Cars that have the same names. There are quite a lot of them…
We were having a discussion in the office about car names. It happens from time to time. And we realised that some names have been re-used. These are not car twins like the Mazda2 and the Ford Fiesta, which were pretty much identical machines. No, these are more twins in the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny De Vito sense.
Here, we list a few examples that we came up with. Feel free to suggest more in the comments box below.
Ford Sierra & GMC Sierra
Ford‘s Sierra was a saloon car and coupe extremely popular in Europe from 1982 to 1993, and was a regular feature of this author’s childhood in the UK. It spawned a couple of performance cars that are still lusted after today, most notably the RS Cosworth. The Sierra was replaced in the Ford line up by the Mondeo.
In contrast, the GMC Sierra is a large pick-up truck, based on the Chevrolet Silverado, but slightly more luxurious. We drove one a few months back. It’s rather good.
Fun fact: Sierra is Spanish for mountain range, which probably means that the GMC is more aptly named.
Ford F150 & Ferrari F150
The Ford F150 is well known in the Middle East and the US as one of the biggest selling pick-up trucks, and part of the F-Series that’s been sold continuously since 1948.
It’s not to be confused with the Ferrari F150 Formula 1 car, created in 2011 for Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa to race. However, Ford clearly felt there was a danger that people could mix up a bright red Italian racing car with their large pick up truck, and sued over the name. No doubt rolling their eyes, Ferrari changed the F1 car’s name to the 150º Italia, and the legal challenge was dropped.
Chevrolet Monza & Opel Monza
Chevrolet introduced the Monza in 1975 for the American market. It was a small coupe that came with an array of powertrains, from a 2.3-litre four-cylinder unit to a big 5.7-litre V8. It actually went down pretty well, winning Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year award in 1975 and spawning some rather cool race cars.
The Opel Monza was surprisingly similar, despite no real connection between the two cars. It too was a sports coupe and was produced from 1978 to 1986, although it wasn’t quite as impactful as the Chevy was in the US. Opel revived the Monza name this year with the Opel Monza concept, a gullwing door’d hybrid unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Fun fact: Monza is a famous race track in Italy.
Peugeot 208 and Ferrari 208
The Peugeot 208 is a small family hatchback, produced since 2012 and available with engines ranging in size from 1-litre to a monstrous 1.6-litres.
In contrast, the Ferrari 208 was not one but two different Italian sports cars, so named because their engines displaced two litres and had eight cylinders. The 208 GT4 was a low displacement version of the 308 GT4 built in 1975 to get around tax rules on larger engines in Italy. The 208 GTB was built for similar reasons in 1980 and based on the 308 GTB. Its 1991cc V8 is one of the smallest ever made of its type, and put out a rather measly 155bhp, although a later turbocharged version upped that to 200bhp.
Chevrolet Corvette C6 & Citroen C6
The Corvette C6 has just been replaced by the rather excellent new C7. Introduced in 2005, it was the sixth-generation of Chevrolet Corvette, a model that’s been in existence since . Available in both coupe and convertible form, the C6 came in a variety of forms, up to the snarling 650bhp ZR1.
Launched in 2005, the Citroen C6 was a quirky French luxury saloon, notable for its unusual design and hydropneumatic suspension, which gave a superb ride. Despite its charms however, sales of the C6 were fairly dismal. Rather than the predicted 20,000 sales per year, the C6 failed to reach even half that in its best years, and the plug was pulled on it in 2012.
Got any more suggestions? Let us know in the comments section below.
