer-new-norton-952-prototype-build-dscn0208.jpg
What’s the over/under on when Buick will qualify?
Considering GMs recent history in failing mightily at selling brands, I;m gonna say it’ll end up like Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer instead of moving anywhere.
Not sure if I’m doon this rite but Fokker was started in Germany because Mr Fokker was studying there at the time, and eventually moved to the Netherlands.
https://img.planespotters.net/photo/137000/original/f-azaq-private-fokker-dr-1-triplane-replica_PlanespottersNet_137030.jpg
http://aerofavourites.nl/fokf70ch.jpg
As we are all fans of deriding badge engineering, I’m not sure Husky counts as moving production.
Other than that weird affair with BMW that everybody wants to forget, they’ve only been a badge share since KTM bought them. But the Husqvarna models have better suspenders and rear swingarm than their KTM equivalents, so there’s still good reason to buy them over their KTM twins.
To be fair, the TR650s were completely awesome bikes. They were just unfortunate orphans.
They may share a platform with KTMs now, but that doesn’t change the fact that Huskvarna -> Varese -> Mattighofen were clearly production moves.
Also I would not describe current Huskys as “badge engineered.” This certainly is not a carbon copy of the 390 Duke:
Agreed. The lead photo, and overall Husky portfolio, got me thinking primarily of the KTM 690 vs the Husky 710. They seem to be essentially similar.
The 701 uses the 690 engine, but it’s otherwise unique. The rear subframe doubles as an integral fuel tank. Bizarre, but kind of cool.
http://motorcycle.com.vsassets.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/14158_701_Frame_Tank-555×389.jpg
I nominate you to be issued one of each for a 6 month test comparison. With a very large research budget of course.
If future probable (or maybe vaporware) developments count, then De Tomaso, says Wikipedia:
“In 2014 the original workshop in Modena was in abandonment.— In April 2015 an Italian bankruptcy court approved the sale of the company to China’s Consolidated Ideal TeamVenture, for a mere 1.05 million euros, or approximately $1.17 million USD.[9] Per that sale report “A lawyer for the buyer announced that Ideal TeamVenture plans to produce cars in China bearing the De Tomaso name.” 🙁 sadface
Smart cars? In the beginning it was idea and execution of Swiss Swatch CEO Hayek, but now it’s owned by Daimler AG of Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_(automobile)#Origins
And made in France.
…and in Slovenia, apparently. ForFour was made at Dutch Nedcar plant.
After being a Swatch/ Volkswagen joint venture before VW bailed out.
http://www.mbaskool.com/images/stories/articles_2012/bullet_350_2.jpg
Royal Enfield counts, right?
By gum, it does!
The Modern Gentleman?https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/MG_7_black_2008_rear.jpg
Good one. Moved from UK to China after it was bought by Nanjing Automobile Group.
MG HQ is still in the UK and co. and brand are owned actually by SAIC Motor UK so it hasn’t moved over the border, I guess. Tough one, today’s question.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_Motor
Production re-started in China, before re-starting (?) in the UK. And the new models that are “made in Longbridge” are assembled from components wholly imported from China.
This one may need to go to a Steward’s Enquiry…
Yeah, I forgot that they moved the HQ and production back to the UK. However, they did originally move to China after the buyout.
If we are allowed airplanes this week, how about Sikorsky?
The 1913 Sikorsky Russky Vityaz, built in Russia under Russian ownership;
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Sikorsky_Russky_Vityaz_%28Le_Grand%29.jpg
The 1940 Sikorsky-Vought VS 300, built in the USA under American ownership;
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Sikorsky_vs-300.jpg
So do émigrés count?
More controversially is another émigré called Von Braun (if only he had trademarked it, this would count!):
Early 1940s, under German ownership;
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Fus%C3%A9e_V2.jpg
Late 1940s, under US ownership;
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/V-2_White_Sands.jpg
Too soon?
Absolutely.
Among the many horrible iterations of the Avanti II, in 2006 the whole operation was moved to Cancun, Mexico.
How about offshoots that outlived the parent company? Specifically Willys cars lived on in Brazil long after the Willys name was dead in the US.
Today’s question really is a rat’s nest, iddnt? I never know how smoothly these things are going to go when I’m coming up with them.
Another tricky one BMW/EMW in the immediate post WWII years and East vs West Germany.
The chaos makes it fun.
If that counts then Industrias Kaiser Argentina would like to be added to the list…
Talbot.
http://www.talbot-london.com/pictures/talbot_wappen.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/bs/thumb/f/ff/Talbot-Lago_Logo.jpg/200px-Talbot-Lago_Logo.jpg
Talbot was founded in England in 1903. In 1919 it was taken over by French-based British-financed Darracq. The Darracq brand was phased out in favour of Talbot, resulting in a dual nationality Talbot company. Talbot-Darracq went on to merge with Sunbeam, but the group collapsed during the depression. The British part was taken over by the Rootes Group called their new acquisition Sunbeam-Talbot. The French part was taken over by Antonio Lago, who called his cars Talbot-Lagos.
Eventually Rootes phased out the Talbot part of the name so from 1955 the British cars were simply Sunbeams. Talbot-Lago meanwhile was taken over by Simca who killed off the brand. Both Simca and Rootes were subsequently taken over by Chrysler, and then again by Peugeot. Peugeot were looking for single brand for the Rootes and Simca models they had inherited so chose Talbot because it would appeal to British and French buyers equally. As it turned out it didn’t really appeal to either and the brand was dead again by the early 1990s.
I don’t know if DeSoto counts.
As I’m sure we all know, DeSoto started out as a sub-brand of Chrysler in 1928 and built cars until 1961:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/1956_De_Soto_Firedome_2-door_hardtop_front.JPG/1280px-1956_De_Soto_Firedome_2-door_hardtop_front.JPG
However, the brand was also used by Chrysler on trucks for export. There was a joint venture with some Turkish companies building DeSoto and Fargo trucks in Turkey for the local market. The Turkish investors bought out Chrysler, and the brand is now owned by the Turkish company Askam, which still builds DeSoto trucks in Turkey:
http://img03.blogcu.com/v2/images/editor/v/e/z/vezirogluotomotiv/923331464507607_1260799465.jpg
That fits perfectly. An American-owned brand being built in the US, and eventually a Turkish brand built in Turkey. Just the sort of situation I was looking for.
Not quite the same, but the Ford Transit Connect is built in Turkey and imported to the US, where the seats and seat belts are ripped out of the cargo versions.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IMG_9137.jpg
Plot twist : “Dodge trucks were rebranded as Fargos when sold through the Chrysler-Plymouth sales channel in Canada.”
source : http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/car-show/car-show-classics-oddities-of-moparfest/
A DeSoto… with just a touch of bullet nosed Studebaker?
Ford before the whole “One Ford” initiative. They were independently developing cars in GB that we never got here, starting with the Model Y in 1932 through to the recent Mondeo before it morphed into the fusion.
Requisite cossy