Electel Blogspot

One of the labels I attached to this post is "Badge Engineering" -- where different car brands are based on the same basic body and differences are trivial.  That's essentially true of two of the three cars discussed here, but slightly less true of the third. That third car is Cadillac's Catera model that I wrote about here .  At the time I didn't show the Opel Omega that it was based on, hence the current post. Further background on the Camera that offered by General Motors for model years 1997-2001 can be found here . At the time, GM owned Germany's Opel firm and England's Vauxhall, the latter selling rebadged Opels with right-side steering. The Wikipedia entry on the Opel (and Vauxhall) Omega is here . Cateras were based on the Omega B1 (1994-1999) and Omega B2 (1999-2003) that had few exterior differences.  Even though Cateras were built in Opel's Rüsselsheim factory, they were modified to satisfy presumed American tastes for a sporty Cadillac.  U...

A while ago I wrote about General Motors' Chevrolet Chevette, a small car that sold fairly well despite being unimpressive in many ways.  The Chevette was part of a 1970s GM initiative to have a basic platform serve as the basis for cars branded and assembled in the various parts of the world where GM had a presence. That was the 1973 T Platform , and the link lists the many models associated with it. Given the badge engineering theme of the present post, I will focus on two models that share the same two-door hatchback body -- an American Chevrolet Chevette and a German Opel Kadett C "City." The Chevette's wheelbase is one inch (25 mm) longer than the Opel's, but most body features are the same aside from the front ends, as noted below.  Motors and interior trim also differ, but so far as styling is concerned, the cars are in badge engineering territory. Gallery The Opel Kadett C using the T Platform entered production in 1973.  The car shown here is from a fe...