It is indeed a rare occurrence when a single model gets spun off as its own marque, but on occasion it has happened. Among those brands that once were models are the Avanti, which survived the demise of its parent brand, Studebaker. Mini likewise was once just a model. First under the Austin and then later BMC, and then still later under the Austin-Rover company. It rose from the ashes under the tutelage of BMW to become a marque on its own, and has seen respectable success and a profusion of models ever since.
What we want to discuss today is whether there are any other models that might just do better striking out on their own. Could you see Chevy giving Corvette its emancipation? What about Dodge and the Viper? What current model would most benefit from being spun off as its own brand?
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Hooniverse Asks: What Current Model of Car Should Be Spun Off Into Its Own Brand?
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42 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What Current Model of Car Should Be Spun Off Into Its Own Brand?”
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I could see Mercedes spinning off Sprinter as a separate brand. I know that they used to be sold here in the US as Freightliner and then Dodge. It just seems odd to be selling a 30 something thousand dollar van to plumbers alongside high end luxury cars. To a lesser extent I could see the same thing with Nissan for their commercial vehicles, especially the big and little vans.
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Would the Metris become a Sprinter Metris? Because I’d be okay with that.
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Of course. I had forgotten about the Metris. It is amazing how long it took for compact vans to come into the US and how quickly they were adopted by industries. In less than 10 years that segment has gone from nothing to 3 or 4 very popular offerings. GM was so desperate for an offering in the segment that they are selling Nissan NV200s badged as Chevrolets.
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No it shows how smart GM was concerning the van market. Other than Ford the small vans don’t sell enough to be profitable. That is why Nissan is making them for Chevy, anything to try and get the volume up. For Chevy they are the only smart one that figured out a way to actually make a little money moving a small amount of small vans.
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Nissan unforetunately doesn’t seem to grasp the commercial side of the industry as well as they could. There is no extended length version of the big van nor a cab only version (for RVs, box trucks, etc). The fact that GM can sell the NV200 as a Chevy illustrates that Nissan doesn’t seem to get it…
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For sales reporting purposes Mercedes does treat them at least as a sub brand and always combines the Metris and Sprinter to make it seem like they are selling better than they do.
Also you can’t just walk into any Mercedes dealer and buy a Sprinter of have one serviced. They are only sold at a small portion of Mercedes dealers and they usually keep them away from the “luxury” cars.
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Continental. Just to make amends for the decision 60 years ago.
http://www.danjedlicka.com/images/classics/Continental%20Mark%20II/4.jpg-
The next time around they should just call the new marque Mark. That way each model can simply be a number, until they decide to become inconsistent (again) and start using names like Mark Mk III.
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Since they already had a Mark III in the late 50’s that was so ugly that the much more attractive 60’s car was also named Mark III in an attempted do-over, the next marque they build could be the Mark Mark III, Mk III.
I have their ideal spokesperson in mind.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41YGyNNoA0L._BO1,204,203,200_.jpg-
I’d vote for your comment but can’t go along with such unreasonable bashing of the original Mk III (and, by extension, the successive Mk IV and V).
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/43f825fcf31b5205222d02f3c7d4843bba996cef10f7c5a70fbeb08b090b49cd.jpg
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That is an elegant design,the car is nice too.
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Ram – oh wait.
That was one that should *not* have been spun off. Unless “we’re giving up on Dodge” actually was the message they wanted to send.-
I think it might have been “We are preparing to part out the remains of Mopar/Chrysler.” Ram and Jeep are two brands that someone might actually want.
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Porsche should separate the Cayman/Boxster into a brand that focuses on building sports cars. They could call it Ferd.
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That was about my idea, but I would use the 911 brand cachet: what about a 911 718? Or maybe rather a Carrera Cayman?
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Cayman and Boxster are the heart of the brand. I love the 911 because it tenaciously adheres to old-school architecture, but the C/B siblings are the true future of Porsche performance, no matter how much Porsche tries to handicap the platform to fall second to the 911. Let go of that, and Porsche becomes another overpriced SUV manufacturer.
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Exactly. Porsche is luxury truck and GT maker. The Ferd Motor Company would only do sports cars.
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Better yet, spin the luxury SUVs off to the new Porsh brand – their buyers won’t notice the difference.
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“…under the tutelage of BMW to become a marque on its own…”
Mini (as opposed to MINI) became its own marque in 1969, long before BMW got involved.-
Yes, plus it was a Morris from day one as well as Austin. BMC predated the Mini
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Viper was spun off to SRT then brought back to Dodge before it was discontinued.
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Could put Scion in the same category of being absorbed back into the mothership too, even if most models didn’t make the cut.
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The Camaro and the Corvette, being performance cars, don’t really fit into the Chevrolet family of family sedans. They could be broken out into a separate performance oriented brand… we could call it “Pontiac”
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Corvette has always been Chevrolet. However, a version of the Camaro and all the Cadillac V-Spec models would make a great Pontiac Marque.
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Corvette used to downplay the bowtie connection. For some models, “Chevrolet Motor Division” was the only acknowledgment on the car itself, which was badged as a “Corvette Sting Ray” (or Stingray starting in 1969).
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Corvette_III.jpg/1920px-Corvette_III.jpg
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Let’s get this completely straight, it’s, “Chevrolet family of family SUVs.”
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Corvette and Camaro are the only notable marques, other than the short-term SS (which is the only Chevrolet I find even remotely interesting). If Chevy drops their two performance coupes, what’s left?
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I think the Toyota Prius has enough of a following that it could work as it’s own separate brand.
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They sort of already did that. They currently have the Prius, Prius plug in hybrid, Prius c, and Prius v.
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Which takes us to the Golf, Golf plug in hybrid, eGolf,Golf GTI, and Golf Plus
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As well as the Golf Sportwagen.
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In the reverse of spinning off a brand, spinning a brand into a model, I thought that GM should have maintained the Saturn brand for electric-only cars from GM. But that would have required too much thought and actually having a viable electric car model…
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Seldom is it said “The answer is always Mazda.”
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To some extent ZoomZoom applies to the whole brand. Separating out Miata would be detrimental to that happy state of affairs.
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Genisis from Hyundai. I think they are already doing it, but luxury buyers don’t want to drink the same coffee as the more plebian drivers.
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Done. Genesis was one of the top tier brands at the local auto show, with Mercedes and BMW.
Need service? They’ll bring you a car while yours is getting new oil.
There was talk Hyundai would buy the Saturn dealers for the Genesis spin off.-
It is done, true, but nobody told car buyers in the UK that.
Until standalone Genesis dealers crop up as part of a massive Lexus-style market invasion, the Genesis will always be seen as a posh Hyundai here.-
You are right – the Hyundai in the US has been pressing their Concierge service, never having to go to the dealer.
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A sales guy who came to my work place yesterday had switched from a Landcruiser to one of those super powerful Lexus hybrids (we pay his company too much, no doubt at all). He likes the car and everything’s fine, but misses the gargantuan Landcruiser, which he wants to return to in two years time or so. But what really impressed him was the perfect Lexus dealer service. They share a building with Toyota, but he said they’ll do everything as you ask them or better, and he has never felt so spoiled.
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So he needs to buy an LX!
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Nissan should revive the Fairlady and Bluebird and recreate the Datsun brand, then terminate the entire Nissan portfolio entirely. They teased a 510 revival a few years back, and then abandoned the idea because apparently they were satisfied with sales of garbage they were dumping on uneducated buyers. Literally, nothing Nissan sells is worth driving.
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They have revived Datsun in some markets, but as a cheaper brand rather than a sporty brand.
In Australia Nissan has dropped all of their passenger cars (except 370Z and GTR) due to sales not justifying updated models or just being low, to leave 5 SUVs and a pickup.
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