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Each brand has a dealership network that they need to keep happy. Each network has desired products to help them make more money. Pickups and SUVs are highly ranked among these desired products.
Chevrolet and GMC are owned by General Motors. They have, typically, sold the exact same products for decades. With few exceptions (GMC Syclone/Typhoon), the two lineups are mirror images except that very few Chevrolet dealers also have GMC franchises. In most areas, Pontiac (and sometimes Buick or Oldsmobile) dealers have the GMC franchise for a region so that they have trucks to sell with their cars.
Ford builds the Mazda pickups and Tribute SUVs for Mazda dealers, just like they used to make the Mazda Navajo. Trucks are expensive to import. Until fairly recently, 2-door SUVs were considered trucks by the federal government and subject to a 25% tariff (imported cars are only subject to a 2.5% tariff). That's why the Navajo and B-Series have been produced by Ford in the US for years.
For the same reason, GM built the Isuzu Hombre pickup for Isuzu dealers.
Honda needed an SUV when the boom hit in the mid-1990s. They struck a deal with Isuzu and began selling the Isuzu Trooper rebadged as the Acura SLX and the US-built Isuzu Rodeo as the Honda Passport. Last year, Honda replaced the SLX with the MDX, built in Canada by Honda. Next year, they'll replace the Passport with a Honda-built model.
Does that cover it for you?
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