The Suzuki Forenza (top) and the Holden Barina saloon (above) are visually the same car

Take a close look at the cars in the pictures. Look familiar? Well, the one on the top left certainly does because it’s available here ? it’s the Chevrolet Optra, right? Wrong! Look at the badge on the grille ? that’s the Suzuki stylised S. What would you say, if I said that the car in the picture is actually the Suzuki Forenza?

In fact, it would surprise you to know that what we know as the Chevrolet Optra sells as a Daewoo Nubira and Lacetti in Korea and Europe respectively. Then, it’s hawked as a Holden Barina saloon Down Under, and as a Buick Excelle in China. In addition to all that, it pops up as the Suzuki Forenza in North America.

The yellow hatchback in the other picture that sports the Suzuki name and logo is the Suzuki Swift. No, it’s not a secret picture of the next generation Suzuki Swift. Actually it’s not a Suzuki at all. That’s the name the Daewoo Kalos, the car which will be launched shortly in India as the Chevrolet Aveo hatch, goes by in Canada. Looks like there is not much chance of Maruti bringing these two ‘Suzukis’ to India?

Then there’s our very own Tata Indica. The Indica was being sold by Rover in the UK as the City Rover, which is a first for India.

It’s called badge engineering and it’s almost as old as the car industry itself. Basically a company takes a car from another and re-badges it to sell it as its own ? legally of course. Earlier, the difference was related to the badge only. In some cases stylistic changes are carried out ? headlights and tail lights are modified and engine options are varied.

Today, GM has perfected badge engineering to a fine art. It has several product lines and when a new brand is to be introduced in a market, all it has to do is cobble together some models from existing portfolios under a new name and voila! you have a new marque.

It doesn’t always work, and that’s obvious if we look at the Geo story. All Geos were sourced from elsewhere. The Geo Tracker was the Suzuki Sidekick while the Geo Prizm was the Toyota Prizm. Here GM is doing the same thing with the Chevrolet marque ? the Forester is a Subaru, while the Aveo and Optra are Daewoos. The Tavera is an Isuzu.

Sometimes language can be the reason for changing a model’s name. The Mitsubishi Pajero is called the Montero in countries where Spanish is prevalent because the word Pajero has a sexual connotation in Spanish. That reminds one of the time when Campa Cola was having a tough time in one South Indian state because the word ‘campa’ meant ‘bad smell’ in the local lingo.

There is business sense in badge engineering actually. Honda, Toyota and Nissan all went this way when they discovered that to be successful in the US against the might (and brand recognition) of marques like Mercedes, BMW and Jaguar, they needed a more upmarket brand. So, Honda came up with Acura, Toyota came up with Lexus and Nissan with Infiniti. Mazda too came up with Eunos.

Many car companies came into the business with badge engineered models. BMW started off several years ago with the Dixi, which was actually an Austin 7. In India, Maruti started off with the 800. This was Suzuki’s Alto FX. Later, the Maruti Esteem was actually the (then) Suzuki Swift, which also sold as a Subaru equipped with four-wheel drive.

The Maruti Gypsy was the Suzuki Jimny and the Maruti Alto sells in Japan as the Mazda Carol, albeit with a smaller engine to fit into that country’s ‘kei jidosha’ small car rules. Speaking of Mazda, several Ford models have sold as Mazdas. The old Ford Fiesta hatchback was the Mazda 121 while the Ford Telstra was the Mazda 323.

There is another reason for badge engineering. A company may produce excellent cars but may not have a good brand image. So when GM acquired Daewoo, the feeling was that bringing the Daewoo name back to India would not be a very smart move. But under the Chevrolet name, the cars would have a better chance of selling.

Similarly, Fiat India does not have a good brand image. The Italians have resorted to sharing dealer forecourt space with Tata Motors Volkswagen. Yes, the company has certainly gone ahead by developing platforms that are shared by its sister companies Audi, Skoda and Seat. So one would imagine that VW would not need to resort to badge engineering, but the truth is that the VW indulges in both platform sharing as well as badge engineering. Interestingly, several Auto Expos ago, VW came a-visiting. The car they thought would be ideal for India was called the City Golf. The City Golf was the Seat Cordoba, but as Seat was unknown in India and whoever had heard of the company had been put off by the rustbucket that went by the code name NE118. Hence the different name.

As long as the world remains a heterogenous mix of cultures, companies will do what it takes to keep themselves out of the red. And that includes badge engineering. After all, by another name a rose is still a rose.

Road rage

Sunil Das,
artist

Be it the traffic situation in Calcutta or even the innumnerable hawkers on the road, I’m perfectly happy with the state of affairs. You see all these facets have always been a part of the city and always will be. We can never change it! This is the beauty of Calcutta!

So in the spirit of things, let me say that I like seeing stray cows crossing the streets. I enjoy seeing hordes of hawkers thronging the pavements. And it’s okay by me to get stuck in a jam for 40 minutes. Comparitively, people in Bangkok are stuck in traffic snarls for two to three hours. So this is nothing! Look at Howrah Bridge with hawkers selling their wares on either side. While many will complain, consider the brighter side ? how convenient it is to pick up something. Also in some countries abroad, you don’t get to see a man on the road for miles together. So I quite like seeing crowds of jaywalkers on the streets of Calcutta.