Fiat considering Dino-badged Elise
Say Dino, and people immediately think of something Italian. Most likely, you'll think of either a Rat-Pack crooner or a Ferrari, but there's a third Dino, and that's the one we're talking about. Fiat's thinking of resurrecting its Dino sub-brand with a version of the next generation of Lotus Elise. While the original Dino looked like an Iso Grifo and helped Ferrari homologate a V6 engine for competition, the new Dino will be all about Fiat finding a niche and filling it. Fiat's looking to snag untapped buyers, and if it can accomplish that without having to engineer an entire new car, everyone wins, especially if it looks as good as the old Dino. Aping the Dino 246 wouldn't be unwelcome, either.
[Source: CAR]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rick 10:16AM (9/19/2008)
How I miss my 69 Dino. 'They' claimed the larger engine Fiat Dinos were detuned from the Ferrari spec. Maybe. But the song they put out at hitting 9000 rpm I'll never forget. Pitty, I sold it before the 1990 Ferrari price run up. I could have made a small fortune.
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Ian B. 10:25AM (9/19/2008)
Beautiful engine in those Fiat Dinos. The sound was addicting as you would go from gear to gear. ONce had a friend driving it, missed an upshift. The tach hit over 9000 RPM!!!! Damn thing survived until the divorce...
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Todd 10:27AM (9/19/2008)
Um... no
The Dino was essentially a lower, cheaper brand of Ferrari that was developed by them. It wasn't badge engineering. They actually made a new car.
Fiat should not touch the brand name, unless it was going to re-make a Fiat Dino, a RWD V-6 powered coupe and vert. Except for the engine, it was built in house as well.
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Sanders 10:41AM (9/19/2008)
what the hell ws the redline in those?
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Beeb 9:35AM (11/23/2008)
Has badge-engineering ever worked? I can't think of a case where sticking a new name on another's car has been an even moderately profitable endeavor. The loss of corporate respect & prestige is incalculable. Customers are far more savvy today than ever before so who do they think they can fool?
I'm flummoxed by this one...Oh well, maybe they'll give it a Fiat engine to bring it into the family at least a little bit.
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Dan 12:07PM (9/19/2008)
"Has badge-engineering ever worked? I can't think of a case where sticking a new name on another's car has been an even moderately profitable endeavor. The loss of corporate respect & prestige is incalculable. Customers are far more savvy today than ever before so who do they think they can fool?"
Hmm, badge engineering seems to be profitable for Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Acura, VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda. I guess they are sneaky enough to fool someone as savvy as yourself. ;)
JZeke 10:36AM (9/22/2008)
It works when your markets don't overlap too much, and there's some product differentiation. It fails when the developers get lazy and give each brand the same feeling, looking and driving product at similar prices.
ES350/Camry/Avalon? Good.
G3/Aveo? Not so good.
I guess its defining what exactly a badge-engineered car is vers a shared platform. Slap a new grill on the nose and tail and change some interior cloth... then ya, thats pretty weak.
Beeb 3:45PM (9/22/2008)
Nice try. You're confusing using common PLATFORMS with badge-engineering, which is buying a virtually-unchanged product that's already in production and slapping your name on it, usually along with a slightly-modified grille & taillights. Honda's Passport was a badge-engineered Isuzu Rodeo. The Honda Pilot and Acura MD-X share a common platform but are engineered to be very different vehicles, which is a very valid way to develop a car. But it isn't badge engineering. The Infiniti I30 was a badge-engineered Maxima. The Infiniti G37 coupe is not a badge-engineered Nissan 350Z--it has all-new body panels as well as dimensional differences, despite sharing a common platform.
If Fiat is simply using the platform of the Elise and changing all the body panels, interior bits, engines, etc., then that may have some validity. But that isn't badge-engineering by any definition that I've every heard that term used within the industry.
Badge-engineering from within the same company makes at least a little sense--GM's Yukon, Tahoe & Escalade are prime examples. Still, I question how wise that is since it degrades overall corporate perception by the consumer (i.e. "Why does my Escalade look so much like her Yukon?"). Much more admirable is a case like the Lexus GX, which looks very different from a Toyota 4Runner while sharing the same basic platform. How Toyota can justify that degree of new tooling for such a small-volume vehicle while GM, which has nearly triple the volume within its aforementioned SUV trio, chooses to sacrifice brand identity for cheaper overall tooling costs. Might be a reason why Lexus now handily outsells Cadillac..and Toyota rapidly catching GM.
LDMAN 12:20PM (9/20/2008)
May we please have a DSG gearbox on this one? Please?
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