Day of the Clones - Part one

It was a bankrupt concept that destroyed proud English names. Build one model, apply a different grille or badge, and trust the blind loyalty of buyers not to question what was behind it. It is a rationalist's dream. Build as many cars as you can on the same tooling, amortise design, parts and manufacturing costs over three or four times the volume and everyone is happy as the price comes down. That's the theory.

It can work for a while but as buyers wake up to it, they can walk away from the whole brand because they no longer know what they are buying.

When US Ford executives wanted Australians to drive the Taurus and GM wanted us to drive the small German Commodore, you could hardly blame an Australian government with socialist leanings for embracing the concept and enshrining it in policy. It didn't help when the Mazda 323/Ford Laser clones enjoyed independent success, but the reasons were not fully understood.

Under threat of severe penalties, Australian manufacturers were forced to meet minimum volumes that could only be reached in most cases by selling their models to another manufacturer. If your partner was indifferent about what you had to sell or made the wrong call, then it was curtains as Nissan found out. The strategy finally fell apart as manufacturers achieved the same economies of scale by buying each other up.

Model sharing still goes on more than ever. But it's the foundations and the parts you can't see that are being shared. Manufacturers are now smart enough to give each model the DNA that goes with the brand name so you can't tell. For example, did you know that the Mazda 3, Ford Focus and certain Volvo models are built on a shared platform? Or the VW Golf, VW Bora, Audi TT, Audi A3, VW Passat along with certain Skoda and Seat models? You wouldn't know unless someone told you. The following are models where it can be all too obvious at times:

Audi Fox/VW Passat/Audi 80CC/Audi 5+5 1974-87
Because the first VW Passat was derived from the Audi 80, they were basically the same car from 1974 until 1987. Middle generation Passats with transverse engines were Golf-based until the most recent model became a cheaper version of the Audi A6. The new Passat, on sale late this year, is based on the Golf again.

Bentley/Rolls Royce
Virtually all Rolls Royces and Bentleys, apart from the special bodied models and later Bentley Turbos, were one and the same car for the last half century until BMW bought the Rolls Royce name and VW took over Bentley. The current Rolls Royce Phantom is now completely separate from any Bentley model.

Bertone X1/9/Fiat X1/9
After Fiat left behind its popular little mid-engined sports, Bertone, the car's designer and manufacturer, kept it alive in Australia with the same Fiat mechanicals from 1988 to 1989.

Chrysler Valiant/Dodge Wayfarer
A plainer, more rugged version of the old Valiant ute was sold as a Dodge.

Mitsubishi Galant/Chrysler Valiant Galant
After arriving as a Mitsubishi Galant, this popular little runabout went into local production as a Chrysler, an arrangement that continued with the very first Sigma. The same policy affected certain early Lancers. All locally-built Chryslers were later brought under the Mitsubishi umbrella.

Daewoo 1.5i
Daewoo's first local effort was an old Opel Kadett which was the forerunner of today's Astra. It was also a descendant of the Holden Gemini, which was a shared Holden-Isuzu version of the 1970s Opel Kadett.

Daihatsu/Toyota Blizzard
Toyota and Daihatsu offered different versions of the same small 4X4 in the early 1980s. Later forward control commercials are also very similar.

Daimler/Jaguar
Since the early 1960s, Jaguar has offered more luxurious, bespoke versions of its passenger cars with the fluted Daimler grille and badges including the Mk II, 420, XJ6, XJ12 and later XJ40, X300 and X308. If you are not a badge snob, they can sometimes offer better value as a used car.

Datsun
The Datsun 240K was a renamed Prince Skyline. All Datsuns and Princes later became Nissans and certain Stanzas and Bluebirds in the early 1980s carried both badges.

Dodge
All Dodge Phoenixes after 1965 were a rebadged Plymouth Fury.

Eunos
Mazda's premium badge was applied to the Mazda MX-3 and sold here as the Eunos 30X.

Fiat
The Fiat 124 later appeared as a Lada but not here. The Lada Niva which was sold here reflected Lada's Fiat 124 origins. The Polish FSM Niki was also the small Fiat 126.

Ford Capri/Mercury Capri
There are Americans who still won't have it that their Mercury Capri was the 1989 Australian Ford Capri built around Ford Laser/Mazda 323 mechanicals.

Ford Corsair/Nissan Pintara 1989-92
At the height of model sharing, Ford convinced Nissan to supply a Nissan Pintara as a replacement for its Mazda 626-based Ford Telstar. As the third medium-sized Ford model in less than a decade, it couldn't work.

Ford Courier/Raider/Mazda B-Series
Ford and Mazda's light commercials are one and the same, built by Mazda.

Ford Econovan/Mazda E-Series
Both Mazda vans built by Mazda Japan.

Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute
Small SUV with joint input and shared Mazda and Ford mechanicals that are so close it doesn't matter.

Ford Maverick/Nissan Patrol
From 1988, Nissan supplied its heavy duty Patrol built in Japan to Ford to replace the locally-built Bronco until the Explorer arrived.

Ford Festiva/Mazda 121
The first Festiva and 121 were the same cars except the Festiva was built in Korea by Kia. The second Festiva was a rebodied Mazda 121 Bubble with cheaper body and mechanicals. The next Festiva is now sold here as the Kia Rio after Ford switched to its own European Fiesta model.

Ford Laser/Meteor/Mazda 323
Always the same cars, there was a clear distinction. The cheaper Laser was locally built, the dearer Mazda 323 was imported so they stayed out of each other's market until 1994 when local Laser assembly stopped. The Meteor badge was applied to the the early Laser sedan and wagon

After 1994, all Lasers were imported from Mazda so that Laser Liata and Lynx Hatches deviated from Mazda Astina Hatches in styling. The sedans remained quite similar. For the final series from 1999, they were the same car except for minor cosmetic changes. The Mazda 323 became the Mazda 3 while Ford went to the European Focus, the current descendant of the original Escort.

Ford Probe/Mazda MX-6
The same cars with different styling were even built together in the US. Our Probe came from the US, while the MX-6 came from Japan.

Ford Spectron/Mazda Traveller
Shared people movers based on Mazda's E-series delivery van.

Ford Telstar/Mazda 626
Ford's local Cortina replacement was a short nosed version of the 1983 front drive Mazda 626 built here and like the Laser, they co-existed beautifully until local Telstar production ended in 1987. Later Telstar models were imported from Mazda which pushed the price up, hence the failed Nissan/Ford Corsair experiment. Ford then imported its European Mondeo, a Cortina decendant, which also failed then abandoned the segment altogether.

Honda Legend/Rover 825/827
Close Honda-Rover ties led to an Anglicised version of the Honda Legend that was built in the UK, and differed in detail to the Japanese-sourced Legend.

Honda Quint/Rover Quintet
Although Australians never saw the larger Quint versions of the Honda Civic, the Rover Quintet was a straight Japanese Honda with Rover badges stuck on it for the Australian market.

Honda Integra/Rover 416i
The four-door Integra was never sold here under the Honda badge as the Rover badge was reserved for this version.