Can someone explain??

[josedi]

One thing i don't understand is why FORD/MAZDA or Chevy/GMC or HONDA/ISUZU do this crap, same car, same engine with different front fascias and badges.. I don't get it, and usually one charges more than the other for the same car.. crazy if you ask me...oh well.

[Hudson]

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?

[Bailey]

Mostly complete information. Yes, Ford does build the B series for Mazda, but in fact Ford builds all Mazda vehicles. Ford owns Mazda, period, end of story. Ford also owns Land Rover, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Volvo, and Hertz (to name a few).

Cheer up, a re-badged Ranger is a good thing - you could have ended up with an Isuzu pickup which is really a POS chevy s10. (GM owns 10% of Isuzu).

It is tough keeping track of who actually makes a vehicle these days.

[Draggin_2600i]

It's true that Ford does own all those companies, but the way it works is different, more like what hudson said. Ford owns the larger portion of Mazda motor Corporation so they make the decision on products and projects Mazda will work on, but Mazda still makes lots of the products on its own. For instance the RX8 which will be coming out this year. Ford had made the decision to discontinue work on any rotary vehicle, and they canned the Rx8 project when it was just a concept. The "Mazda" engineers worked on the project on their spare time and came up with some interesting numbers and figures and made a Proposal to Ford(since they make the Decisions). FORD execs like what they saw and Gave the ok to proceed with the Project (speaking of Proceed, The B-Series Mazdas are know in Japan as The Mazda Proceed). Now the Rotary is Reborn. I could go on and on about all the relations between Ford and Mazda but I just wanted to let you people in on that.

[eric e]

i found with my 95 mazda after i killed my tranforcase that the one that fit my truck was from a older ranger so i think for the outside you have the prices of making the stamps to make fenders door and the other crap they would make money faster by not having to change all the crap

[xxbulovax91xx]

You answered your own question.. they charge more money. Its because you always have the label sluts who want to own the "FORD" because its the cool thing to do... even though they may or may not realize Mazda is the same car. Just like Toyota and Lexus... same engines usually and generally the same car plus or minus some bits of flare.. and then they charge double for the "LEXUS" so people can drive around with a status symbol.