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Junkyard Gem: 2005 Suzuki Verona

The ways of the far-flung GM Empire could be mysterious, a couple of decades back, especially when Daewoo and/or Suzuki were involved. After The General's (relative) success selling the Daewoo LeMans with Pontiac badges here, Daewoo decided to bring three models to the United States with its own badging: the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza. Unfortunately for that effort, Daewoo's CEO fled South Korea to evade embezzlement and fraud charges just as the first models hit American showrooms in 1999, and the company went bankrupt soon after. The last year for the trio of Daewoo-badged models here was 2002… but we weren't done with those cars yet! Today's Junkyard Gem is an example of the next-generation Leganza, found in a Denver-area self-service wrecking yard recently. GM began selling Suzuki cars in North America with the Chevrolet Sprint (aka Suzuki Cultus) in 1985. The following year, Suzuki began importing the Jimny with Suzuki Samurai badging. Many Suzukis followed over the next quarter-century, with Chevrolet, Geo and Suzuki branding applied along the way. Since GM bought all of Daewoo's car-building operations during the chaos of the early 2000s, it made sense to keep selling the descendants of the three Daewoo models that had been offered here. They'd have made sense as Geos, but the Geo brand got the axe after 1997. Saturn? For Opels, sure, but not Daewoos. Isuzu had gone all-truck here after the final Styluses and Storms left the showrooms as 1993 models (though the Honda Odyssey was sold here with Isuzu emblems), so that was out. So, Chevrolet and Suzuki got the honors. The next-generation Daewoo Lanos subcompact became the Chevrolet Aveo, the next-generation Daewoo Nubira compact became the Suzuki Reno, and the next-generation Daewoo Leganza midsize sedan became the Suzuki Verona. The Verona was available for just the 2004 through 2006 model years. Note that the dealership decal features the Pets.com Sock Puppet. That's because the now-defunct 1-800-Bar-None company bought the rights to the Sock Puppet in 2002 (two years after Pets.com went kerblooey as the highest-profile casualty of the Dot-Com Crash) and used it in their advertising. All Leganzas had four-cylinder engines driving the front wheels, but the Verona got this very unusual longitudinally-mounted straight-six rig. It thus joins the Volvo S80 in the elite club for this powertrain setup.

New investor allows Suzuki to fend off VW

After years of legal wrangling, the long-soured partnership between Volkswagen and Suzuki looks finally to be coming out of arbitration, according to Bloomberg. As a sign of the Japanese brand's improved fortunes, hedge fund Third Point LLC recently bought an undisclosed stake in the company. The investor reported seeing a major opportunity in the successful Maruti Suzuki business in India. As an investment, the only major problem that Third Point found with Suzuki was its legal battle with VW. "The company's greatest asset is its low-cost manufacturing process for vehicles for the emerging market consumer," the fund said in a letter, according to Bloomberg. Third Point reportedly also wants a seat on Suzuki's board, despite being a minority shareholder. The alliance between Suzuki and VW goes back to late 2009. In the deal, the Japanese brand was meant to get access to cutting-edge tech, and the German firm got a helping hand towards better establishing itself in India and Southeast Asia. Things didn't go as planned, though. Less than two years later, Suzuki's boss publicly derided the deal. Eventually, the allegations started going back and forth, and the two have been working out a way to untangle practically ever since. Among the biggest issue has been how to get back the 19.9 percent stake that VW purchased. According to Bloomberg, the arbitration is now technically over. With the divorce nearly final, the two sides are just waiting on a decision on how to split things up. Suzuki may even just buy VW's stake to get the shares back.

Question of the Day: Most heinous act of badge engineering?

Badge engineering, in which one company slaps its emblems on another company's product and sells it, has a long history in the automotive industry. When Sears wanted to sell cars, a deal was made with Kaiser-Frazer and the Sears Allstate was born. Iranians wanted new cars in the 1960s, and the Rootes Group was happy to offer Hillman Hunters for sale as Iran Khodro Paykans. Sometimes, though, certain badge-engineered vehicles made sense only in the 26th hour of negotiations between companies. The Suzuki Equator, say, which was a puzzling rebadge job of the Nissan Frontier. How did that happen? My personal favorite what-the-heck-were-they-thinking example of badge engineering is the 1971-1973 Plymouth Cricket. Chrysler Europe, through its ownership of the Rootes Group, was able to ship over Hillman Avanger subcompacts for sale in the US market. This would have made sense... if Chrysler hadn't already been selling rebadged Mitsubishi Colt Galants (as Dodge Colts) and Simca 1100s as (Simca 1204s) in its American showrooms. Few bought the Cricket, despite its cheery ad campaign. So, what's the badge-engineered car you find most confounding? Chrysler Dodge Automakers Mitsubishi Nissan Suzuki Automotive History question of the day badge engineering question