Cars named after places where they were never sold

[Madman]

1958 Plymouth Savoy


Part 18: Plymouth Savoy


Plymouth named it's Savoy model after the famous London hotel which, in turn, was named after the region in the Western Alps.  Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Valley in the east.  The Savoy region today is split by the modern boundaries of France, Switzerland, and Italy.

A continent away, Plymouth first applied the Savoy name to a station wagon from 1951-53, as a more luxurious step up from the more basic Plymouth Suburban station wagon.  By 1954, the Savoy was now Plymouth's mid-level car, positioned between the base Plaza and the top-line Belvedere.

All three Plymouth models were redesigned in 1955 and again in 1957.  The Plaza was dropped for 1959, making the Savoy the entry-level Plymouth.  This was followed by yet another redesign, the controversial Virgil Exner designed 1960 models, with odd chromed "eyelashes" over the headlights and enormous tailfins.  For 1961, the tailfins were shorn off but the eyelashes remained.

Another controversial redesign, the "downsized" full-sized Mopars, followed for 1962.  The Savoy continued as Plymouth's entry-level full sized car until 1964 in the US and 1965 in Canada.

I think it's safe to say you're not very likely to encounter any of the many iterations of the Plymouth Savoy either at the Savoy Hotel in London or the Savoy region in the Western Alps.  I am certain you would notice it if you did!

[giant_mtb]

I hate you.

[Madman]

Part 19: Oldsmobile Firenza


Built from 1982-88, the Oldsmobile Firenza was one of about a bazillion variants of GM's J-car architecture.  Its name is derived from Firenze,  known as Florence in English, and also renowned for it's architecture.  The city it a bit older than the car, obviously, having been established by the Romans in 59 BC.

The city of Firenze  is widely regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance.  The Oldsmobile Firenza was the result of decisions made by the suits at GM's Renaissance Center headquarters in Detroit.

Firenze  was home to the Medici family.  The Firenza carried American families in a variety of body configurations; a four door sedan, a two-door coupe, a three-door fastback hatch, and a five-door station wagon.

Alas, despite all of the apparent similarities, Firenze  and the Firenza never met.  As any tourist can attest, the Italian peninsula is somewhat lacking in Oldsmobiles.  However, Italy did get a cousin of the Firenza, the Opel Ascona C.  The Ascona, of course, being yet another J-car variant.

[SJ_GTI]

This is a fun thread. Are you writing this all yourself???

[Madman]

This is a fun thread. Are you writing this all yourself???

Yes, it's an idea I've been kicking around for a while now.  It hit me one day when I noticed the incongruity of all the 1960s and 1970s Detroit dinosaurs named after places where, in reality, you'd never have a snowball's chance in hell of selling such a gigantic, gas-guzzling barge of a car.

When I finally started brainstorming the cars named on this list, it never even occurred to me how long it would eventually become.  And I'm still not finished!  I haven't even got to the names of trim packages and special editions (Fiat Panda Antarctica, anyone?) which, were I to include them, could keep this thread going for a VERY long time!

[Madman]

Part 20: Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Monterey


This one is a bit tricky.  For starters, this SUV has gone under more different names than a Mafia capo in the Federal Witness Protection Program.  Then there's the name, itself.  The spelling suggests it was named after Monterey, California.  An alternative spelling, Monterrey,  is used by cities in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru.  Meanwhile, Monterrei  is a town in the province of Orense in northwestern Spain, a region famous for its wine.  Based on the spelling, I'm going to go with the coastal town in California, about one hundred miles south of San Francisco.

If you're looking at that photo I posted above and thinking "Hey, wait a minute, that looks sort of like an Isuzu Trooper!" then give yourself a pat on the back, my friend, because that's exactly what it is.  Back when the first SUV boom started to take off in the 1990s, GM's then European and Australian outposts were caught with their pants down, having nothing to offer buyers who suddenly wanted to pretend they were the sort of rugged, outdoorsy types who liked to hike trails and climb mountains even if they never did.

Opel, Vauxhall and Holden needed some rough & ready trucks to lure the four-wheel-drive fashionistas into their showrooms, pronto!  Presumably nothing in the General's North American portfolio was deemed suitable for sale across either pond, so GM got on the phone to one of their Japanese partners, Isuzu.  Despite some generally positive reviews, the Monterey sold poorly in Europe and is all but forgotten there today.  In Australia, the Monterey name was used on the upmarket version of the vehicle otherwise known as the Holden Jackaroo.  Holden had much better luck selling the Jackaroo/Monterey than Opel or Vauxhall.  You can thank Australia's predilection for four-wheel-drive vehicles for this success.

Elsewhere on Planet Earth, you could buy this SUV under a few other names.  A fancy, leather-lined version was sold in North America as the Acura SLX.  The Japanese could choose between an Isuzu Bighorn, a Subaru Bighorn, and a Honda Horizon.  In Indonesia and South America. it was the Chevrolet Trooper.  And in China it was the Sanjiu 3-Nine Trooper.

But if you lived in Monterey, California and you wanted to pay tribute to your home city by driving through it in an SUV named after it, you were out of luck.  The best you can do is buy an Isuzu Trooper and swap the grille and badges.

[Madman]

Part 21: Cadillac Calais


The French port city of Calais sits on the coast of the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which separates Britain from the European continent.  Throughout history, this strategic location has made Calais an important hub for shipping and trade.  Thousands of ships sail in and out of Calais every year.

The car you see above, a 1966 Cadillac Calais 2-Door Hardtop, is almost as big as some of those ships docking at the fourth largest port in France!  Cadillac affixed the Calais name to it's entry-level "full-size" models from 1965 through 1976, taking over from the previous Cadillac Series 62.  The Calais was essentially a lower-cost version of the De Ville.  However, unlike the De Ville, no convertible version of the Calais was ever offered.

Calais design changes echoed that of the De Ville.  The first generation Calais, pictured above, was produced from 1965-70.  The bloated-looking, whale-like second generation followed for 1971-76.  The Calais was never a big seller for Cadillac.  Adding options to a Calais eliminated the miniscule price difference between it and the marginally more expensive De Ville and the model was dropped after 1976.

But General Motors wasn't quite finished with the Calais name just yet.  Oldsmobile first used the Calais badge on a luxury edition of the Cutlass Supreme coupe.  These Cutlass Calais coupes were made from 1978-84.  Oldsmobile then used it on its iteration of the front-drive General Motors N-Body.  But that's a subject for a future instalment in this series.

Getting back to the Cadillac Calais, can you imaging navigating this barge through the narrow streets of a French city?  I can't.  Maybe if you were to strap pontoons onto the side, you could ferry passengers across the channel?

[Madman]

Part 22: Oldsmobile Calais/Cutlass Calais


Continuing from the previous installment, we left off with Cadillac dropping its Calais model in 1976 since the very idea of a cheaper full-sized Cadillac seemed a bit at odds with their claim of being the "Standard of the World."  Not ones to let a good name go to waste, Oldsmobile's marketing men went rummaging through the recycling bins behind Cadillac's offices and emerged with a bunch of Calais badges, ready to be put to good use.  That's what I like to imagine what happened, anyway.

After a one year rest, the Calais name reemerged, this time as the Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais.  This was the most luxurious version of the newly redesigned, fourth generation Cutlass Supreme coupe, built on the recently downsized rear-drive A-Body platform launched in 1978.  Following a mild facelift for 1981, the Cutlass Calais coupe continued to be produced into 1984.

For 1985, the Calais badge was shifted to new smaller front-drive N-Body sedan and coupe.  This was the replacement for the underwhelming and underperforming X-Body Oldsmobile Omega.  For reasons which nobody can really explain, Oldsmobile's marketing geniuses were totally in love the Cutlass name.  So much so, they named almost every damn car they made a Cutlass.  Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Ciera, Cutlass Salon, Cutlass Cruiser, Cutlass S, Cutlass Colonnade, Cutlass Brougham..... Who could keep up with all of that?  So, of course, the Calais was renamed the Cutlass Calais for 1988.

This otherwise forgettable car remained in production through 1991, after which, it was replaced by the equally forgettable Oldsmobile Achieva.  So what does this car have to do with the French city from which it takes its name?  Absolutely nothing.  Except at least the N-Body is more appropriately sized for French roads, being about an inch shorter in length than a contemporary Peugeot 505 sedan and a little more than two inches longer than a Renault 21 sedan from the same era.  Despite this, you're unlikely to find an Olds Calais plying the streets of its namesake city.  Oldsmobile never thought of launching an assault on the French car market.  I wonder what Jacques and Pierre would have thought of the Oldsmobile Calais?

[Madman]

Part 23: Jowett Jupiter


Brothers Benjamin and William Jowett began selling bicycles in the West Yorkshire town of Bradford in 1901.  Soon they had branched out into building engines for motorcycles and stationary machinery and, by 1906, had built their first prototype car.  Further experimentation and refinement continued until 1910, by which time, Jowett began production of their first "Light Car."  Larger than the cyclecars that were popular at the time, but still smaller than a conventional car, the Jowett was ideally suited for the rolling hills in and around their native Yorkshire.

After the First World War, the company expanded into producing larger cars and commercial vehicles.  Following the breakout of the Second World War, Jowett turned to manufacturing fire pump engines, aircraft parts and other military equipment.  The postwar period brought about a new model range.  There was the new Bradford commercial van, the streamlined Javelin sedan, and a sports car based on Javelin components, the Jupiter.

Unlike most sports cars of the era, the Jowett Jupiter had proper roll-up windows instead of clip-on side curtains and a snug-fitting convertible roof.  The car was designed by Eberan von Eberhorst who became head of design at Auto Union after the departure of Ferdinand Porsche.  von Eberhorst also had a hand in the development of the Tiger Tank for the German Army.

The Jupiter enjoyed some racing success in the early 1950s, including taking class wins at LeMans in 1950, 1951, and 1952.  But outside events were causing serious headaches for the Jowett company.

Jowett's supplier of bodies for the Javelin and Bradford, Briggs Motor Bodies, was sold to the Ford Motor Company who, in turn, sold it to a concern called Fisher & Ludlow.  Fisher & Ludlow was itself soon acquired by the British Motor Corporation.  This caused Jowett to lose their body supplier.  At the same time, a general downturn in the UK car market put further pressure on Jowett's finances.  With few options left available to them, Jowett's board of directors decided to cease trading.  The company was liquidated by 1955.

This was indeed a pity because the Jupiter, in particular, was quite an impressive and capable car.  But do you know what it wasn't capable of?  Interplanetary space travel.  Because I am fairly confident you will never see this, or any other sports car, anywhere near the gas giant that is the fifth planet from the sun!  The Voyager I space probe did a flyby of Jupiter in 1979 and found no evidence of vintage British sports cars on the planet.  And if you can't trust NASA, who can you trust?

[Madman]

Part 24: Venturi America


Anyone remember Venturi?  Anyone?  Hello?

You can be forgiven if you don't.  The French company was founded in 1984 by Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy, two former engineers for Heuliez.  Heuliez was a engineering company and coachbuilder who did special projects and contract production builds for a number of European manufacturers.  Poiraud and Godfroy set out to use their expertise to create a French rival to established sports and supercar companies.

For enthusiasts, their most well-known product was the Venturi Atlantique, a mid-engine sports/supercar powered by the PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) V6 engine and fitted with a five speed Renault gearbox.  The Atlantique had a fibreglass body and production ran from 1991 through 2000.  Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the car in a 1992 episode of Top Gear and declared it to be better than a Lotus Esprit.

However, as is almost always the case with small supercar start-ups, the money ran out and Venturi filed for bankruptcy in 2000.  Financial salvation came in the form of real estate developer Gildo Pallanca Pastor.
 Pastor bought the company out of bankruptcy, moved its headquarters to Monaco and decided to focus on electric vehicles.  This resulted in the electric Venturi Fétish sports car.  However, Verturi's most popular car to date is the Citroën Berlingo électrique, a Citroën Berlingo van converted to run on electric power.

in 2010, Venturi unveiled the car you see above.  Venturi described the America as a "high riding sports car" using a 300 horsepower electric motor to send power to the rear wheels.  This two-seat EV looks to be a cross between a Mazda Miata and a dune buggy and allegedly had a driving range of 186 miles per charge.  Venturi promised to build 100 of these cars but production never got off the ground.  In 2015, the company announced it was ending series production and sales.  Only around 750 cars in total had been built by the company since 1984.

Even if the America had gone into its very limited production run, none of them would have come over here to the Land Of The Free and the Home Of The Whopper.  Alas, you'll never be able to pay tribute to America by driving an America.

As a postscript, However, Venturi does still exist as a racing team in the Formula E series for electric race cars.  So that's something, I guess?

[Madman]

Part 25: Buick Riviera


Riviera.  A name that evokes images of white-sand beaches, Mediterranean breezes, opulent resorts, and members of the rich and famous jet-set.  The name is usually associated with the southeastern coast of France and the Northwestern coast of Italy.  Other regions around the world have tried to lay claim the Riviera name.  The coasts of Spain, Portugal, and even Lake Geneva in Switzerland have all tired to co-opt the Riviera name to boost the allure of their own beaches.  Some pretty unlikely locales have even tried to bask in the glow of the Riviera mystique by borrowing the name for their own stretch of coastal real estate.  The Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, the South coast of England, and the Baltic Sea shoreline of Latvia have all at one time or another rebranded their respective stretches of seaside tourist traps as a "Riviera."  Let's not forget America's very own "Redneck Riviera" on the Gulf of Mexico.

For the purposes of this thread, however, I'm going to stick to the "original" Rivieras of France and Italy.

Buick certainly found the name Riviera quite appealing, too.  Before it became a model in its own right, Buick applied the Riviera moniker to luxury-edition, pillarless hardtop versions of various Buick models from 1949 through 1962.  The Riviera finally came into its own in 1963 as a large two-door "Personal Luxury" car.  This theme continued throughout eight generations of car models through 1999, with the exception of a one-year gap in 1994, between the seventh and final eighth generation model.

I won't go through all the changes and redesigns of the Riviera over the course of its production.  Suffice to say that any iteration of the Buick Riviera would look ridiculously out of place on the French or Italian coasts.  Almost as ridiculous as a morbidly obese European man wearing a Speedo would look on any American beach!  Proof that not everything that looks appropriate on one side of the Atlantic can blend-in on the other side.

[Madman]

Part 26: Chevrolet Monza


The Monza name first appeared on a Chevy during the 1960s as a sporty trim package on the Chevrolet Corvair.  However, the car you see above is the Malaise-Era compact almost everyone today associates with the Monza badge.

Introduced in 1975, the new Chevrolet Monza was an evolution of the fabulously unreliable and rust-prone Vega.  In an effort to make the new car even more unreliable, General Motors had agreed to licence the rights to build a Wankel rotary engine from German car manufacturer NSU.  Fortunately, in a rare moment of clarity for the General, they came to their senses and gave up on this idea before any Wankel powered Monzas were inflicted upon an unsuspecting public.  This was the same engine American Motors had planned to buy from GM to use in the Pacer.  When GM suddenly left AMC high and dry, without any of the engines they had designed their unconventional new car around, AMC's engineers had no other choice but to shoehorn their stalwart inline six into an engine bay for which it had never been designed.  In retrospect, I'd argue both GM and AMC got off lucky.  Let's not forget it was the catastrophic warranty repair costs and reputational damage resulting from this engine that forced NSU into bankruptcy.

The H-Body Monza shared it's rear-drive platform with the Pontiac Sunbird, Oldsmobile Starfire, and Buick Skyhawk and all four cars only survived into 1980.  After which, it was replaced by the front-drive J-Body. Although the Monza never got the Wankel rotary engine that had been originally planned for it, the car did come with a staggering variety of powerplants.  Four, six, and eight cylinder engines were all on offer.  You could pick either the Vega's 2.3 litre or the 2.5 litre Pontiac Iron Duke four bangers.  If you prefer, you could also chose between either the 3.2 litre or 3.8 litre Buick V6 mills.  Weirdly, for such a small car, Chevy would even let you turn your Monza into a miniature Camaro by letting you choose either a 5.0 litre or 5.7 litre small-block V8!  Crazy!

The Monza name lived on overseas after the General retired it from its American catalogue.  From 1982 until 1996 a locally built version of the Opel Ascona C was sold as a Chevrolet Monza in Brazil.  Down in Mexico, you could buy a rebadged Opel Corsa B sedan called a Chevrolet Chevy Monza (Yes, it was really called that!) from 1994 through 2004.  And since 2019, a badge engineered version of the Chinese built Buick Excelle GT has been assembled in Wuhan by a GM-SAIC joint venture and sold in China as a Chevrolet Monza.

But none of these Monzas ever found their way to Italy, at least not when new.  I'd also be more than a little surprised to see a Chevrolet Monza on the famous Autodromo Nazionale di Monza,  the legendary racing circuit that is the home of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.

I'm sorry if you somehow had the wrong impression but this car is no more Italian than the rubbery pasta served at The Olive Garden! 

[cawimmer430]

This is an awesome thread and the witty and fun writing style of Madman makes for an enjoyable read. Keep them coming! 

Was the Renault Floride sold in Florida?

[Madman]

This is an awesome thread and the witty and fun writing style of Madman makes for an enjoyable read. Keep them coming! 

Was the Renault Floride sold in Florida?

Yes, it was sold in America as the Renault Caravelle.  According to legend, Renault executives were afraid the name Floride might offend people in the other 49 states!  Personally, I don't believe this story because since when have the French ever been afraid of offending anybody? 

By the way, while I was visiting you in Munich last year, I happened to be walking across a bridge near your place and noticed somebody  had thrown some bicycles into the river....




Okay, Christian, time to confess.  It was YOU, wasn't it? 

I know how much you hate cyclists and, having experienced Munich's Kamikaze cyclists for myself, I can certainly understand why.  But that doesn't mean you can throw their bikes into the river!  Why, do you ask?  Because they'll only wade in there and fish them out again, that's why!  Can't you see that water is way too shallow?  You've made it too easy for them.  If you want to do the job properly, you need to get an angle grinder and cut up the frames.  That's the only way to ensure they can never be used again!

Then you can throw the pieces into the river! 

[cawimmer430]

Yes, it was sold in America as the Renault Caravelle.  According to legend, Renault executives were afraid the name Floride might offend people in the other 49 states!  Personally, I don't believe this story because since when have the French ever been afraid of offending anybody? 

Imagine if they had offered a car for every American state as to not offend anyone. Same car but different name. So the Renault Floride for Florida, Renault California for California or the Renault Texas for Texas. That would have been fun!

By the way, while I was visiting you in Munich last year, I happened to be walking across a bridge near your place and noticed somebody  had thrown some bicycles into the river....




Okay, Christian, time to confess.  It was YOU, wasn't it? 

Shhhh... not so loud! 

I nearly ran over one of those idiot cyclists a few days ago. He ran a red light, at night and of course had no functioning front/rear light and was dressed in black. The moron had a death wish. Anyway, I saw him and expected him to do this, but I of course went into full drama mode, braked hard, honked my horn and opened my window to curse at him - so that the many people at the crossing would learn something. 

[Madman]

I nearly ran over one of those idiot cyclists a few days ago. He ran a red light, at night and of course had no functioning front/rear light and was dressed in black. The moron had a death wish. Anyway, I saw him and expected him to do this, but I of course went into full drama mode, braked hard, honked my horn and opened my window to curse at him - so that the many people at the crossing would learn something. 

Just be careful, Christian.  I know German laws are pretty strict in regards to "road rudeness" and "offensive gestures."

https://www.dw.com/en/german-drivers-told-to-mind-their-manners-on-the-road/a-2451659


Just giving someone the finger or calling another driver a "dumb cow" can land you a hefty fine.

https://thetravelingovereducatedhousewife.blog/2015/05/06/the-high-price-of-giving-someone-the-finger-in-germany/


You don't want Munich's "Woke" authorities to arrest you, do you?  I'm pretty sure you won't like their soy-based vegan prison food.  Then again, maybe you'll be lucky and the Judge will only make you do community service.  They'll probably have you do outreach work for Munich's local support group for left-handed, transgender, lesbian, Afro-Asian, Midget, Eskimo, Albinos with eating disorders. 

[Madman]

Part 27: Ford Granada (North American model)


Ford has a habit of recycling it's old names.  Today's Ford Maverick, for example, is a small pickup truck.  Turn the clock back fifty years, however, and the Ford Maverick was a compact sedan and coupe.  Capri is another example.  First applied to a Lincoln, the Capri badge later found it's way onto a European Ford, a North American Mercury, and an Australian Ford.  Ford has even used the same name at the same time on different cars it has sold in different parts of the world.  Witness the European and North American Ford Escorts.  Two very different cars sold in different parts of the world but sharing the same name.  This can sometimes make things confusing unless you are VERY specific about which Escort you're talking about.

Same goes for the Ford Granada.  Ford built two very different Granadas on opposite sides of the Atlantic.  One was an attractive, efficient, and sharp-handling rival to other large European family cars.  The other was a chintzy, overstuffed, under-engineered box of misery and disappointment riding on the bones of a 15-year-old economy car that could couldn't be more American if it tried.

In Part 4 of this series I profiled the Lincoln Versailles which, along with the Mercury Monarch that sat next to it in the same showroom, was based of the Ford Granada you see above.  If you ever wanted to know what you'd get if you took a 1960 Ford Falcon and gave it 50 percent more weight, 25 percent less power, and 100 percent more disco-era cheesiness, here's your answer!  Vinyl roofs, tufted velour, plastiwood dashboard trim, stand-up hood ornaments and other tacky 1970s accouterments could all be yours either as standard or as options, depending on how much you wanted to spend.  I assume all that tinsel was there to distract you from noticing the Granada's performance.  Or rather, the lack thereof.  The base 3.3 litre "Thriftpower" six cylinder Granada only made 72 horsepower, 70 if you lived in California.  Ordering the larger 4.1 litre Triftpower six or the 4.9 litre or 5.8 litre Windsor V8s made only marginal difference.

Ford's advertising at the time liked to compare the looks of the Granada to that of a Mercedes Benz, as if anyone would be fooled into thinking you were driving a Mercedes.  Yes, Ford's marketing people really did think it's customers were that dumb....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrW5UsDUvwM


Sometimes mistaken for a Mercedes?  By whom?  The legally blind?

The Spanish certainly wouldn't have been dumb enough to confuse these two cars.  Besides, they had their own, vastly superior Ford Granada they could buy.  The only Ford Granadas you're likely to see in the southern Spanish city sharing its name are those built in Germany.  The Broughamtastic barge we got from 1975-82, would look utterly ridiculous anywhere outside North America.

[Madman]

Part 28: Buick Verano


The Buick Verano was a pretty short-lived model in North America, lasting from 2012 through 2017.  It was essentially a fancy Chevrolet Cruze and distantly related to the Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Astra of the same period.  It was also the first domino to fall when Buick began culling passenger cars from its model range, transforming itself into an all-crossover brand.  After the Verano got the chop in 2017, the LaCrosse was gone by 2019, and the Regal faded away in 2020.  Today, Buick's North American lineup consists of four tediously dull and utterly forgettable CUVs.

Buick's fate in China, however, is a very different story.  Over there, Buick is seen as an aspirational brand and it fields a full model range of cars, crossovers, even minivans and EVs.  The Verano is known as the Excelle GT in China and is now in its third generation.

So, the Verano was a success in China, a flop in America, and nonexistent in...... Italy.

Verano is the English name for a small northern Italian town known as Vöran in the local language.  Fewer than 1,000 people live there, so it make me wonder why Buick chose to name a car after such an obscure place?  And of the small number of people living there, I'm willing to bet not one of them drives a Buick!

So don't expect to see a Verano driving around Verano.  In fact, considering it's such a small town, don't expect to see much of anything or anyone driving around the place.