jdd (06/20/82)
Okay folks, here's the \true/ story on the Chevrolet Chevette and its siblings (well, true to the limits of my recollection). In the early and middle 70's (say, remember those fabulous 70's?), GM initiated a worldwide project for a new subcompact "world car", to be manufacturable (in fact, to be manufactured) by all of GM's subsidiaries. The result was (in the U.S.) the Chevrolet Chevette; (in Germany) the new Opel Kadett; in Japan, the Isuzu Something-Or-Other; (and there was one other subsidiary involved, I think). Anyway, these are all more or less the same car, modulo styling and conformance to national expectations. Now the plot thickens. In years past, Buick had imported Opels and sold them as Buick Opels. The decline of American currency during the 70's made this less practical and Buick had stopped, but now decided to import the Isuzu Whatever and \\label it as an Opel//, giving the customer a low price and a nice namebadge. Problem was, the Isuzu wasn't that great a car (maybe even a notch below the Chevette) and was noticably Japanese and non-German (in styling, for example), being packaged principally an uninteresting econothing. The strategy fizzled and the Isuzu is no longer imported into the U.S. (although one hears stories of it coming in as a separate brand, staying an Isuzu). Cheers, John DeTreville Bell Labs, Murray Hill
thomas (06/21/82)
I've certainly seen Isuzu pick-em-up's around. =Spencer