In case you haven’t noticed, the automotive market has for the most part bounced back from the horrific downturn of just a few years ago. Oh sure, some car makers are presently tied up dealing with recalls for past transgressions, but there are a number of manufacturers out there who now have money to burn.
Back in the eighties and early nineties there were also a number of car makers looking to use loose cash to swallow up their smaller competition, adding to their armory as it were. Many of those conquests have since been cast off, and today there are plenty of small automotive entities – both those still popping out product, and those who have been shuttered – that could stand to have a bigger, more flush benefactor come to their rescue.
What do you think, should a company like Ford reconstitute TVR? Maybe, like AMG, Tesla should become an official part of Daimler Benz? I’d hate to see Lotus finally turn belly up and so maybe there’s a sugar daddy out there who could keep those new Evoras coming, as well as the next Elise and, maybe, a fresh Esprit. It’s time to do a little daydreaming here on on Hoon. What do you think, what car companies with the cash should buy which car companies bereft of it?
Image: Palo Alto Concours
Hooniverse Asks- What Car Company Should Buy What Car Company?
By Robert Emslie
Feb 19, 2015
Jeff Glucker
It's too bad Mazda doesn't have the money to take on Lotus. That combination could turn out some interesting cars.
Maybe just a "limited partnership" of the DSM variety…
Four posts and three about Lotus…that's a lot of yoga!
I think it just shows how much people appreciate its philosophy and despise its management. Both are well-earned.
GM bought Lotus because they were spending more money with them then they were worth. Seemed like a good idea but then they got the bill for new products. I think most manufacturers realize that and it would be difficult to sell. Besides Proton the current owners don't seem interested in selling.
Mercedes Benz should sniff out a merger of equals with Kia/Hyundai. The Koreans have build some pretty fun cars lately, and they could stop pretending to be serious higher up the value chain. Mercedes, on the other hand, could rightfully claim to be inspired by Hyundai-design, without the stigma attached to it. There should be some cost savings across the spectrum here, too. Not least, German and Korean business attitudes are somewhat compatible.
I don't think this will happen – Mercedes tried this concept with Chrysler and it damn near ruined both brands. What was the joke when the merger of equals was first announced?
Heaven is Mercedes quality with Chrysler pricing – Hell is Chrysler quality with Mercedes pricing
While the Koreans have gotten much, much better in recent years, I don't think that the Koreans would be stuffing a lot of German components in their cars… Much more likely to be the other way around. NTTAWWT,exactly….
Last time we had a "merger of equals" involving Mercedes it didn't end very well though.
Agreed. But people learn from their mistakes, don't they?
In the automotive industry? Rarely.
Getting Chrysler's cash in exchange for a few shared components and platform hardpoints, and sucking it dry through excessive cost-cutting doesn't seem to have turned out too badly… for Daimler.
I think Renault-Nissan might have some objections. We're still in the early days of this agreement.
Infiniti will soon have an Audi A3 competitor based on the A -class , some with Renault engines.
You're right, absolutely forgot about this one.
To be honest, the corporate chair game is starting to get pretty confusing. In the commercial market, you can now get a Peugeot labelled Toyota:
<img src="http://www.toyota.com.mk/content/pics/proace/proace-2013-specifikaci-L1H1.jpg" width="600">
…as well as a Renault labelled Mercedes:
<img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/127/263/1/S1272631/slug/l/001-2014-mercedes-citan-crewbus-1.jpg" width="600">
Can't imagine that this is good for any of the solid brands in the long run.
I'd love to see Honda buy up Lotus.
Lotus has been using Toyota/Yamaha motors to great success, but if they were together, both could see benefits. Maybe we'd get a proper CRX successor, more fun Si/Type-R models and Lotus could have access to a few solid platforms and stout parts bin.
In all honesty though, with the major brands conglomerates like VAG and Fiat, most of the fun brands are in-house at a major group already.
Some suffering a loss of vision… **cough** Lancia **cough**….
The perk of buying Lotus is you can start fitting these stickers to your cars
<img src="http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/isuzu8.jpg" width=500 />
Lotus should buy Porsche and make Lotus-light, Porsche-solid mid-range 4-cylinder sports cars. They do already? Oh, I'm still in the 90ies…
Saab, Lotus, Hummer and Saturn should form under Penske's guidance and be given an opportunity to make their own products in ways that GM never let them.
… using the Pontiac badge.
I thought that SAAB and Saturn already did take too many liberties with not using the GM parts bin, and were therefore not profitable because of the additional development costs not recouped by higher selling prices.
And when they were strongarmed into using the bin more, they became typical GM-middling and less interesting, so no one wanted them anymore.
Surely there'd be room for Oldsmobile in there too, would there not?
Right next to Pontiac.
One of the Big3 needs to get in bed with Studebaker. We obviously need modern classic Studes. I'd take an SRT or SS Avanti for sure.
Tesla should buy Saab.
I was going to say Fisker should buy Saab.
That would leave Tesla free to buy Elio.
Misery loves company.
Taking a different "these guys should buy Lotus!" tactic – Hyundai/Kia should, because if there's one weak link in Hyundai and Kia products it's their suspension tuning, and Lotus is really good at that. Plus we could get a successor to the Kia Elan, so that would be fun.
Oooh. Lotus Elan. . . tra.
<img src="http://media.giphy.com/media/dPb23ok5kh03K/giphy.gif">
Did you know that Lotus helped tune the handling on the 2nd-gen Genesis sedan?
Another thought, BMW buying Mazda. That way, BMW could stop trying to move downmarket with FWD minivans and awful variations on the Mini, and Mazda would have cash. They're not too far apart in philosophy and priorities, and they don't have product overlap.
Mazda gets a RWD premium platform if they want a Mazda 9.
BMW gets a platform for Mini on the 3/2.
Would an N55 fit in a Miata?
They could also fit a Miata with weird vertical sliding doors and have a new Z1.
To quote The Lonely Island quoting Kevin Garnett, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!"
The unattainable is unknowable at Bayerische Mazda Werke!
Züm-Züm!
Benz should just go full bore and finally support Aston Martin in the same vein that Tata owns Jag/LR.
The AM products don't truly compete with anything in the Benz lineup (save for the AMG GT), but they can differentiate themselves enough to not hurt each others sales.
AM keeps doing what its doing but with plenty of cash backing and access to better tech. Benz gets a bespoke exotic to call its own.
While envisioning what certain companies should/could do with the acquisition of others is a fun thought exercise, I don't think it has every really worked out well IRL.
I would rather not have any real consolidation in the current car market. I mean, almost all of the cars coming out these days are fantastic, and drive great competition.
Oh, I don't know. Chrysler buying AMC from Renault and skimming off the Jeep brand worked out pretty well IRL.
Well, except for the AMC and Renault fans…
My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/PyVCLfS.jpg">
Volkswagen should buy Mitsubishi. It gives them automatic access to the JDM, helps build their rally chops (if Mitsu even has those chops left) and would breathe life into zombie automaker.
Oh, dear.
Mahindra, Peugeot and Suzuki should get together. Think about how much more efficiently they could ignore the North American market.
I'm imagining the awesome light duty offroaders that marriage could produce.
Volvo traditionally built safe, solid, conservative cars. Mercedes-Benz traditionally built safe, solid, conservative cars. Trying to go upmarket hasn't worked for Volvo. North America is still struggling with the idea of affordable Benzes. I see plausible synergy?
Imho they overlap a fair bit. Everyone pointed out the similarities between the A class and the V40, the Mercedes being the unfortunate second on the market. In Europe, they do compete up to a certain size where Mercedes is on its own (Volvo's S80 hardly ever made any sense).
Don't get me wrong, they're not the same, but they compete upmarket. My first attempt of father-in-law was to upgrade the usual way, from Opel to Mercedes (he was to turn 65, so…), but I took him to the Volvo dealer. He became a Volvo nut, pursuading two other MB guys at his gun club. I don't want to see Dr Mustache do the distinction plans at a united MB/Volvo.
I do admit, I'm thinking from a pretty North American-centric position.
I'd love to see what Volkswagen would do with with a Duesenberg revival. It's done pretty well with bringing Bugatti back from the dead, as well as nurturing Lamborghini and Bentley, so who's to say it couldn't successfully add an American premium label to its stable?
I think Piëch could out-cadillac Cadillac with a Duesenberg-brand. But…will they earn money? Great idea, yet I am generally a bit skeptical about reviving dead brands. Does VW earn money with their special edition company "Bugatti"?
Tata should buy GM. Quality from both is absolutely horrific and the joke potential is off the chart.