- Badge engineering is back as carmakers cut costs and corners.
- Toyota and Subaru will soon sell four nearly identical SUVs.
- Nissan’s new Rogue PHEV is a rebadged Mitsubishi Outlander.
Badge engineering used to be pretty common in the automotive industry and GM was one of the most prolific companies doing it. In fact, the Chevrolet Trailblazer was virtually identical to the Buick Rainier, GMC Envoy, and Oldsmobile Bravada. While that was to be expected, it also spawned the Isuzu Ascender and Saab 9-7X.
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We’ve come a long way since those dark days as many vehicles are now pretty different, even if they share the same platform. Case in point, the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon have completely different designs – inside and out – despite sharing virtually everything else.
More: What’s A Badge-Engineered Car That’s Objectively Better Than The Original?
However, a new trend has been emerging and it’s one that people probably won’t like. The Scion FR-S (Toyota GR86) and Subaru BRZ were virtually indistinguishable from one another and that carried over to the second-generation lineup.
Things have gotten even more complicated since then as the companies teamed up for the bZ (bZ4X) and Solterra. This partnership has now expanded to include the Toyota C-HR and bZ Woodland as well as their virtually identical Subaru counterparts, known as the Uncharted and Trailseeker.
While they have a handful of unique touches, they feel as half-hearted as last week’s leftovers. On top of that, we’re looking at four nearly identical vehicles at Subaru and Toyota dealerships.
Toyota and Subaru are the best modern example of badge engineering, but Ford of Europe is pinning their survival on other European automakers. That’s hardly a bold course of action and it’s going about as well as you’d expect.
The Blue Oval teamed up with Volkswagen and got Ford-ified versions of the ID.4 and ID.5. The resulting Explorer EV looked pretty good, but the Capri was an anagram for “I crap.”
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Both models have been a failure and the automaker has been forced to slash production at the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center in Germany.
Instead of learning from the lesson, Ford is doubling down on partnerships with a Renault tie-up. It’s slated to spawn two new EVs based on French underpinnings. The first is scheduled to arrive in early 2028 and it’ll likely struggle to stand out if history repeats itself.
Back home, Nissan recently introduced the 2026 Rogue Plug-in Hybrid. It’s a lazily rebadged Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which might succeed simply because Nissan has more dealerships than their alliance partner.
That said, it brings some interesting things to the table. Besides the plug-in hybrid powertrain that delivers 38 miles (61 km) of electric-only range, it offers seating for seven. Those are nice things to have, even if we’ve already seen them before.
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So, where do you land on badge engineering? Does it make sense, or does it feel like a shortcut? Let us know whether you’d consider buying one, or what carmakers would have to change in order to win you over
