29 Years Ago, Gm Sacrificed One Of Its Own For The Sake Of Chevy

You mightiness deliberation that it'd beryllium wholly chaotic to pluck modern-day Mazdas, Hyundais, Hondas, and Toyotas from their assembly lines, past casting them arsenic one, caller brand. But defunct General Motors marque Geo has already done thing similar. The Geo nameplate and its lineup of mini re-badged Japanese cars was calved successful 1989 to steer group toward Chevrolet showrooms and distant from different highly-appealing Japanese cars. The marque was sacrificed for Chevy's liking successful 1997, conscionable awkward of its double-digit birthday, joining nan database of car brands killed by GM.

To opportunity that American car value successful nan 1980s was suffering is simply a spot for illustration calling a compound fracture a surgery leg. Faced pinch nan reality that Honda, Nissan, and Toyota were topping nan J.D. Power problem-free car charts, GM decided to form its ain small mini car supergroup. Dubbed Geo, it would pat what turned retired to beryllium shrewd GM alliances forged pinch Isuzu successful 1971, Suzuki successful 1981, and Toyota successful 1984 for root material.

The Isuzu I-Mark — which Chevy had already been trading arsenic nan Spectrum – became nan Geo Spectrum. The thrifty Suzuki Swift emerged arsenic nan Geo Metro, which readers now playfully want to spot successful a pursuit scene. The Geo Prizm was a Toyota Corolla, and nan diminutive Suzuki Sidekick begat nan Geo Tracker. Rounding it each retired was an replacement type of the Isuzu Impulse known arsenic nan Geo Storm. Once Chevy's marque image improved, though, GM gave Geo nan heave-ho.

Geo motorboat ads ooze early-'90s power while later run voiceovers took dormant purpose astatine Honda, Nissan, and moreover Toyota. Renditions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's show tune "Getting to Know You," from nan 1956 philharmonic "The King and I" were repurposed into earworm promotional soundtracks. These commercials were aimed astatine a procreation that grew up erstwhile Japan emerged arsenic a world automotive powerhouse while America wallowed successful a recession.

When Geo arrived to lend life support to Chevy dealerships, GM was still reeling from disco-era difficulties. The 1973 Oil Embargo slammed nan American system successful nan head. Long state lines made system cars desirable, and American car companies struggled to build them. In a retrospective summary of reviews for nan Chevrolet Vega and its Ford Pinto mini car counterpart successful nan 1970s, Car and Driver said, "The brace was derided arsenic 2 of nan worst cars of each time." The Embargo besides group disconnected ostentation that, coupled pinch mismanagement, had nan Big Three bleeding reddish ink into nan 1980s.

To move perceptions around, Ford did itself proud pinch nan 1986 Taurus while Chrysler conceived nan minivan from its small K-Car platform. Meanwhile, GM's Saturn section was conscionable getting disconnected nan ground. Badge engineering — rebranding different cars nether different brands – was a speedy measurement for GM to minimize its humor loss. When your cupboard is stocked pinch awful badge engineering exercises for illustration nan homemade Cadillac Cimarron, it's champion to see ordering out. That's precisely what GM did, and Geo delivered.

Reviews of Geos could beryllium mixed, but nan marque kept connected rolling, uncovering location astir 800,000 takers from 1989 to 1997. As group sewage to cognize these vehicles, different advertisement campaign, touting nan versatility and system that made the Geo Prizm specified a applicable car, featured nan catchphrase: "No Matter What, It's a Geo." 

While these ads mentioned really you could get a Geo astatine your Chevrolet dealership, Chevrolet itself had been focusing connected its ain models. Its S-10 Blazer 4x4, introduced for 1983, sewage a makeover for 1995 conscionable arsenic SUV income skyrocketed — arsenic did nan Camaro and Corvette around this time. And yet, divine weirdness intervened. In nan 1994 J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, nan Geo Prizm outscored its relative from different mother, nan Toyota Corolla, by 20 points — contempt being built alongside 1 different successful a associated GM-Toyota factory. This was attributed to things for illustration Corollas being built successful respective plants and Geo customers simply having little value expectations.

Regardless, by 1996, GM felt that Geo had successfully served its purpose. The Wall Street Journal reported that, together, Chevrolet and Geo made complete 50% of GM's sales. The Chevrolet marque was, unsurprisingly, much recognizable, and GM wanted to streamline things. So, nan Metro, Prizm, and Tracker were erstwhile again re-badged arsenic Chevrolets for 1998, and they'd proceed to waste arsenic specified until 2001, 2002, and 2004, respectively. Geo was calved to die, but it lives connected everlastingly arsenic a captious portion of GM history.