These Are the Worst Examples of Automotive Badge Engineering Ever

The Dodge Challenger started as the ultra-cool “Vanishing Point” car and now it’s a monster muscle car with the proper retro styling. But back in the 80's, the Challenger was a rebadged Mitsubishi Galant.

Yeesh.

No evoking “Vanishing Point” here with a car from the C-list of Japanese automotive manufacturers—the quality didn’t go in before the badge got slapped on.

GMT360 platform.

Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender, Oldsmobile Bravada, and Buick Rainier were predictable but they went too far with the Saab 7x and the sales confirmed it. GM customers wouldn’t touch it and the Saab faithful were like, “Oh hell no.”

Damn you GM, Damn you to hell.

Does it count as rebadging if they don’t even remove the badge? The Dodge Attitude was just a Hyundai Accent with “DODGE” and “ATTITUDE” spelled across the trunk.

It is the automotive equivalent of Michael Scott quoting Wayne Gretzky.

I mean, did it get worse than this?

This is not the greatest badge engineering in the world, no

This is a just a Tribute.

Its the Honda Crossroad aka Land Rover Discovery.

Apparently it took Honda service an EXTRA 79 man hours PER VEHICLE to fix issues from the factory before they could sell. That’s how bad Land Rovers were coming off of the factory floor.

Dodge Hornet rebadge of the upcoming Alfa Romeo Tonale. I will admit that the Dodge execution isn’t terrible, because mostly the lines are all Alfa save for the front from the bumper line up including the hood. Just look look at the Tonale and which would you rather have?

Anyone want a Daewoo? I mean Chevy Aveo? Somehow managing to move backwards at a time when other Korean brands were starting to hit their stride.

C’mon! Noone with the Volkswagen Routan? A Grand Caravan with VW badging!

I would like to nominate the collective badge-engineering that happened when GM killed off Saturn and Pontiac during the 2007-2008 financial crisis and subsequent bankruptcy.

The Saturn Outlook replaced the GMC Acadia (despite being the same car). Yes, GM literally rebadged a car as a replacement for its nearly-identical platform-mate. The Saturn Vue ‘became’ a Buick — but GM never actually shipped it to anyone and instead rebadged it a third time as the Chevrolet Captiva Sport and sold it to Hertz. The Pontiac G2, already a badge-engineered version of the Chevy Aveo, became a trim line of the Aveo in the middle of 2010. Also future Saturns all became Buicks with no regard for how they’d fit into the lineup which is how the Opel Insigna became the Buick Regal.

You are correct , and most people don’t notice that. The Saturn Outlook shared most of its shape with the GMC Acadia, but with some distinctions, like the wheel flare shape, rear light apertures, and wraparound rear windscreen. Overall, the Saturn was more chiseled.

The Saturn Outlook was discontinued with the rest of the Saturn brand in 2010. But, when GM decided to facelift the remaining three Lambda crossovers for 2013, it decided that the Saturn’s shape better fit GMC’s then-new blocky, chiseled theme...and so quietly switched to using the Outlook tooling. Even the rear bumper cover, in its entirety, was snatched from the Outlook for the 2013 Acadia.

As far as what happened with Saturn and Buick, I’m sure GM realized it was more profitable to sell the rebadged Opels as Buicks than Saturn, and they mostly fit quite well into the lineup. Buick needed compact and midsize sedans, and the Opels fit the bill nicely. The Encore was a particularly good idea.

The Cascada, however, was an interesting indulgence in a world where such cars (which also included the late 200 Convertible and Eos) were dying off left and right.