It was basic transportation in the eyes of American consumers. As small a car as you could get, with as small an engine as many of them could remember. The Subaru Justy, which arrived on…
Posts tagged Cars of the 1990s
Mazda Navajo: Kentucky, not Hiroshima
“America builds one for the Japanese!” read the headline introducing the Mazda Navajo. It came after almost two decades of American brands offering “captive import” Japanese vehicles (starting in the early 1970s with the Dodge…
Harlequin Golf: The Technicolor Dreamcoat
Those colors are unmistakable – it can only be the Volkswagen Harlequin Golf. It’s one of the most unusual special editions ever offered in the USA and proved incomprehensible to Americans. Fewer than 300 were…
Twilight of the Giants: Buick Roadmaster
After planning for permanently high fuel prices in the early eighties, GM watched as oil prices cratered just as its new front-drive full-sizers were introduced in 1984-85. Following a very strong 1983, Buick sold over…
SUV Mania: 1993 Ford Explorer Limited
The year was 1985. Just a year earlier, famous auto exec and future Chrysler and GM product Czar Bob Lutz had returned to Dearborn, Michigan. He was still working for Ford then, and fresh off…
Reversal of Fortune:
Audi A4 Mk1
In 1992, Audi struggled to move less than 15,000 cars in the United States. Ten years later, it moved more than 85,000. Although Audi reinvented its entire lineup in that time, one car more than…
The Cadillac of Minivans: Oldsmobile Silhouette
GM’s first attempt at minivans, the long-lived 1985 Chevy Astro/GMC Safari, were more “van” than “mini.” This wasn’t so surprising since they were designed in a hurry and therefore based mostly on off-the-shelf truck components….
The Japanese Jaguar: Infiniti J30
“Let`s just say that Jerry Hirshberg is a real fan of Jaguar,” said Nissan USA CEO Thomas Mignanelli in 1992. The Infiniti J30 that Mignanelli was being interviewed about hailed from the opposite side of…
1994: The Ram Revolution
The “miniature big rig” shape of Ram pickups is familiar today, but in 1993 it was genuinely radical. At that year’s Detroit Auto Show, Dodge’s first totally new big pickup in 21 years dropped slowly…
4WEverything: Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
Mitsubishi was still a new brand in the United States when the 6th-Gen Galant was introduced for 1988. For a little while, a version of the previous Galant continued on sale alongside the new Galant…
Special Performance: Saab 900 SPG
The original Saab 900 was a darling of the Turbo era – vigorous to drive, comfy, reliable, and accessible. The 900 was so good that despite being rooted in the circa-1969 Saab 99 it still…
Japan’s Jimny JA11
Suzuki’s first U.S. model (aside from some early imports to Puerto Rico) was the Samurai, aka the Jimny SJ413 – and it was an instant hit when it debuted in 1985. Just as it had…