Badge engineering on a global scale

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GriffinGuru
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Badge engineering on a global scale

Post by GriffinGuru »

I was thinking about this the other day so I will share my opinions. I miss the older days when cars from different countries were actually different. What I mean is that prior to auto manufacturers becoming global corporations, cars from respective countries were truly unique from each other. While today in the modern era, everything seems the same no matter what car you are looking about. Much of this is due to these companies growing and a result of cost cutting to maximize profits, etc. and I understand the logic behind that as well, but there seems to be some individuality lost.

I just lament that it leads to everything being basically the same. Many cars regardless of make use switches and sensors from the same source, many use the same airbags, fuel injection systems are mostly wired and function in the same manner using the same components. Many cars across makes use the same chassis (Ford Fusion is same as Mazda 6, Mazda CX5 is same as Ford Escape is same as the Kia crossover thing, etc). Whereas a few decades ago companies solved problems in house. A German or American or British car all had different methods of solving the same problems of making an engine run; with positives and negatives for each design.

In the past up to about the 90s, cars from different companies were truly different. The stereotypes were that American cars tended to be large, less efficient, but built like tanks. Japanese cars were very reliable with decent performance for the price, but tended to rust. British cars were stylish, but had bad electrics. German cars were semi reliable, but had good suspension and driveability characteristics. French cars were very quirky and a complete thing unto themselves (and I have a soft spot for those weird Citroens), etc.

Sure, when we compare apples to apples, the cars of today are claimed to be more reliable (the computerization of everything in modern cars is starting to make that argument less valid), but they are all the same and when people ask me about cars knowing I was a mechanic, anymore I just tell them that I don't really like any modern cars anymore. There is something lost with our modern "transportation appliances", compared to what we had to choose from just a few decades ago.

But what can I do right? I'm just raging against the tide coming in. I'm just tired of everything being viewed so one dimensionally in general I guess. People forget there is more than one way to solve a problem and get locked into one mode of thought too easily now. :dontknow:
It keeps me humble:
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miniman82
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Re: Badge engineering on a global scale

Post by miniman82 »

They are selling what people are looking to buy, can't fault them for that. I personally have next to no use for all the gizmos modern cars come with, they amount to a driving distraction and that's about it. I'll allow the computers to control the fuel injection and cruise control, but beyond that I'll take my paper maps and manual windows thank you very much. I don't need a bunch of transistors to tell me what I already know, and I particularly appreciate how my older cars don't ding and flash lights at me when the headlights are on, or the seat belt isn't fastened.... Those are pure annoyance.
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Re: Badge engineering on a global scale

Post by 64powerglide »

Two good posts which I agree with. :not worthy: :goodpost: People like a GPS, if I can't find my way somewhere I won't go but there hasn't been anyplace yet I couldn't find with common sense. Usually if I go somewhere I go cross country to save gas. I have enough trouble running this computer, I don't need one turning my steering wheel or making me stop. I'm not looking a computer screen in my car, i'm watching the road & if I need to stop I will know it. I don't worry about going anywhere in my Corvair because if something goes wrong I think I can fix it on the road. I'll keep driving stylish vintage cars thank you. :tu: :tu:
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SyntheticBlnkerFluid
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Re: Badge engineering on a global scale

Post by SyntheticBlnkerFluid »

It all comes down to dollars. The car companies want to make a profit with the least about of work needed to do so. That's why companies is only have a few engine choices. A couple 4-Cylinders, a couple V6s and a different flavors of the same V8 to cover how many makes fall under one flag. Remember that back in the 60's every brand under the GM banner had their own engines. It wasn't until the 80s that same engines started being used across different makes.

Same thing goes with cars. We get a lot of the same cars now that are sold overseas give or take different drive trains that aren't available here. It's cheaper and easier for a company to make the same car and sell it in different markets.

One day, there will only be one manufacturer of cars, because everyone will have sold themselves to someone else.



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Re: Badge engineering on a global scale

Post by toytron »

It is the reason that Ford quit making the maverick and the mercury comet. They were so similar across many years that they lost money on part sales when it came to repairs. I worked for a while in my teens at my dad's friends junk yard and the interchange on those cars was crazy. Most of the differences were trim packages.

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Re: Badge engineering on a global scale

Post by acarlson »

SyntheticBlnkerFluid wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:35 pm One day, there will only be one manufacturer of cars, because everyone will have sold themselves to someone else.
I don't know about one manufacturer, but there'll only be one propulsion system. They'll all be electric with no steering wheel (self driving) :eek:
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Re: Badge engineering on a global scale

Post by toytron »

Make me think of the dystopian song from RUSH the Red Barchetta.
From their Moving Pictures album.

Writer/s: ALEX ZIVOJINOVICH, GARY LEE WEINRIB, NEIL ELWOOD PEART
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, OLE MM
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

"My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside"


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