Before General Motors created the Geo brand for cars built or designed by its overseas partners, the Chevrolet Division put its badges on U.S.-market versions of the Toyota Corolla Sprinter, the Suzuki Cultus and the Isuzu Gemini. Those cars were known as the Nova, the Sprint and the Spectrum, and all became Geos starting with
In this series, we look for gems of automotive history in the car graveyard, and one of the more interesting facets of that history is the frenzy with which manufacturers dove into the SUV craze during the 1990s. Once the Jeep XJ Cherokee led the way starting in 1984 and the 1991 Ford Explorer set
Noting the way American Motors and then Chrysler printed money by putting former sedan and wagon drivers into new XJ Cherokees during the second half of the 1980s, Ford got busy designing a suburbia-friendly SUV based on off-the-shelf Ranger powertrain and suspension components. This was the Explorer, which debuted for the 1991 model year and
