Cars made under licence overseas

[stitchdup]

I thought it might be fun to pick your brains and see how many manufacturers made tooling or sold it overseas to other manufacturers. For example how many of you knew that the chinese red car limos were based on the chrysler 300 from the 1950s, and I remember reading somewhere about ford building a factory for the russians that wouldn't be a ford plant. There are loads of others so it might be fun to see how many we can list.

[Atmobil]

The first Russian GAZ was based on Ford model A, that is correct. The VAZ Lada was a Fiat 124. There is many more.

There have been many examples of cars shipped as CKD kits to factories around the world. They made Dodges here in Norway back in the 1930s and the Chevys in Denmark and Fords in Sweden.

[espo]

All very interesting, but you might want to look at what China is doing today and how it will influence what you're going to be driving tomorrow.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

Boltsbaggens (VW Bugs and other VW products) got built under license in several countries, including sunny Mexico and Brazil. And the wonderful little Yugoslavian-built Yugo (but not for long) was a baby Italian Fiat under it's mildly restyled skin. Several English brands have been built in India, Australia, etc. Fords have been built under license all over the place.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy

[Snake45]

50 minutes ago, espo said:

All very interesting, but you might want to look at what China is doing today and how it will influence what you're going to be driving tomorrow.  

I believe that's a new record for Thread Drift.  Maybe two--for Speed and Distance! 

[stitchdup]

There's also the british noble m12 which is now being built in the states under another brand.

[Luc Janssens]

2 hours ago, Atmobil said:

There have been many examples of cars shipped as CKD kits to factories around the world. They made Dodges here in Norway back in the 1930s and the Chevys in Denmark and Fords in Sweden.

 

Indeed, remember they assembled Ramblers in the former Renault plant in Vilvoorde, Brussels Belgium.

The former GM continental plant in Antwerp Belgium, besides Opel, assembled Vauxhall, Ranger, Bedford, Chevy, Pontiac's (the latter one Canadian CKD's IIRC), complete cars which Detroit shipped to Europe were sometimes completely overhauled at the plant before they went to the dealer.

Also before Volkswagen bought the Dieteren assy plant in Vorst, Brussels Belgium, Dieteren built VW's there under license....now the factory is under Audi they make the A1, and retooling to produce an electric car.

Ford had two plants here in Antwerp and Genk, but both are gone, the only car manufacturers left in Belgium are Volvo in Ghent and Audi in Brussels, for trucks there's DAF in Oevel and Volvo in Ghent.

 

[1972coronet]

Brasilian 1976 Dart . Based upon the 1969 model U.S. Dart ; built through 1981 in Brasil . 

Yes , there were "CKD" ( Complete Knock-Down ) tooling , but with requisite locally-produced , locally-sourced :

- Tyres

- Upholstery 

- Paint

- Glass

- and a bunch more items . 

The spare tyre in the car above is original ; a Good Year 'Banda Larga' ( 'Wide Oval' , or 'Wide Belted' ) .

[stavanzer]

Rumor had it that Turkey got the Body Stamping Dies for the Tri-Five Chevies. I read it in Popular Mechanics 35-40 years ago. No telling if it was true. I know that some US Dies went to South America, and lived on down there for a few more years.  I'd really like to know the Truth about the Chevies though.

[Atmobil]

On 2.2.2019 at 3:00 AM, alexis said:

Rumor had it that Turkey got the Body Stamping Dies for the Tri-Five Chevies. I read it in Popular Mechanics 35-40 years ago. No telling if it was true. I know that some US Dies went to South America, and lived on down there for a few more years.  I'd really like to know the Truth about the Chevies though.

The 1st gen Ford Falcon was produced in Argentina (I may remember wrong there) untill the early 90s with different front and rear end treatments. Would be great if someone still had the original tri-five chevy tooling somewhere.

[stitchdup]

turkey got the old 50s british vauxhall dies if i remember right, it looks an awful lot like a tri 5 chevy. I think they got some other british dies too but used russian engines possibly.

[Tom Geiger]

1 hour ago, stitchdup said:

turkey got the old 50s british vauxhall dies if i remember right, it looks an awful lot like a tri 5 chevy. I think they got some other british dies too but used russian engines possibly.

 

On 2/1/2019 at 9:00 PM, alexis said:

Rumor had it that Turkey got the Body Stamping Dies for the Tri-Five Chevies. I read it in Popular Mechanics 35-40 years ago. No telling if it was true. I know that some US Dies went to South America, and lived on down there for a few more years.  I'd really like to know the Truth about the Chevies though.

There weren't any cars produced in Turkey until 1967.  That's when they produced their own Anadol, a small sedan.  It wasn't copied from anything.  I remember this because I lived there at the time! 

[stitchdup]

38 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

 

There weren't any cars produced in Turkey until 1967.  That's when they produced their own Anadol, a small sedan.  It wasn't copied from anything.  I remember this because I lived there at the time! 

You are correct sir, according to wikipedia it was greece that manufactured them from ckd kits but with a lot of local parts. That anadol coupe is a kinda pretty little car, reminds me of an alfa in some ways though it was probably more reliable than that era of alfa

Edited February 3, 2019 by stitchdup

[Mike999]

I lived in Egypt for nearly 4 years (2005-09), and only one American company had an assembly plant there: Jeep.  The plant was in Cairo, and rumor said it had formerly been used to assemble Russian SA-2 SAM missiles. 

Because Jeeps were assembled in Egypt, it was the only American car that could be bought in that country without sky-high import taxes.  Since 1960 Egypt has had a state-owned car company,  El Nasr Automotive Manufacturing Company. The government is VERY protective of that company.   El Nasr mostly built licensed versions of various Fiats thru the years. In the early 2000s it started producing license-built Zastavas...descendants of the infamous Yugo.

Egypt also had plenty of vintage American iron still running around its roads, and they're not showboats. Most of them work for a living:

[Fabrux]

The tooling for the 2001-06 Chrysler Sebring was sold to GAZ and transformed into the Volga Siber. The Buick GL8 in China is still based off the Chevy Uplander platform, IIRC.

In Brazil the 67-72 F-series tooling continued until 1992 with cosmetic upgrades; the 60-63 Falcon was built from 62-91 in Argentina with cosmetic upgrades; and the 66 Ford Galaxie was built in Brazil up until 1990. All those South American Fords continued with locally produced upgrades of the Y-block engine as well.

Edited February 10, 2019 by kataranga

[stavanzer]

Man, I'd like to see some of those Ford Galaxies. I'ma hafta go looking for some.

[Dave Ambrose]

Morris Minors, and Oxfords (I think) were build under license in both New Zealand and India. 

[Ensis Ferrae]

Near the tail end of their lifespan, British Layland was building licensed Hondas under their own badging (according to James May's Cars of the People)

 

Not quite the same thing but NUMI in California saw Chevy and Toyota "jointly" building early camry and corollas (which if I recall were badged as the Cavalier and something else for Chevy). . . of course, only one marque had decent reliable cars out of that venture.

[Atmobil]

On 26.2.2019 at 8:26 PM, Ensis Ferrae said:

Near the tail end of their lifespan, British Layland was building licensed Hondas under their own badging (according to James May's Cars of the People)

 

 

Triumph Acclaim:

https://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/reviews/triumph/acclaim/

And don't forget the Alfa Romeo Arna, not even a swimmingwear-dressed young lady can't make it good:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Arna
Not really a car made under licence but a strange joint venture program.
 

 

 

[ATHU]

Pics of GM's plant in Copenhagen Denmark, located just a couple of miles from where I grew up.The plant closed in the mid 70's.

 

Ford's plant also located in Copenhagen.

Edited March 4, 2019 by ATHU

[stitchdup]

Nice pics Anders, it looks like ford put a little more effort into the external look of their building than gm