General Motors’ Passport and Asüna, Total Brand Confusion (Part II)

We started out our protection of GM’s Eighties and Nineties branding adventures last week, with the brief-lived experiment that was Passport. The dealership community was an amalgamation of GM-owned or motivated makes from Japan, Sweden, and in the case of the Passport Optima, South Korea. Passport lasted from 1987 as a result of 1991 before GM modified directions. In addition to axing an unsuccessful revenue channel, Geo and Saturn cars experienced arrived during Passport’s tenure and produced items more challenging. Let’s understand some extra about GM’s Canadian dealership networks.

Apart from the aforementioned Passport sellers that grew to become Saturn-Isuzu-Saab shops all through 1991, there have been two key GM distribution networks that spanned the significantly reaches of the country from Downtown Canada to other locations that most likely included Regina and Vancouver. Grouped alongside one another were being Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac as just one distribution, and Pontiac, Buick, and GMC as the other. These two key networks were being supported by the new Saturn-Isuzu-Saab setup that sought to capture additional “import” consumer business (a concept with which GM was obsessed from 1984 through roughly 2003).

While Pontiac sellers have been gifted the orphan formerly recognized as the Passport LeMans in 1992, Chevrolet dealers sold the a variety of Suzuki goods (like the Spectrum) GM badged with a bowtie in the middle of the Eighties. That pattern continued in 1989 when by default the vehicles bought as Geos in the United States ended up marketed as Chevrolet in Canada.

Geo was not introduced to Canada right up until 1992, but the Geo-cum-Chevrolets were really common when they arrived at the close of the 10 years. That didn’t make the folks at Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealers too joyful because the only Geo obtainable to them was the Tracker, badged as a GMC. Sellers petitioned GM to slice them in on the action, and that direct to the creation of a new brand name: Asüna.

GM filed for its declaration of use in Canada on Could 20th, 1990, even prior to the formal termination of its Passport. The manufacturer itself was officially started on April 12th, 1992. Asüna delivered substantially guarantee to the sales staff members at Pontiac-Buick-GMC sellers, who desperately preferred some of the little item Geo presented.

Permit us remind ourselves that the GM lineup consisted of 4 complete cars in 1993: Metro, Prizm (next-gen), Storm, and Tracker. The Prizm was the only automobile in its second era guise, as the some others have been still in original Eighties structure. It was from this foundation that Asüna created its tiny lineup.

The most promising offering in the new brand’s lineup was the Asüna variation of the Tracker, the Sunrunner. The Tracker was out there at Chevrolet dealerships throughout Canada in 1989 in its normal guises (hardtop, convertible, and five-doorway). Tracker remained under its Chevrolet banner until eventually 1992 when it was renamed Geo Tracker but curiously saved its gold bowtie logos. In point, the Geo Tracker in Canada normally wore a Chevrolet badge, by way of the end of its first-era output in 1998.

GMC had their very own variation of the Tracker, badged as this sort of from 1989. There ended up restricted discrepancies other than badging, but CL in Chevrolet discuss grew to become the SLE trim at GMC sellers. 1991 was the remaining 12 months for the GMC Tracker, as, unlike the Chevrolet version that was renamed Geo, its transformation into the Asüna Sunrunner included new badging.

The Sunrunner was the first Asüna available when it arrived for 1992. Beneath it was the Suzuki Vitara, generally named the Escudo in other marketplaces. Geo’s most recognizable product, the Tracker’s initially generation ran from 1989 to 1998, at which place it switched to the next technology that was offered from 1999 through 2004. The Tracker outlived GM’s interest in special Geo branding and existed for the second 50 percent of its existence as a Chevrolet.

Serving as the only Asüna motor vehicle that no person in fact needed was GM Canada’s favourite orphan, the LeMans. Immediately after a one yr as a Pontiac in 1992, 1993 saw the LeMans facelifted and turned into the Asüna SE and GT. The only change in the new edition was a new entrance clip and really somewhat revised taillamps. It arrived a calendar year following the Sunrunner was on supplier a lot. The facelifted LeMans was under no circumstances bought in the United States, and its tenure at Asüna proved incredibly small: 1993 was its only calendar year. We mentioned the history of the LeMans loads in our very last entry.

The 3rd and final Asüna was the sportiest of the team, the Sunfire. Normally linked now with Pontiac, the Sunfire title was initially used to the Geo Storm to make it an Asüna. The Storm experienced been limited from Canada, as the second-technology model was not imported as an Isuzu or a Geo in 1992. Asüna buyers received the Sunfire only as a hatchback – the seldom-picked wagon model was off-limits.

The Sunfire and Storm ended up rebadges on the next era of the Isuzu Impulse, or Piazza if you want. While it was significantly more contemporary than its predecessor, the second era misplaced a great deal of its heart and soul. It was not made by Giugiaro, it wasn’t rear-drive, and it didn’t very last really lengthy. Due to gradual sales globally, Isuzu canceled the Impulse after just 4 product yrs. The Storm was not changed in the Geo lineup, and it was the one particular and only time the brand name had a sports activities compact on provide.

Nevertheless Geo income continued in the US and Canada, Asüna was not so fortunate. The familiarity of the Canadian purchaser with imported cars and trucks at Chevrolet dealers was far too good for the excellent people at the Pontiac seller across the road to prevail over. It did not enable that the cost-effective and bigger volume Metro and Prizm had been not allowed to copy about to Asüna.

The only motor vehicle to make it out of Asüna alive was the Sunrunner, which drove about to Pontiac showrooms in 1994. That year, GM allowed Pontiac dealers entry to yet another Geo, the Metro. For Pontiac usage, Metro was rebranded and bought as the tacky Firefly. The Pontiac Sunfire returned in 1995 as a redesigned J-system.

Compared with the Passport trademark that GM retained and renewed for some time, Asüna obtained a lot considerably less awareness. After its registration, it was hardly ever renewed. The Canadian government notified GM in February 2008 that the trademark was about to expire, but The Standard did not react. Asüna was expunged from energetic status on September 18, 2008. Consequently concludes the Passport and Asüna tale. 7 whole a long time of model experimentation that pretty much no one remembers will make for best Abandoned Historical past.

[Images: GM]

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