[Aditya]

Car names that have made comebacks in unexpected avtaars

Over the years, many car names appear and disappear. Some make a comeback after a sabbatical. In recent years, we have seen the Safari name make a comeback and Bajaj brought back the Chetak name after a long break. Very soon, in India, we expect to see Mahindra bringing back the Armada name (4-door Thar) and Tata might bring back the Sierra name (electric SUV). In global markets we have seen the BMW 6-Series and 8-Series coming back after an absence of many years. All these vehicles have stuck to their original character, whether it is the body style or performance.

However, in some cases, carmakers have brought back names with something you least expect. Here are some examples.

Dodge Charger

The Dodge Charger was a large 2-door muscle car that first made an appearance in 1966. Not just that, it was the baddest of the bad boys and one of my favourite cars in the world. It had a nice run till 1978 after which the Charger name was discontinued.


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Dodge brought the charger name back on a much smaller and milder coupe in 1981. It was nowhere as sharp-looking or fast as the previous generations and had front-wheel drive. It just did not live up to the Charger name. Dodge discontinued the car in 1987.


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After an absence of nearly 20 years, Dodge reintroduced the Charger name, this time on a 4-door sedan. This was unexpected. However, Dodge did two things right - first, it made the Charger very good-looking and second, along with smaller engines, it gave the car some nice V8 options and all-wheel drive. All in all, this was a good attempt by Dodge.


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Ford Puma

The Puma was a small sports car that Ford produced between 1997 and 2002. Based on the Fiesta hatchback and built in Germany, it was regarded as a great driver's car. There was also a rally version that had me drooling. Ford discontinued the Puma nameplate after it stopped production of the little coupe.


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The Puma name made a comeback in 2019 but this time on a Romanian-built 5-door crossover - totally unexpected. While it's got some competent engines, I am not sure it will be as fun to drive as the old low coupe.


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Maruti Suzuki Baleno

The Baleno name was introduced in 1996. Under this name you could have a hatchback, sedan and estate. In India, the sedan and estate body styles were introduced. It came with a strong 1.6-litre petrol engine that made it a competitor for the Honda City and Mitsubishi Lancer, which were among the more exciting cars of that time. The Baleno sedan had a good run till 2007, when Maruti replaced it with the SX4 which was larger and more powerful.



The Baleno name returned to India in 2015 in something that left me in a bit of a shock. Maruti had stuck the Baleno badge on a sub-4 m hatchback that had just adequate power and was far from exciting to drive. Instead, it was a rather sedate family hatchback. I had never in my wildest dreams imagined this.

Ford Capri

Just as I was compiling this thread, Ford brought back one of its most iconic nameplates ever - Capri. Built by Ford Europe, the Capri was first introduced in 1968. It was a great-looking fastback coupe that came with a variety of 4-cylinder, 6-cyinder and 8-cylinder engines. With names like Cosworth and Tickford attached to it, this car was very much an enthusiasts' delight. Back in the 80s, I remember seeing a Capri regularly parked at Worli. As an Indian boy who had been brought up on a diet of 4-door sedans, the 2-door fastback instantly caught my eye. The Capri's production ended in 1986.


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The Capri name made a comeback in 1989 on a small roadster in Australia. Based on the Mazda 3, it was available with much smaller engines than the original Capri. It had front-wheel drive and didn't do well in terms of numbers sold. Ford Australia discontinued the Capri in 1994.


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Now, the Capri nameplate is back and this time it's on something unexpected - a crossover. Ford has revealed an electric 4-door crossover with a coupe-like roofline. While it does share some design elements with the original Capri, it is too SUVish and rather boring.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line.

[Dry Ice]

Why leave out the most well known example on our shores?

Zen

Can’t say they improved it!





Armada also might be making a come back soon! This one might be an improvement.

[self_driven]

Tough to pick one between Grand Vitara and Tata Safari, but I think the former's revival was more unexpected (or disappointing).

From this tank that actually justified the 'Grand' in its name:



The nameplate made a comeback for this run of the mill crossover that, forget Grand, doesn't even feel special:

[anjan_c2007]

The Volkswagen Beetle and the New Beetle come to the mind at the first glance at the thread title. The Hyundai Santro comes next. In both cases the succeeding models were lemons and were never as well taken as their iconic predecessor models.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by self_driven

The nameplate made a comeback for this run of the mill crossover that, forget Grand, doesn't even feel special:

I never understood why Maruti cannot name their newer cars with different name rather than copying an older discontinued model.

As you rightly pointed out the yesteryear Suzuki Grand Vitara and the present Grand Vitara are chalk & cheese.

My another disappointment was with the Baleno name. The earlier sedan Suzuki Baleno was an absolute blast of a car and replaced with a premium (?) hatchback Suzuki Baleno.

Similarly Zen was replaced with a hideous looking Zen Estilo that completely destroyed the Amazing Suzuki Zen lineage.

I always ask Maruti. Why? Why wouldn't you just name these present tincans with a different name altogether? Why tinker with the better cars of yesteryear? Why don't you just leave them alone.?

I sometimes lookout for the older Sedan Baleno on used car portals and always invariably the new hatchback Baleno list is what I get. I just want to shout at the portal. "No. Not this Baleno. I want the Sedan Baleno". But no one's listening anyways.

Even today, when the name Grand Vitara & Baleno comes to my mind, I simply recollect the older Grand Vitara and the sedan Baleno. I have trouble in putting those badges on the present cars. My mind simply can't accept it. At times, I get angry with Maruti for doing this mishmash of names unnecessarily.

[Samba]

The Tata Safari.
From a body-on-frame RWD/4x4 to a monocoque FWD, we never expected the Harrier 7 seater to be christened as the Safari.

From this-



To this-

[dgindia]

Maruti embarked on its automotive journey in India by launch of entry level model 800.


This a great success at that point of time.

Gradually as disposable income increased and people wanted better cars, they retired model 800. The last Maruti Suzuki 800 to be manufactured was on 18 January 2014.

But the brand had great recall value and probably they felt that they were not able to serve entry level customers.



Maruti was re-introduced this brand as Alto 800.

[narayans80]

Toyota Yaris is a sub-compact hatchback elsewhere, but a midsize sedan in India.

Toyota Belta could have potentially joined the list had Toyota gone ahead with the rebadging exercise of Ciaz.

Another potential entry is the comeback of Sierra as an EV.

Across brands, the model name Rio has been used by Kia in the 2000s as a compact sedan and Premier as a UV.

On similar lines, Brio was Hyundai Accent in some markets and Honda's sub-compact hatch in the Asian markets.

[suhaas307]

This may not be classified as a “comeback” per se, but the original pony car, the Ford Mustang, has lent its nameplate to an unexpected and unlikely variant:

Ford Mustang:


Mustang Mach-E:


Sacrilege? Perhaps!

[vzvish91]

I've another perspective on this topic.

Sometimes the same car is relaunched (with some resemblance/changes) under different name.

For ex- Few fellow BHPians have already pointed out about the Grand Vitara moniker. But if you look closely at the exterior panels/shape of the OG Grand Vitara & current XL6, you'll notice that overall they share quite some resemblance.
My guess is that

[YD14]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

Why? Why wouldn't you just name these present tincans with a different name altogether? Why tinker with the better cars of yesteryear? Why don't you just leave them alone.?

A famous nameplate sitting in history books is of no use to a company, at least its profits. The ideal scenario would be to build on the formula of the iconic car, but the car of that type might not be viable today. So they name a completely irrelevant car with the same name to tap into at least a small percentage of that popularity.

Top be fair to Maruti, they do offer the new GV with an AWD system but no one cares to buy one. We used to have such iconic cars with souls because that's what sold, not the Suzuki cars, but the cars that Suzuki models were competing with. Today, even the superb all rounder packages like XUV700 lack that character.

[DicKy]

Toyota Crown.

From being Toyota's top of the line model globally for decades to being a JDM only model for a couple of decades, the Crown was thought to be killed off and rebranded as a crossover. In China, they had made the Crown into a sub brand between Toyota and Lexus by branding the Highlander and Vellfire as Crown models.

But Toyota sprang a surprise by launching four new models under the Crown brand. A crossoverish sedan, a crossoverish hatchaback, a 3 row crossover and a traditional sedan, with the traditional sedan sold only in Japan and China. For markets like GCC which had the Crown as a well regarded model well into the late 2000s, this return was unexpected in the weird crossover sedan form.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...ml#post5358529 (Next-gen Toyota Crown will be a Coupé SUV)

[theAutomaniac]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

I never understood why Maruti cannot name their newer cars with different name rather than copying an older discontinued model.

They can rebrand new cars with iconic names because brand names are built to benefit their parent companies!
Plus, it is not just Maruti, but even Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Tata, and many more have used brand names of iconic cars into modern day commuter cars. So it is basically a very common practice. Sad? Yes. But they can still do it!

That said, the Grand Vitara is actually justified because if you follow the Vitara nameplate, the current Grand Vitara is based on the same chassis that was doing duty underneath the Euro-Spec Vitara, which was a successor to the OG Grand Vitara. Plus, the off-road pedigree is still there, with AWD being offered which for an AWD, is a very good performer off the road. This when compared to the only other legacy car revival of recent years, the Safari, is actually a way better story.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by YD14

A famous nameplate sitting in history books is of no use to a company, at least its profits. The ideal scenario would be to build on the formula of the iconic car, but the car of that type might not be viable today. So they name a completely irrelevant car with the same name to tap into at least a small percentage of that popularity.

Top be fair to Maruti, they do offer the new GV with an AWD system but no one cares to buy one..

I agree with your reasoning. However I do believe that, the older Grand Vitara could have made it's mark in the present auto scenery where the clamour for SUV has reached dizzying heights. (We have cars called Micro and Mini SUVs today for whatever it's worth). The Old Grand Vitara was a fuel guzzler and my cousin had it. It was an absolutely amazing car.

Regarding Baleno, I would have loved a new sporty sedan bear that badge instead of the hatchback, a worthy competitor to the 1.5 duo from Skoda/VW.

I think in both cases (Grand Vitara and Baleno) Maruti has decided to play safe, milk the model name and also remain the common man's preferred brand by playing to the market.