Breaking Down What Seems Like “Rocket Science” into “Copy & Paste”
Have you ever been stuck in traffic or just driving along somewhere and realized that sometimes one vehicle sort of looks like another? You know they’re different, you see different brand emblems on them, but one looks more luxurious while the other in the same shape and size seems a bit more pedestrian? Or sometimes you’ll come across a car like a Dodge Charger and see something like a Chrysler 300 and not notice it right away because of how different they look. However, if you have a more keen eye for trims and specs you’ll probably notice sometimes seeing an “SRT8” badge on a 300, and hearing it sound just the same as a Charger SRT8. Ever wondered why?
Badge engineering or “rebranding” is essentially sharing a platform between different manufacturers without designing or engineering a new model or brand. It’s done for a plethora of reasons but it’s mainly to help keep cost down for certain cars or to help spread a single car into different markets. If you live in the United States, you’ve probably seen at least one Chevrolet Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade, or GMC Yukon at some point or another. If you ever thought how they all kind of look the same, you wouldn’t be wrong. All three of those are built on the same platform/chassis and probably all use the same engine as well. The aesthetics might be a little different to cater to the different groups that they might appeal to, but at the core they’re pretty much the same. The cool part is how loose the term of “rebranding” can get because sometimes it could look to be a completely different car, while other times it’s literally a swap of badges with no work done to give a car it’s own unique look. That is afterall the point: produce a car without having to invest into engineering or making an entirely new vehicle altogether.
Sometimes a single vehicle is used across different manufacturers even breaching past borders and nationalities, and some of the more iconic examples of this actually comes from none other than Toyota. The Japanese auto giant has had plenty of entries across the board from sport compacts to larger high-towing capacity trucks and SUVs. One thing you wouldn’t necessarily pin Toyota for is luxury given that most of the current line up they have to offer are bargain deals with amenities that attract buyers looking for something general that can get them from point A to point B. So, what do you do when there’s a market for cars with a bit more prestige to them, for cars that give off having a taste for the finer things, or when you already have entries in your fleet that broadcast a wealthy status for those who want to be a cut above the rest? You make a new brand targeted for that particular audience, then take the higher end cars that you already offer and do nothing more than a few tweaks here and there, swap some badges, name it something new that follows the trend of said audience, and sell what you have as completely new “luxurious” cars. Ladies and gentlemen, Lexus:
Sometimes you’ll have a collaborations between 2 different brands and not just 2 different divisions of the the same parent brand. Usually this happens when a manufacturer wants to build a car but also want to keep it affordable, and a fine example of this comes from Toyota’s partnership with Subaru for the FRS, GT86/GR86, and BRZ. Because Toyota discontinued the sub-brand “Scion” in 2016 we don’t have the FRS anymore, leaving us with just the GT86 (Now called the “GR86” in its second generation) and the BRZ, but honestly speaking, you’re not missing out on much.
Both cars feature the exact same FA24 flat-four boxer engine, drivetrains, and certain options with only subtle changes in aesthetics in and outside and the option to pick up one or the other from their respective dealership. The FRS, GT86/GR86, and the BRZ were well received because of how inexpensive they were to buy and own and yet how fun they were to drive. A bonus to them being the same bones with different skin was that maintenance was the same, modifications for them were interchangeable for the most part, and they were also cheap. It was almost encouraged to pick one up and experiment, and if you didn’t want to delve into the aftermarket support, they were still fun weekend cars to get a little spirited driving in.
On the other side of the spectrum you have cars that don’t do so well or aren’t as well received. How they came about could be for the same reasons why a lot of other rebranded cars are made. Sometimes it could be just for a manufacturer to get back into making sports cars of a particular caliber. Enter again Toyota with GR Supra that was heavily “inspired” by the FT-1 Concept; a car that should’ve been but never was.
For various reasons that might be explained on a future post, the FT-1 itself never saw production because the expenses couldn’t be justified to see it through, but the big “T” badge did see how it could come to fruition after all with a collaboration with a german brand, BMW.
There were many barriers to get past (one obviously being language ) but the one barrier being a bit more difficult was who exactly was getting what out of this deal. It’s actually a pretty interesting story and I’ll more than likely go further in depth about it, but all you need to know right now is that when everything was worked out, BMW had their Z4 while Toyota got their GR Supra… sort of. Turns out underneath the Supra cladding was plenty of BMW branding. In fact, remove all of the Supra cladding and you’ll come to see that the Mk5 GR Supra was simply a Z4 coupe where as the actual Z4 is only offered as a convertible. It was because of this that many purist believe the GR Supra tarnished the Supra name in not having a legitimate car that was built from the ground up, but it did what it was meant to do. An nostalgic icon was back, a partnership between two completely different Manufactures was made, and because of the price point that was made possible by teaming up and sharing the cost of production was so reasonable, the sales justified the means.
Rebranding or badge engineering is nothing more than making another car from one car that already exist, rebranding one car for another market, or developing something new and cutting cost down by sharing it with another manufacturer(s). Sure, sometimes having a identical copy of a car takes away from the “awe” of it sometimes, but when engineers figure out a way to help keep a dream car just a little bit more affordable, seeing it’s twin cousin from across the intersection hurts just a little less… Doesn’t it?
~Cam
