To automakers, the ever-changing demands of the automotive buyer can be a frightening thing. What vehicles are popular for one country may be completely ignored in another part of the globe—and car buyers’ priorities might swing drastically with each new model year.
So to react faster to changing consumer demands and quickly expand their lineups without the need for an entire vehicle development cycle, automakers came up with the idea of collaborating with each other by sharing vehicle models across their respective brands and target markets. (That also meant that these vehicles could quietly vanish from the showroom without much harm to an R&D budget, if sales proved sluggish.)
Though these vehicles are often referred to as “badge-engineered,” that term can be used for models shared within the same corporate lineup—for example, the GM Nova/Omega/Ventura/Apollo X-body quartet.
So in instances when two distinct automakers work together to share models across global markets, the more accurate name is “Captive Import.”
Captive imports are often sold with different nameplates and under different brands. And it’s entirely possible to have a pair of virtually identical cars or trucks sold in different international markets—with the only change being the emblem on the hood.
What’s even more fascinating is that sometimes the import and its re-badged domestic twin are sold alongside each other in neighboring showrooms!
This practice is more prevalent than you’d think, and is still going on today. For some good examples, we’ll count down our 10 favorite Captive Import cars, trucks, and SUVs ever offered in the United States market. Check out our list below, and if we missed one of your favorites, let’s hear about it in the comments section at the bottom of this article.
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Story Summary Overview:
- A Captive Import is a foreign-made vehicle sold in a domestic market under a domestic automaker’s brand name
- The practice is common all over the planet
- We offer 10 examples:
- Dodge/Plymouth Colt (Mitsubishi Lancer/Galant)
- Nash Metropolitan (Austin Metropolitan)
- Dodge D-50 (Mitsubishi Forte/Triton)
- Buick/Opel GT (Opel GT)
- Geo Tracker (Suzuki Escudo)
- Chrysler Crossfire (Mercedes R170 SLK)
- Chevy LUV (Isuzu Faster)
- Dodge Stealth (Mitsubishi GTO)
- Merkur XR4Ti (Ford Sierra)
- Pontiac GTO (Holden Monaro) & Chevy SS/PPV/Pontiac G8 (Commodore)
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Our 10 Favorite Captive Import Vehicles Sold in the United States
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10. Dodge/Plymouth Colt (Mitsubishi Lancer/Galant)
Depending on the year, the Colt was available as a Dodge or Plymouth in the United States—it was also briefly sold in the U.S. and Canada as the Plymouth Cricket and Champ too. It was even offered under the Eagle brand as the Summit sedan. In its home market of Japan, the car was initially born as a Galant but gradually came under the Lancer moniker too.
Regardless of the name, Ma Mopar began using the Mitsubishi-made Colt to fill in the economy/compact car slot in its lineup as it pivoted to the changing automotive market in the 1970s—a refrain that you’ll here elsewhere on this list too.
But the reason the Colt makes our list here is that, despite its budget-friendly mission, there was a GT trim offered on the Colt pretty much from the get-go. The GT package offered sporty appearance bits and, again depending on the year, gave you some performance engine and suspension upgrades as well—culminating in turbocharged GTS models.
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9. Nash Metropolitan (Austin Metropolitan)
The health of the U.S. economy was uncertain in the immediate aftermath of World War II, which meant many automakers hedged a bit by adding some budget-friendly cars to their showrooms. While both Kaiser and Crosley are notable for their domestic efforts, the folks over at Nash took a different approach.
While Nash designed the Metropolitan in its Kenosha, Wisconsin HQ, the company looked to England and the Austin Motor Company (which would soon merge with Morris to form BMC) for the Metro’s assembly. In fact, look under the hood and you’ll see a trusty olive drab BMC four-banger engine.
Introduced in 1954, the Metropolitan was sold as both a Nash and Hudson. Then when those two automakers merged to become AMC, it was sold as its own mini-brand. At the same time, Austin was selling the nearly identical model in the U.K. as the Austin Metropolitan too.
Weird Al Yankovic himself is a proud Metropolitan driver, which is reason enough for it to make our countdown here.
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8. Dodge D-50 (Mitsubishi Forte/Triton)
We alluded to it with the Plymouth Colt already, but the United States automobile market changed drastically during the 1970s as Japanese imports began offering buyers more economical and fuel-efficient vehicles—and that certainly impacted trucks too.
As an alternative to large full size domestic options, many businesses, couriers, and hobbyists were attracted to smaller, economical pickup trucks. Early on, the Big Three looked to captive imports to address those potential buyers. One of our favorites was the D-50. Sure that’s a boring name, but once the Ram truck launched in 1981, Dodge re-christened the Mitsubishi Forte (and later, the Triton/Mighty Max) as the much-better-sounding “Ram 50”.
The D-50 gets on our list here simply because it endured well into the 1990s, long after Ford and Chevy had introduced their own locally-grown light trucks. Heck, for a brief while, it even co-existed with the midsize Dakota that Dodge introduced in 1987.
Fun Fact: There was also a brief Plymouth variant of this truck called the Plymouth Arrow as well.
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7. Opel GT (Opel GT)
In the height of the performance wars of the late 1960s, Buick was looking for a sporty, affordable car to lure younger buyers into its showrooms, and GM’s German Opel division came to the plate with its GT coupe. The curious part was, although they were sold through Buick’s dealership network (along with other models like the Kadett and Manta), instead of rebranding them as Buicks, GM decided to keep the Opel brand distinct—albeit briefly.
Often called the “Baby Corvette” thanks to its striking similarity to the nascent C3 Stingray, the GT differed significantly from its American counterpart due to its four-cylinder engine, solid rear axle with drum brakes, and all-steel body.
Despite its modest 100ish horsepower, the Opel GT easily makes the list here thanks to its styling—and what are arguably the coolest rotating headlight assemblies ever put on a vehicle.
Fun Fact: GM later returned the favor by moving the U.S.-made Kappa platform Saturn Sky over to Europe as the Opel GT for a few years in the early 2000s.
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6. Geo Tracker (Suzuki Escudo)
This one’s a bit more complex than many folks realize. For starters, a common misconception is that the Geo Tracker is based on the Suzuki Samurai—but it was actually based on the larger Suzuki Escudo SUV. The Samurai was essentially a rebadged version of the smaller Suzuki Jimny, whereas the Escudo came Stateside as either the Suzuki Sidekick or the Geo-badged Tracker. (All of these vehicles were sold in the United States at some point though.)
More importantly, while the Escudo was originally designed and built in Japan, most of the North American Sidekick/Tracker twins were built in Canada via a joint venture with Suzuki and GM.
So while it’s not a clear-cut case, the Tracker still qualifies as a Captive Import and considering it was one of the few vehicles that could legitimately challenge the Jeep Wrangler in the open-top off-roader segment here in the U.S., it gets a well-earned spot on this list.
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5. Chrysler Crossfire (Mercedes R170 SLK)
OK, admittedly we’re stretching the rules a bit here: The Crossfire wasn’t simply a matter of slapping a new trunk badge on an import and loading it onto a boat. Nope, the Crossfire wore entirely unique bodywork and had a bespoke interior—yet much of the mechanical components are heavily derived from the R170 platform that also underpins the early Mercedes-Benz SLK coupe.
As proof, just pop the hood and you’ll see an almost identical family resemblance, thanks to the 3.2L M-B six in the engine bay. Locking up the Crossfire’s Captive Import status is that all of these cars were made in Germany and shipped overseas exclusively for the North American market.
So again, not as cut-and-dry as some others on this list, but the striking styling, the optional SRT-6 performance variants, and the fact that it helped keep Chrysler afloat made the Crossfire’s inclusion here almost mandatory.
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4. Chevy LUV (Isuzu Faster)
As with the Mitsubishi/Mopar alliance mentioned earlier, during the early 1970s GM found itself in need of a small, economical pickup truck to plug a growing hole in its model lineup. And considering GM had just purchased a stake in Isuzu a few years prior, Chevy knew exactly who to call.
The result was an Isuzu Faster pickup truck re-badged as the Chevy Light Utility Vehicle (LUV) here in the U.S. What a lot of people don’t realize about the LUV though, is that it was popular enough to warrant a refresh—there was actually a short-lived Gen. 2 LUV truck sold up until the S-10/S-15 twins arrived.
Considering the LUV essentially proved to GM that there was a market for small trucks, it should also be partially credited for spawning the sport truck market a decade later—and that’s reason enough for us to include it high on the list here.
Learn much more about the Chevy LUV here: A Quick History of Chevy’s Captive Import Truck from the 1970s
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3. Dodge Stealth (Mitsubishi GTO)
While we’ve seen other Mitsubishi/Mopar partnerships on this list, there’s nothing more rad than the super-high-tech grand touring coupe, the Dodge Stealth—culminating in the R/T Turbo variant good for 300 horsepower. Better still, the top-tier model also got your four-wheel steering and an electrically controlled suspension.
The Stealth is also an interesting example of a Captive Import sold alongside its doppelganger. Though some obvious copyright entanglements with Pontiac meant the name changed from GTO to 3000GT, you could still find its Mitsubishi counterpart in North American showrooms—with the obvious distinction of different bodywork.
Parts sports car, part computer, and all performance, putting the Stealth high on the list here is a no-brainer.
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2. Merkur XR4Ti (Ford Sierra)
From the Capri to…well…the Capri again we guess, Mercury’s had an interesting couple of Captive Imports over the years, but perhaps the most interesting-est is the unfortunately-named XR4Ti—a Captive Import that not only inspired a new model, but also an entirely new sub-brand.
Looking to add some imported luxury cachet to its showrooms, Mercury poached the Sierra hatchback from Ford of Europe. And not just any Sierra, the top-dog performance XR4i model—adding the “T” stateside to denote the turbocharged engine. Not only that, the new hot hatch would be sold in Lincoln-Mercury dealerships under the “Merkur” name (or Mercury, auf Deutsch).
While the XR4Ti’s performance was well-received, it wasn’t the showroom success Ford had hoped for—a shortcoming often attributed to poor marketing, confusion over the Merkur brand, and the car’s alphabet soup name. Still though, the XR4Ti is a fascinating chapter of Ford history, easily deserving of its rank here.
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1. 4-Way Tie! Pontiac GTO (Holden Monaro) & Chevy SS/PPV/Pontiac G8 (Commodore)
OOOoooof. This should really be divided into two entries. So, let’s consider the final slot a “two-fer” in classic rock DJ parlance:
1A) The Holden VY Monaro-Derived Pontiac GTO coupe
While purists initially snickered at the newly-revived GTO’s silhouette, gearheads in-the-know understood its Captive Import lineage to Australia’s mighty Holden Monaro.
More importantly, thanks to either a 5.7L LS1 or, later, a 6.0L LS2, any thoughts about styling were rendered moot when the GTO took to the track. With horsepower numbers dancing close to 400, the Australian coupe quickly proved that it deserved to carry on the GTO’s legacy.
…Yet we would soon discover that both the GTO and the Pontiac marque itself were not long for this world—which meant that we only got to enjoy a fifth-gen. Goat from 2004 to 2006.
1B) The Holden VE/VF Commodore-Based G8 and SS Sedans
Even after the GTO’s disappearance, GM’s Australian Holden division wasn’t done sending delightful LS-powered performance cars to North American shores.
Released in 2006, the Commodore-based Pontiac G8 picked up where the Monaro GTO left off—adding two more doors to the party. Notably, the optional G8 GXP package got you the 6.2L LS3 which made well over 400 horsepower.
Heck, even the impeding death of Pontiac couldn’t stop these tire-shredding sedans. Chevy picked up the LS-powered Holden VF platform and rebadged it simply as the “SS” from 2014-17. This time, the aforementioned LS3 was the ONLY engine you got, and it was backed by an available six-speed manual, no less. After that, the only options you could add where a sunroof and a full size spare.
Sadly, following on the footsteps of Pontiac, GM shuttered its entire Holden division too—which meant the Australian pipeline for these V8-powered fan-favorites had officially been cut off.
There is one other domestic fruit born from this branch of the Holden-Chevy family tree though, the relatively obscure Police Pursuit Vehicle (PPV) Caprice that was also based on Holden’s use of the RWD GM Zeta platform. Obviously designed for police duty, the PPV could be ordered with a mix of V6 and V8 engines—including the 400+ hp LS3 of its Chevy SS cousin.
In whatever flavor you choose, these RWD, V8-powered Captive Imports from Down Under have reached cult status and clean examples fetch a premium on the used market today.
For those reasons alone, these re-badged Holdens deserve the top spot on our list.
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Bonus: Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter Van
While we got both the Dodge Sprinter and the Mercedes Sprinter vans in North America during the ill-fated DaimlerChrysler era, when that merger was dissolved, it meant the Sprinter would carry on exclusively as a Mercedes model after 2009. That said, we’re glad the Sprinter is still around in the U.S., even if we have to pay the M-B premium to get it.
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So, what’d we miss? Do you have a favorite Captive Import that we’ve overlooked? We love automotive trivia around here, so let us hear about them in the comments section below.
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