Photography by Photograph by Charles01/courtesy Wikipedia (Acclaim), courtesy Honda (Ballade)
Badge engineering. A time-honored automotive tradition right up there with fudging fuel economy numbers and using illicit funds to go racing.
That’s not to say all badge-engineered cars are bad–in fact, the practice often leads to some memorable results.
Just look at Honda. Aside from the more obvious Acura crossovers, Hondas have been rebadged on virtually every continent (except for Antarctica, of course) by various different carmakers.
Out of all those badge-engineered Hondas, here are my four favorites.
Photograph by Charles01/courtesy Wikipedia
Go figure, one of the last cars sold under the Triumph marque–the brand that gave us some of the most iconic sports cars of the ’50s and ’60s–was, in fact, mostly a Honda.
Mechanically, the Acclaim used of a four-cylinder engine that was relative of Honda’s famed CVCC engine; However, the Acclaim featured twin carbs in place of the single carb fitted to the model sold in the home market, the Ballade.
I wouldn’t normally place a car like the Triumph Acclaim at the top of the list of cars I need to buy, though there is a rare model I wouldn’t immediately say no to: The Triumph Acclaim by Avon. (The coachbuilder, not the cosmetic multi-level marketing company.)
More specifically, I’d like one of the later ones that got a turbocharger. Despite initial claims that Avon would produce as many as 25 examples a week, only a handful were ever made.
Photograph courtesy Honda
If there was ever a golden age of SUVs, I’d argue that it was the ’90s–and the original Honda Passport perfectly exemplifies that era.
The result of a sharing agreement with Isuzu, the Passport is virtually identical to the Rodeo, aside from the exterior badging, of course.
So why pick one over the other? An old post on an Isuzu forum offers a compelling argument in favor of the Honda: “Honda is easier to spell than Isuzu.”
Photograph courtesy Bonhams
Alright, the connection is a little bit of a stretch, but here me out.
The Honda Domani, a relative of the Civic, was sold in the U.K. as the Rover 400. The 400 would later be refreshed into the Rover 45. The 45, in turn, morphed into the MG ZS.
Thanks to its Honda underpinnings, the ZS sounds pretty appealing–on paper, at least: In its most potent form, the ZS 180, the MG received a 175-horsepower, 2.5-liter V6 placed in a chassis with double wishbone suspension up front and a multi-link setup out back.
While a Honda V6 under the hood would make the ZS more appealing, the bones, as house flippers say, are good.
Photograph courtesy Honda
If you think that the Honda Crossroad looks like someone just slapped a Honda badge on a Land Rover Discovery, that’s because that’s exactly what it is–and that reason alone is why I want one.
I can only imagine how much it would confuse people at a cars and coffee, or the number of odd looks I’d get showing up at a local Honda dealership for service. (In fairness, I wouldn’t blame them for turning me away, it is a Land Rover after all.)
The most interesting fact, however, is that the Crossroad holds the distinction of being the only production Honda to be fitted with a V8.
Photography courtesy Nissan, Honda. Illustration by Colin Wood.
For now, we can only speculate what would have come out of a merger between Honda and Nissan.
However, seeing as how low the bar was–and still is–set for Nissan, I’m certain there would have been at least one promising sports car to come out of the merger.
Even if all we got was a Nissan Z with a little added Honda pizzazz, I certainly wouldn’t have complained.
The Triumph thing would be cool to park beside my Spit.
Strictly Honda?
Because, no mention of Acura Legend/Sterling 827
Or, Isuzu Trooper/Acura SLX
Or Mitsubishi / Eagle?
In reply to Richard Richer :
Mitsubishi/Eagle is near the top of the "need to write soon" idea list. 
In reply to Colin Wood :
Mitsubishi didn't only do Eagles. Looking forward to the other Mopars with Mitsubishi underpinnings.
P.S. - Better include that Dodge Challenger. 
Which direction was the badge engineering on the Trooper and Passport?
John Welsh said:Strictly Honda?
Because, no mention of Acura Legend/Sterling 827
Or, Isuzu Trooper/Acura SLX
Didn't the Sterling have notable differences from the Legend?
If we're going to write about badge engineering, should we just label it "A history of GM...and others who badge engineered GMs badge engineering practices"?
In reply to No Time :
It was the Rodeo, not the Trooper.
The Passport was an Isuzu Rodeo with the barest hint of Honda-ness brushed over it. It got Honda into the SUV market quickly while they developed their own in house.
In exchange, Isuzu got the Oasis, which was a first-generation Honda Oddyssey dumbed down to the Isuzu price point.
No Time said:Which direction was the badge engineering on the Trooper and Passport?
Picture if you will, opening the hood of a Honda and being greeted by the same row of three double ended ignition coils that GM used on a bazillion domestic V6s. And the V6 was second only to the Biturbo for valvetrain wrongness.
It was 100% Isuzu with Honda badges stuck on.
In reply to Duke and Pete. (l33t FS) :
Thank you for clarifying, I forgot about the Rodeo. A friend had the Isuzu version in the late 1900s
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