July 1, 2025 • 37 mins
What if Canada’s car legacy is more intriguing than you ever imagined? Step back in time with us as we unravel the stories behind Canada's unique automotive brands, meticulously crafted by the big players like General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler to meet the distinct needs of Canadian markets.
Everett J.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think Ned Flanders said it best.
I can't Maude, it's a Geo.
Yeah, that famous saying from the Simpsons
as Homer had become best friends with Ned
and he was trying to get him to go golfing.
And Ned is taking off in a Geo.
Now, a Geo was a weird brand.
It's kind of an in-between little
entry-level vehicle created by General
(00:21):
Motors in the late 80s and ran into the 90s.
It was really just Suzuki under a General
Motors nameplate, but they also had
Chevrolet versions and Pontiac versions.
So why did they need four different
versions of these vehicles with a whole
brand new brand?
Well, dealerships, dealerships wanted their
own select brands.
(00:41):
You have to remember, back in those days,
gm had two different dealerships Pontiac,
buick, gmc and Chevrolet, cadillac,
oldsmobile, gio was thrown in as an
entry-level brand to the Saturn Isuzu
nameplates because Saturn wanted to get
those entry-level vehicles too.
But this was for the American marketplace.
Today, being Canada Day, we're going to
(01:03):
talk about the divisions made by the big
three to fill the slots that dealerships
wanted in the great country of Canada.
Yes, today we're talking about Canada's
dedicated brands.
Welcome back to the AutoLooks podcast.
(01:24):
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, mr Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
AutoLooks.net.
If you haven't been there, stop by.
Check it out.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
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Go to Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all.
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(01:45):
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So, like I said in the beginning, dedicated
brands for Canada.
Yeah, Canada had its own dedicated,
specific brands and two of the big three
had their own dedicated brands.
(02:05):
Now, chrysler Corporation did have one
dedicated brand for a specific dealership,
which we've talked about in a previous
podcast.
If you listen to our podcast about Eagle
cars, you understand why the Eagle brand
came out, because when Chrysler Corporation
took over the old American Motors division,
it came with Jeep, but Eagle was created
out of the dust of American Motors.
(02:27):
The Eagle Premier was this vehicle that
both American Motors and Renault were
working on together and it was so close to
being finished.
They decided to sell it yeah, chrysler just
couldn't give up on it and to create a full
brand because you have to remember, when
American Motors went under, those
dealerships didn't go under.
Some of them were kept.
(02:48):
They were kept because of the Jeep name
that was attached to it.
But Jeep wasn't a full-scale brand.
Jeep essentially by that time only had four
vehicles.
You had your standard Wrangler or YJ back
in those days, the Cherokee, the Comanche
and the Grand Cherokee.
Now, up until the early 90s they did have
the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.
Now, up until the early 90s they did have
the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, but that
was kind of a limited production and kind
of ran on its own.
So they needed sedans to fill the gap and
(03:09):
they created Eagle cars, utilizing old
American Motors products and fitting in a
few products from Mitsubishi.
Now Mitsubishi products were also branded
as Plymouth and Dodge products.
The original Dodge Dynasties were an Eagle
Premier but only sold in Canada under the
Dodge name.
Now they did this because they needed to
(03:30):
fill gaps in dealership lineups and Canada
was an amazing place for this to happen.
As we saw in the 90s, general Motors, with
the help of bringing Suzuki to North
America, decided to utilize their vehicles
to help fill gaps in their own lineup.
So they utilized Suzuki products to build
the little Chevy trackers, the original
(03:50):
little Pontiac Sunrunners, and they had Geo
trackers.
It was Suzuki's sidekick a Chevy tracker, a
Geo tracker and a Pontiac Sunrunner.
Geo was made, like I said, to fill the gap
with Saturn Azuzu's dealerships.
But in Canada General Motors and Ford had
other brands and these date all the way to
(04:10):
the turn of the century.
If you didn't know this, there was a car
company that was one of the biggest makers
of cutters and carriages in the British
Empire, hailing from Oshawa.
Ontario is literally a sub-suburb of
Toronto.
It's one of the many kind of like Vaughan,
brampton, burlington, hell, even Hamilton
now is considered part of the greater
(04:31):
Toronto-Hamilton area.
Okay, so it's literally a suburb outside of
it.
Well, there's a man named Robert McLaughlin
who started this business building these
amazing cutters and carriages.
Well, his son eventually became good
friends with Billy Durant from Buick, or
should we say William C Durant, whose
daughter actually went on to marry DeTomaso.
(04:52):
Yeah, go back and listen to our podcast
about DeTomaso.
You'll learn the history about that and how
DeTomaso fits in with even the GM empire,
along with the Ford empire.
It's a pretty good podcast.
Go back and listen to it after this one.
So Sam formed an alliance with Billy Durant
of Buick.
He wanted to utilize their vehicles to
build cars for the Canadian marketplace.
It took a lot of coaxing to get his dad to
actually sign on and want to build these
(05:14):
things, because he didn't see a future in
the automobile.
Carriages were great, they were strong,
they were dependable and the automobile in
its early days was literally a new
technology that was always falling apart.
Remember the early days of Tesla.
They didn't go that far.
They had lots of issues.
They had to put these transponders in them
just to prove to people that they were
actually a little bit better than what
people were saying.
So his father didn't really give into it.
(05:35):
But Sam eventually got his father on board
and started building what they called the
McLaughlin automobile.
Now, if you know anything about McLaughlin,
mclaughlin's actually known of very widely
in the royal family, even when Prince
William married Princess Kate.
Well, at that time, just Kate, that old
classic vehicle from the 1930s they rode
around in was a McLaughlin from Canada.
(05:56):
Oh yeah, one of the best built vehicles.
They ran on the same lines as companies
like Duesenberg, rolls-royce and Pierce
Aero Top tier.
Now Buick eventually caught on and kept
McLaughlin on.
When General Motors moved into Canada.
Mclaughlin was eventually absorbed, part of
the General Motors Corporation and was kept
on as the top tier.
(06:17):
Cadillac didn't make its way here in the
early days.
Mclaughlin was kept at the top tier of the
General Motors pyramid.
It sat above Buick in Canada because Canada
wasn't big enough of a marketplace for all
the many divisions of General Motors.
So although they were built of original
Buick products, they decided to keep them
as an extra Well that didn't last forever.
(06:38):
They had a 15-year contract to use
drivetrains from Buicks in their original
vehicles.
But essentially the fallout of GM outing
Durant led to an eventual fall of
McLaughlin.
Sam McLaughlin would have helped finance
Durant's new business into a racing car
developer, louis Chevrolet.
Yes, sam McLaughlin from Canada helped
finance Durant's enterprise into Chevrolet
(07:01):
automobiles.
So Chevrolet essentially wouldn't exist
today if it wasn't for Canadian investors
helping them get their feet wet.
And with that Durant managed to build his
business back up and take over General
Motors.
He would eventually set up Chevrolet of
Canada.
By 1916, durant regained control of General
Motors and Sam McLaughlin became the vice
(07:22):
president of General Motors.
A Canadian was the vice president of the
world's largest automobile corporation.
Well, it's 1916.
Ford's still king?
So not yet.
But we're getting there Because of this.
In 1916, with Sam McLaughlin as vice
president of General Motors' board,
McLaughlin begins making Chevrolets in
Canada, alongside building their own
(07:43):
McLaughlins, which their father, robert
McLaughlin, didn't want to give up because
he knew he built some of the best cars in
the world.
From 1918 to 1942, mclaughlin Buicks were
made by GM Canada before officially
becoming just the Buick moniker in 1942.
Sam originally stayed on as the vice
president of GM Canada until his death in
(08:03):
1972.
He was 100 years old.
Yes, even the vice president of GM Canada
until his death in 1972.
He was 100 years old.
Yes, even the vice president of GM Canada
was the original vice president of GM from
back in the days, sam McLaughlin.
But they eventually relinquished control of
McLaughlin Motors to General Motors.
Gm of Canada still holds their largest
automotive producing facility in the
country of Canada, in Oshawa, ontario, on
(08:29):
the original hollow grounds of McLaughlin
Motors, where McLaughlin originally set up
to build Chevrolets.
Now there are other vehicles that would
have Canadian monikers go along with them
come out of that plant down the road.
But for now we're going to move on to the
competition From 1946 to 1961.
Introduced in March 23rd of 1946, monarch
became a new division for Ford-only dealers
(08:50):
in the country of Canada.
Essentially, monarch was just the Mercury
division for Ford-only dealers.
You have to remember, back in those days
you were a Ford dealership or you were a
Mercury dealership.
Occasionally some of them would throw in
Lincoln with it as a top-tier luxury brand.
But they also wanted the premium brands.
Well, ford at its own standard dealerships
a Ford Motor Company only selling Ford
(09:10):
products wanted a premium brand product and
because they couldn't get Mercury they had
to go with something else.
So in Canada the dealerships demanded a
premium vehicle and with that in March 23,
1946, they created the Monarch brand for
Canada only, running from 46 to 61.
Like I said, it essentially was just
mercury, sold in four dealerships.
(09:30):
So you'd have the ford monarch and then you
would have the mercury and we'll get to its
other brand later on.
They had a sedan, a coupe, a hardtop, a
convertible and a wagon.
It was marketed as its own brand with its
own vehicles richelieu, lucerne and scepter
products.
Yeah, has even had its own one with its own
vehicles.
Richelieu, le Cern and Scepter products.
Yeah, it even had its own one.
Now the second one should be kind of a
little reminiscent the Buick Le Cern from
(09:51):
Canada.
Yeah, it was originally a Buick name but it
was originally owned by Monarch, based on a
contemporary Mercury with Canadian-specific
trim, unique grills and taillights.
Both Monarch and Meteor which was Mercury's
Ford division we'll get into that after
this one were used to sell full lineups
from single dealers.
(10:11):
So small towns would either have a Ford or
a Lincoln Mercury dealer.
They couldn't have a full lineup if you
only sold Fords because you had no premium
or luxury products and at the Mercury
Lincoln dealerships you didn't have
entry-level products.
And when it's a small town with only one
dealership you need to sell a full line of
vehicles.
You need to cater to everyone in that town
because if you don't cater to them, general
(10:32):
Motors and Chrysler down the road are going
to cater to them because they had full
lineups.
So the Monarch division was created for the
Ford Motor Company.
So Monarch, like I said, was essentially
Mercury product.
So if the small town only had a Ford
dealership you would have Ford Monarch.
Meteor was essentially utilized as Ford's
product for the Mercury product lineup.
(10:54):
Now see, the Monarch nameplate kept going,
like I said, from 1946 all the way up to
1958.
It was discontinued only because of the
entry of the Edsel brand.
But remember, the Edsel brand was a failed
brand from Ford Motor Company.
So much emphasis on this and when it came
out people looked at it and said no, that's
not going to fly.
(11:14):
There was so much money and so much effort
put into making the Edsel brand so cool.
The next wave of automobiles is going to be
for everything that people want, but its
design did not suit that time.
Even by today's standards, when you take a
look at an Edsel and a Ford or a Mercury
from the same time, you just see a major
difference between them.
Now, with Edsel brand being dissolved in
(11:36):
Canada only within one year, monarch
returned in late 1959 to pick up where
Edsel had lost its sales.
A drop in medium-priced cars in Canada in
the 1960s eventually led to the end of the
Monarch brands.
Monarch, over its time from 1946 to 1961,
sold 95,450 cars across 15 years of
(11:59):
production.
But eventually, by this time Ford didn't
see a need to have a medium-priced vehicle
because they knew people were going down
the road and since all the money was going
into Ford Motor Company of Canada by the
1960s and not the Ford division or the
Mercury division, ford didn't really care
if it had two different dealerships selling
two different products.
They didn't need to sell a Mercury and a
Ford dealership to keep you from going down
the street to purchase from the Mercury
(12:20):
dealership.
They wanted you to buy the Ford products
and Ford only Now, like we said, the
Monarch brand came as the Mercury
distinguished brand for the Ford Motor
Company.
But Ford started entering more of the
premium marketplace by the late 50s and
into the 60s With big vehicles like the
Crown Vic.
Ford was moving up and they did not need
the Monarch brand.
(12:41):
So Ford was able to fit the table, just
like they are now, from entry level to
premium price range, all with one product
lineup.
By having a full lineup.
To begin with they didn't have to worry
about the Monarch brand being kept around,
so they decided to discontinue it in 61.
Mercury, on the other hand, waited three
years after the Monarch brand came out
before they finally said we need Ford
(13:03):
products within our lineups because we're
losing the entry-level sales from our
Mercury Lincoln dealerships.
Like we need to get all those regular
people who buy regular vehicles to come
into our dealerships as well.
We don't want them going down the street
and going to every Ford Hell.
The next Ford dealership isn't for 100
miles down the road.
We need Ford products being sold in our
small town.
(13:23):
We don't care that you're only going to
sell, like you know, maybe like 50 a year.
We still need to make those sales.
So June 25th 1949, a rebadged Ford product
for Canada only was introduced to the
Mercury dealerships and then became the
Meteor Mercury Lincoln dealerships.
Meteor was brought in to be the entry-level
(13:45):
products for the Mercury Lincoln dealers.
This was due to the dealer structure in
Canada and was used to carry a full lineup
of vehicles for small single-dealer lots.
So if big cities like Toronto or Ottawa or
Montreal or Vancouver or Calgary at this
point in time didn't have to worry about
this thing because they had a four-dealer
ship down the road from a Mercury Lincoln
dealership.
(14:05):
But if we're talking about my neck of the
woods, a small town like the town of
Espanola, sturgeon Falls, hell, even to
miscoming shore would either have a Ford
dealership or a Mercury Lincoln dealership
and the next major town for a dealership
being between 45 minutes to over an hour
away.
People weren't going to make that long
drive, they were just going to buy from
whatever was in their town.
And trust me, even in my home city there's
(14:27):
a couple dealerships in the smaller
outlining communities that have kept around
and basically held on to those points only
because it was actually too far to drive
into town to purchase a vehicle.
But now that we don't care.
We got bigger roads, we can move a lot
quicker.
We don't care about traveling.
That 45 minute drive has now turned into 20
minutes.
But back in those days the Mercury Lincoln
dealerships needed to have their own
(14:47):
product and they were given the Meteor
nameplate.
From 1949 to 1959, meteor ran fourth in
sales behind Chevrolet, ford and Pontiac in
Canada.
Yes, fourth in sales.
They were essentially a Ford product, ford
cars being sold by Mercury dealerships and
they were fourth in sales.
(15:08):
So technically, if you put Meteor and Ford
together, ford would be top of the game,
making all the sales in the country of
Canada at that point in time.
They had a sedan, a coupe, hardtop,
convertible, a wagon, sports edition.
They even had a Ute which utilized the
Ranchero platform and if you didn't know
this, the Alcamino wasn't the original ute
from the North American marketplace.
Studebaker actually had a vehicle in there
(15:29):
long before anyone else back in the 40s.
But if you're talking about the actual ones
that look more like cars and less like a
smaller pickup truck.
That would be the Ford Ranchero, who
originally started up the ute marketplace
in North America.
And yes, we actually had the Meteor
Ranchero.
Now, meteor shared full size bodies,
chassis and powertrains with Ford.
(15:50):
They were built on Ford platforms and built
in Ford production facilities.
So Oakville, ontario, that was built.
Ford products would also build Ford
products and Meteor products.
The Meteor products would be shipped out to
the towns that only had Mercury and Lincoln
dealerships and the Ford products would go
to every otherhip.
That's for Ford.
They had unique trim taillights to
differentiate them from using the standard
(16:10):
Mercury.
Essentially, they were the bottom end of
the Lincoln Mercury lineup or the Ford
product of that lineup, before they merged
everything together.
Now, if you want to get back into this, if
you've ever listened to our podcast about
the divisions of the Big Three, you'll
understand how many different car companies
each one of the big three had at the
beginning of their point in time.
They had tons and tons of them and you
(16:30):
can't have dealerships for every single one
of them, so you started conglomerating
multitude of them together.
Well, mercury was essentially created as a
separate model and they were put into more
premium marketplaces and because Ford
wasn't added to everywhere, you still
needed to sell those Ford products.
And remember, ford was the bottom line of
products from the Ford Motor Company.
(16:52):
Mercury was mid-tier and Lincoln was top
tier and if you want to go one step further
than that, you got to go to Continental,
which eventually became the top top tier,
but we'll talk about that in a future
podcast.
We talk about the Continental product and
Continental name over its history.
Trust me, it's got a pretty good history.
Stay tuned, it's going to be a great
podcast when it comes out.
In 1961, the Meteor name was used for a
(17:15):
Mercury product dissolving.
The brand.
Mercury came down in price due to the low
loss of the Edsel brand.
378,463 cars were produced in 1961 for the
Meteor nameplate.
So Mercury, because of the Edsel lineup
being brought in, the Meteor product, was
(17:35):
moved into the Mercury nameplate as the
Mercury Meteor.
Now we all know the Mercury Meteor existed
other places in the world, but in Canada it
was its own brand, falling under the
mercury product lineup, and for this,
because of the introduction of the edsel,
it got bumped to being a product, not a
brand.
But in 1964 the meteor nameplate came back
(17:58):
and this time they weren't based off of
ford products, they were based off of
mercury products and from 1964 to 1976, the
Meteor brand sold 255,000 vehicles in
Canada.
Meteor eventually returned due to the loss
of the entry-level 400 in the Mercury
lineup.
By 1965 to 1968, the Meteor had a full
(18:20):
lineup with the Redux, the Redux 500, the
Montclan and the Montego.
Montego Lame was later renamed Le Moyne due
to Mercury utilizing the Montego nameplate.
By 1969, meteor started using Mercury
Badget.
It eventually was becoming labeled as a
Mercury Meteor.
So the fall of the Meteor nameplate
essentially started with the Edsel brand
(18:42):
coming in.
They went back to being their own product
by 1964.
But, like we said, eventually by 1969, the
name was also being utilized on entry-level
Mercury products.
By 1976, the name completely dissolved and
the Mercury Meteor was moved right into
being a Mercury-only product.
There was no entry-level Meteor car company
anymore.
(19:02):
The brand was gone by 76.
But from 1977 to 1981, the, the redo 500
and montcalm names returned to mercury as
canadian trim levels only.
Now we all know the meteor nameplate
actually kept around until 1981, but it
wasn't its own brand.
It was used as the entry level for the
(19:24):
Marquis model, the Marquis Meteor.
So by 1981, the end of the entire Meteor
nameplate and brand was completely gone
from history.
Never to return.
But by that time most of those dealerships
had merged altogether and now everything
was either Ford, lincoln, mercury
dealerships or it was just a Ford
dealership.
You didn't need all those different brands.
(19:44):
Now, in 1959, general Motors decided to
give the pontiac dealerships something else.
They needed chevrolet products because
pontiac was more of the sport model and it
was a little bit higher up than general
chevrolet products.
Kind of remember, chevrolet was the
entry-level product for general motors and,
like we said, it was pontiac, buick, gmc
(20:05):
dealerships.
They needed something a little bit more
entry level for the Canadian marketplace.
So, by utilizing Chevrolet full-size
chassis, drivetrains and other parts in
similar body shells, we got the Laurentian
nameplate.
Now, laurentian is actually a mountain
range just north of Montreal.
It is an amazing, amazing mountain range.
Okay, the only mountain range in the
province of Ontario that comes close to
(20:26):
that, being that close to a major city,
would be the La Cloche mountain range.
Have you ever seen the La Cloche mountain
range?
Pure white mountains, and they're actually
about an hour and 15 minutes from where I'm
recording this podcast right now.
Yeah, I can literally drive through white
mountain ranges that close to my house.
But Laurentians is in Quebec, so highly
known of Mountain Range.
(20:46):
Now they were marketed as more of a premium
product, but just under the Paris scene.
They looked a lot like a Catalina but had
more in common with the Bel Air product.
They were also available in Bel Air body
styles, hardtop, coupe sedans all the way
through to 1962.
After 1963, only the Paris scene and the
hardtop models were kicking around.
But it eventually returned in 1969 when the
(21:08):
Catalina was discontinued in the United
States.
But you have to remember the Laurentian
product line wasn't just for Canada, it was
also sold in Australia, built in Canada,
sold in Australia as knockdown kits for GM
Holden, replacing the Parisine in 1964 for
the Holden Manufacturing Corporation.
So General Motors of Australia kind of neat,
(21:29):
because you know, canada kind of gave
something to Australia as well.
We had our own brand, the Laurentian brand,
entry level for Pontiac.
They also sold the Laurentian products in
Europe because Canada was part of the
Commonwealth.
We had the Commonwealth status so you
couldn't get specific vehicles that were
built in Canada.
But if Laurentia was built on Pontiac
platforms being sold in Pontiac dealership
(21:49):
and manufactured here, we could sell them
in British Commonwealth countries.
So it was better adapted to the American
products.
For narrow streets it was more affordable
due to their economy status in the Pontiac,
buick, GMC dealership lineups.
So Laurentia was kind of here for 20 years,
59 to 79.
They really didn't have a heck of a lot of
different models from what Pontiac or
Chevrolet had at that point in time.
(22:11):
They used a lot of the Bel Airs and
Catalinas.
But there were specific options entry-level
product for the Pontiac, buick, gmc
divisions.
Dealerships need to get everyone else in
the door to make sales right.
Well, this wasn't going to fly over at
other dealerships as well Because, to move
up, pontiac was realizing they're at
premium level with the Laurentian product
but they also need an entry-level as well.
(22:32):
So Acadian was brought out from 1962 to
1971.
It's created so that the Buick, pontiac
dealerships would have a compact car to
sell.
You have to remember the Laurentian was
more of an entry-level product but it was
big, full-scale products like the Catalina,
the Paris Saint, the Paris Saint and the
Bel Airs.
They were all big, full-size products.
They needed entry-level products and
(22:53):
instead of giving Laurentian an entry-level
product because people still saw them as
entrylevel but a little bit higher up than
a Chevrolet they needed something else.
If they want to create a small new product
to get sold under these dealerships.
To get people into the Pontiac Buick
dealerships they needed entry-level
vehicles, compact and mid-sized vehicles.
So in 1962, the Cadian company was created.
(23:16):
It was used to promote the APAC automotive
manufacturing in Canada.
It utilized the Chevrolet 2 platform which
basically underpinned the Chevrolet Nova.
Now it uses Chevrolet 2 base, invader
mid-tier and Beaumont top-tier trim levels
with both a four-cylinder, six-cylinder and
a V8.
Now, acadian used a lot of Pontiac styling
(23:37):
cues but they wanted to differentiate
themselves from Pontiac because they don't
want to bring the Pontiac nameplate down.
See how Porsche created the Cayenne and the
Panamera.
They kind of brought their image as a
sports car company down a notch and became
more of a luxury car company.
Now that they have sedans and SUVs, pontiac
at this point in time between the 60s and
70s, didn't want to do that to their image.
They were considered a muscle car.
(23:58):
You've got to remember.
Pontiac created the muscle car era with the
GTO.
If you didn't know this, the GTO was
created and spearheaded by none other than
John Zachary DeLorean yes, the man behind
the DeLorean from Back to the Future, the
DMC-12.
That man created the muscle car era,
shoving a big block V8 underneath the hood
(24:21):
with a tiny little Beaumont.
Yeah, power in a small package.
Well, pontiac was known for power and had
the GTO.
It was big, it was powerful and it's what
people wanted.
They didn't want it to be associated with
this entry-level product.
So the Acadian was brought out to
differentiate the Pontiac's entry-level
vehicles from the rest of its product
(24:42):
lineup.
But you have to remember the gas crisis in
the 70s and people's taste and change of
muscle cars in the 70s started changing
Eventually.
In 1971 it was phased out and eventually
became the Pontiac Ventura 2.
Yes, the Ventura 2 is essentially the
Acadian second generation.
I have to say Acadian is kind of neat.
Gm's ones right now, like Canadian and
(25:04):
Laurentian, were kind of made to fill these
tiny little slots in the marketplace that
the main companies didn't want to fill.
Well, general Motors had other car
companies that they wanted to do this with
as well and with the rise of the Acadian
platform, chevrolet wanted to get in on the
action as well.
They wanted something for their Chevrolet,
oldsmobile, cadillac dealerships.
So from 1962 to 1965, a very short life the
(25:25):
Acadian was also sold as a Beaumont for the
Canadian marketplace, based on the Chevy II
platform 62 to 64, and the 64 to 65 is
based off the Chevelle platform both
entry-level little vehicles.
The Beaumont logo was essentially a Pontiac
logo, very similar to it, and it was
originally used to promote Canadian
manufacturing by General Motors by having a
(25:48):
dedicated Canadian brand name with it.
The base model Beaumont convertible was
available in Canada but never on a Chevelle
in the US market.
So really, if you want a convertible
Chevelle from 1964 to 1965, gotta remember
there's only two production years you gotta
come to Canada and find a 1964 or 1965
(26:09):
Beaumont convertible, because that's the
only way you're getting a Chevelle
convertible Sold in bam Canadian
marketplace.
Only Woo, but not totally.
No, they were sold in Chile and South
Africa from knockdown kits until 1971.
And it was also sold in Puerto Rico.
Now we get it.
Puerto Rico is very tied into the American
(26:30):
marketplace but they still didn't sell them
in the American marketplace.
Puerto Rico was still its own country.
It wasn't really associated but it was
associated, you know bam.
It eventually was phased out in favor of
the Chevelle and Le Mans models.
The Beaumont eventually reappeared between
1981 and 1985 on Canadian-only
Pontiac-branded Acadian vehicles.
(26:52):
So it was the Pontiac Acadian Beaumont or
the Pontiac Beaumonts.
Yeah, they've returned, but only available
in Canada.
The Pontiac T1000 or Chevrolet Chevette
sister also had the Beaumont nameplate for
specific models.
It only really sold five years alongside
the T1000.
Yeah, I know that sounds like a Terminator,
but it was a vehicle.
(27:13):
Go back and look at it.
Pontiac really only had two compact cars
for those five years and by utilizing the
old Acadian and Beaumont names they managed
to keep it kicking around, but only in the
Canadian marketplace.
Now, if you didn't know this, gm overseas
actually sold cars in Japan and Europe
under GM nameplates.
But from 1987 to 1991, they realized, when
(27:36):
the creation of Saturn was about to come
out, they needed something for their Isuzu
Saab dealerships.
You've got these two car companies and
there's no entry-level products.
We get Isuzu's entry-level trucks but
there's no entry-level vehicles.
Well, general Motors was reusing the Opel
Kadett for the GM Passport product overseas
(27:56):
In Canada.
They decided to bring the Passport as its
own nameplate to the Canadian marketplace
for the Isuzu Saab dealerships by utilizing
the Opel Kadett E, either sedan or
hatchback.
We had the new Passport Optima for the
Canadian marketplace.
Essentially they folded in 1991 as Isuzu
and Saab were brought into the Saturn
(28:18):
dealers dealerships and the Optima was
rebranded as the Pontiac Le Mans for the
Canadian marketplace.
So it was very short-lived.
But Passport was here to give Zuzu and Sab
something until they decided to join the
likes of Saturn.
And with that we get to our last dedicated
Canadian brand by one of the big three.
This one was actually had a lot of vehicles
(28:39):
and one of the most famous vehicles built
in Ingersoll, ontario, at the Cami plant, a
production facility built between Suzuki
and General Motors.
Like we originally talked about, that
original Sunrunner, sidekick and Trackers
came from that plant.
But in Canada we didn't get Gio as an entry
level product range for the General Motors
Corporation.
No, canada was given its own nameplate.
(28:59):
Get Gio as an entry-level product range for
the General Motors Corporation, no, canada
was given its own nameplate.
So Gio was the big brand for the American
marketplace.
In Canada we had a car company which had a
car I almost bought when I was in college,
the Asuna.
So instead of the Gio Tracker it was the
Asuna Tracker.
Yes, the Asuna Now tracker.
(29:24):
Yes, the asuna now asuna survived from
april 12th 1992 to july 1st.
So canada day, 1994 is when we said goodbye
to it.
Only two years yeah, two short years of
having asuna around.
They sold azuzu, daewoo and suzuki products
under the brand.
They didn't sell their own products.
So everything they had either came from
azuzu, daewewoo or Suzuki.
So it was all either Korean or Japanese or
Asian marketplace small entry-level
vehicles built to service the Canadian
(29:46):
marketplace.
They were created for the Pontiac Buick GMC
dealerships.
Now we get it.
Pontiac was starting to use their own tiny
little Suzuki Swifts which became the
Pontiac Fireflies.
But in Canada we didn't have the Fireflies.
No, we had the Asunas.
Chevrolet, oldsville and Cadillac
essentially had Geo nameplates, but in
Canada they didn't really have much of the
(30:08):
Geo name to go off of because Chevrolet was
utilizing some of those things.
We sold more Chevy Metros than we did Geo
Metros in this country.
Asuna was made for all those other dealer
units and it had some pretty amazing
vehicles.
The vehicle I was talking about, that I
almost bought, was actually an Isuzu
Impulse but it was the Asuna name.
It was the Asuna Sunfire, a little sports
(30:29):
coupe built for the Canadian marketplace.
Well, essentially built for the Japanese
marketplace but sold under a Canadian brand.
Here they also had the Sunrunner SUV, which
was chevy tracker, or suzuki sidekick, the
segt, which was either the sedan or hatch
which came off the daewoo lamont or the
former passport optima platform.
But eventually asuna gave way as geo became
(30:51):
a bigger nameplate.
All thanks to the very beginning of this
entire podcast.
Our talk about ned flanders and his little
geo homer comes after netty.
Netty, help me, dad, he's getting faster, I
can't.
It's a geo because of that saying on the
simpsons, which is so funny.
Even today, like today, when I was out and
(31:12):
I was coming home, I passed by one of those
old geo metros and that's the first thing
that came by to my head.
Well, actually the first thing that came by
my head is is that actually a geo?
And the second thing that came by to my
head, well, actually the first thing that
came by my head is is that actually a Geo?
And the second thing when I saw the Metro
written on the back, I'm like, oh my God,
it is.
Was Ned Flanders in that Simpsons episode.
I guess he didn't want to go to the pigeon
putt.
Oh well, I'll go by myself.
Yeah, so in a full circle we get back to
(31:33):
that original Simpsons episode, beginning.
Gio is the reason why the Asuna brand
disbanded in Canada.
Pontiac Buick GMC dealerships eventually
picked up Asuna products, but only with the
Pontiac Sunrunner and the Pontiac Firefly.
They took over for where Asuna originally
came in, that little Isuzu Impulse sports
(31:53):
car that I almost bought way back in
college.
That didn't exist.
Okay, that went to becoming a straight
Isuzu-only product for Canada, and Gio
became the entry-level economy nameplate
for the Canadian marketplace, only sold at
Chevrolet dealerships and eventually
falling in line with the Saturn, isuzu,
saab dealerships, giving them even more
(32:13):
market share as Chevrolet and Pontiac
picked up for what Asuna originally gave
the Canadian marketplace entry-level
economy cars that were fun, chic and were
just made to get you around, all built
off-platform from the Asian marketplace.
But back in those days we were allowed to
do that.
We didn't have to worry about so many damn
tariffs killing us.
So all in all we've had a lot of different
(32:34):
select brands.
Now some of them came to be from actual car
companies that eventually became sub-brands
and other ones were dedicated brands to
fill slots in product lineups for
dealerships.
Like we said, the Eagle car company was
essentially created so that the old
American motor dealerships that were now
only selling Jeep products would have
sedans to sell.
(32:54):
They knew they needed vehicles and if you
go back and listen to that podcast, eagle
had tons of vehicles at a point in time in
history and they were there for a reason,
but when Chrysler was starting to do good.
And right before the Daimler days,
everybody had forgotten about the American
Motor days and Chrysler started dissolving
either those dealerships or merging those
dealerships into becoming part of the
Chrysler Corporation.
(33:15):
So in the end, canada's had a lot of its
own dedicated brand.
It's been kind of cool and going back in
history finding out about Asuna, beaumont,
laurentian, acadian, monarch, meteor.
It's pretty cool that we actually had our
own dedicated brands for a country.
At the point in time they were selling
these only had just over 20 million people.
You've got to remember, at the turn of this
(33:35):
century, 25 years ago, canada had just
surpassed 30 million people.
Just last year we crossed 40 million.
In 20 years we managed to add 10 million
people and before that it took us nearly 40
years to add that much population.
We were a small country with a small
marketplace, but a growing marketplace.
We still needed all these divisions.
All these small towns had tons and tons of
people.
You've got to remember the Trans-Canada
(33:56):
Highway in Canada was not finished until
the mid-60s, so this country wasn't even
fully connected.
Until the 60s, around the whole time that
all of these divisions started coming out,
when all these towns became connected, our
country started demanding more vehicles.
More of these people started getting money
and were being able to purchase the first
vehicles they were ever able to get,
because delivery services were more
(34:17):
plausible to those small towns.
Yeah, that highway opened us all up and
maybe again, with now our country trying to
push through and become its own dedicated
nation and not have to worry about
depending on our neighbors to the south
anymore, maybe, just maybe, they'll finally
finish that highway across this great
country of Canada.
Until then, all these brands from the past
you never know Some of these brands might
(34:38):
come back because you got to think about it.
Gm still has ties in with Korean
marketplace.
They might bring some of the Korean
products over here and start selling it as
a brand new Asuna brand for the Canadian
marketplace, because we don't have tariffs
on stuff coming over from those
marketplaces.
Hell, european products coming in, you
never know.
Ford might utilize some of their old brand
names to bring some of those products back
(34:58):
here.
Remember the Merkur brand?
Yeah, come on.
They've had a lot of different divisions
over these years and Canada, although being
small in population but big in landmass,
wasn't like the rest of the world.
We weren't left out of the loop of having
our own dedicated brands.
We didn't have our own dedicated car
companies like Australia with Holden, but
we did have our own nameplates and for that
(35:20):
Canada has had its own part in the
automotive world.
Now, like I said in this podcast, if you
want a convertible Chevelle, come to Canada,
because they were never sold in the States
and only sold here under the Acadian
nameplate.
So if you like this podcast, please like,
share or comment about it on any major
social feeds or streaming sites that you
found the Autol podcast on.
Like, share, comment and send this podcast
(35:40):
out to all your friends, your families,
your well-wishers.
Tell them about it, ask them about some of
the cars that they've owned in the past.
Do they remember any of these dedicated
canadian brands, even if you didn't live in
the country?
Do you remember seeing any or hearing
anything about any of these?
Like we all remember the mercury meteor,
but did anybody ever actually see the
meteor logo anywhere else in the world?
It's pretty neat.
(36:01):
It actually had its own physical logo.
It had the GM passport.
Did anyone ever else see GM branded
vehicles?
And remember the EV1 wasn't the only GM
branded vehicle in history.
Gm actually did have vehicles built off
Opel and Honda platforms sold elsewhere in
the world.
If you really want to know something.
Toyota also had a Chevrolet Cavalier
(36:21):
branded as a Toyota product for Asian
marketplaces as well.
So you know the whole automotive
marketplace.
There's so many amazing stories within it
and this being Canada and my home country,
well, we just thought we'd spread a little
bit of our automotive ingenuity and our
specific brands that we've had from this
country to you, the world, the listeners of
the AutoLooks podcast, and after that, stop
by the website, read some of the reviews,
(36:42):
check out some of the ratings, go to the
Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all, car
companies from around the globe, all
available on the AutoLooks.net website.
The AutoLooks podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
Podbean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over to email@autoloos.net.
So for myself Everett Jay, the host, the
Ecomm entertainment group, podbean.com and
(37:03):
our host website at autolooks.net, strap
yourself in for this one fun wild ride that
AutoLooks and the Canadian brands are going
to take you on.
Thank you.
I think Ned Flanders said it best.
I can't Maude, it's a Geo.
Yeah, that famous saying from the Simpsons
as Homer had become best friends with Ned
and he was trying to get him to go golfing.
And Ned is taking off in a Geo.
Now, a Geo was a weird brand.
It's kind of an in-between little
entry-level vehicle created by General
(00:21):
Motors in the late 80s and ran into the 90s.
It was really just Suzuki under a General
Motors nameplate, but they also had
Chevrolet versions and Pontiac versions.
So why did they need four different
versions of these vehicles with a whole
brand new brand?
Well, dealerships, dealerships wanted their
own select brands.
(00:41):
You have to remember, back in those days,
gm had two different dealerships Pontiac,
buick, gmc and Chevrolet, cadillac,
oldsmobile, gio was thrown in as an
entry-level brand to the Saturn Isuzu
nameplates because Saturn wanted to get
those entry-level vehicles too.
But this was for the American marketplace.
Today, being Canada Day, we're going to
(01:03):
talk about the divisions made by the big
three to fill the slots that dealerships
wanted in the great country of Canada.
Yes, today we're talking about Canada's
dedicated brands.
Welcome back to the AutoLooks podcast.
(01:24):
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, mr Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
AutoLooks.net.
If you haven't been there, stop by.
Check it out.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all.
Car companies from around the globe, all
available in one main place on the internet.
(01:45):
That is autolooks.net.
The AutoLooks podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
podbean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net.
So, like I said in the beginning, dedicated
brands for Canada.
Yeah, Canada had its own dedicated,
specific brands and two of the big three
had their own dedicated brands.
(02:05):
Now, chrysler Corporation did have one
dedicated brand for a specific dealership,
which we've talked about in a previous
podcast.
If you listen to our podcast about Eagle
cars, you understand why the Eagle brand
came out, because when Chrysler Corporation
took over the old American Motors division,
it came with Jeep, but Eagle was created
out of the dust of American Motors.
(02:27):
The Eagle Premier was this vehicle that
both American Motors and Renault were
working on together and it was so close to
being finished.
They decided to sell it yeah, chrysler just
couldn't give up on it and to create a full
brand because you have to remember, when
American Motors went under, those
dealerships didn't go under.
Some of them were kept.
(02:48):
They were kept because of the Jeep name
that was attached to it.
But Jeep wasn't a full-scale brand.
Jeep essentially by that time only had four
vehicles.
You had your standard Wrangler or YJ back
in those days, the Cherokee, the Comanche
and the Grand Cherokee.
Now, up until the early 90s they did have
the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.
Now, up until the early 90s they did have
the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, but that
was kind of a limited production and kind
of ran on its own.
So they needed sedans to fill the gap and
(03:09):
they created Eagle cars, utilizing old
American Motors products and fitting in a
few products from Mitsubishi.
Now Mitsubishi products were also branded
as Plymouth and Dodge products.
The original Dodge Dynasties were an Eagle
Premier but only sold in Canada under the
Dodge name.
Now they did this because they needed to
(03:30):
fill gaps in dealership lineups and Canada
was an amazing place for this to happen.
As we saw in the 90s, general Motors, with
the help of bringing Suzuki to North
America, decided to utilize their vehicles
to help fill gaps in their own lineup.
So they utilized Suzuki products to build
the little Chevy trackers, the original
(03:50):
little Pontiac Sunrunners, and they had Geo
trackers.
It was Suzuki's sidekick a Chevy tracker, a
Geo tracker and a Pontiac Sunrunner.
Geo was made, like I said, to fill the gap
with Saturn Azuzu's dealerships.
But in Canada General Motors and Ford had
other brands and these date all the way to
(04:10):
the turn of the century.
If you didn't know this, there was a car
company that was one of the biggest makers
of cutters and carriages in the British
Empire, hailing from Oshawa.
Ontario is literally a sub-suburb of
Toronto.
It's one of the many kind of like Vaughan,
brampton, burlington, hell, even Hamilton
now is considered part of the greater
(04:31):
Toronto-Hamilton area.
Okay, so it's literally a suburb outside of
it.
Well, there's a man named Robert McLaughlin
who started this business building these
amazing cutters and carriages.
Well, his son eventually became good
friends with Billy Durant from Buick, or
should we say William C Durant, whose
daughter actually went on to marry DeTomaso.
(04:52):
Yeah, go back and listen to our podcast
about DeTomaso.
You'll learn the history about that and how
DeTomaso fits in with even the GM empire,
along with the Ford empire.
It's a pretty good podcast.
Go back and listen to it after this one.
So Sam formed an alliance with Billy Durant
of Buick.
He wanted to utilize their vehicles to
build cars for the Canadian marketplace.
It took a lot of coaxing to get his dad to
actually sign on and want to build these
(05:14):
things, because he didn't see a future in
the automobile.
Carriages were great, they were strong,
they were dependable and the automobile in
its early days was literally a new
technology that was always falling apart.
Remember the early days of Tesla.
They didn't go that far.
They had lots of issues.
They had to put these transponders in them
just to prove to people that they were
actually a little bit better than what
people were saying.
So his father didn't really give into it.
(05:35):
But Sam eventually got his father on board
and started building what they called the
McLaughlin automobile.
Now, if you know anything about McLaughlin,
mclaughlin's actually known of very widely
in the royal family, even when Prince
William married Princess Kate.
Well, at that time, just Kate, that old
classic vehicle from the 1930s they rode
around in was a McLaughlin from Canada.
(05:56):
Oh yeah, one of the best built vehicles.
They ran on the same lines as companies
like Duesenberg, rolls-royce and Pierce
Aero Top tier.
Now Buick eventually caught on and kept
McLaughlin on.
When General Motors moved into Canada.
Mclaughlin was eventually absorbed, part of
the General Motors Corporation and was kept
on as the top tier.
(06:17):
Cadillac didn't make its way here in the
early days.
Mclaughlin was kept at the top tier of the
General Motors pyramid.
It sat above Buick in Canada because Canada
wasn't big enough of a marketplace for all
the many divisions of General Motors.
So although they were built of original
Buick products, they decided to keep them
as an extra Well that didn't last forever.
(06:38):
They had a 15-year contract to use
drivetrains from Buicks in their original
vehicles.
But essentially the fallout of GM outing
Durant led to an eventual fall of
McLaughlin.
Sam McLaughlin would have helped finance
Durant's new business into a racing car
developer, louis Chevrolet.
Yes, sam McLaughlin from Canada helped
finance Durant's enterprise into Chevrolet
(07:01):
automobiles.
So Chevrolet essentially wouldn't exist
today if it wasn't for Canadian investors
helping them get their feet wet.
And with that Durant managed to build his
business back up and take over General
Motors.
He would eventually set up Chevrolet of
Canada.
By 1916, durant regained control of General
Motors and Sam McLaughlin became the vice
(07:22):
president of General Motors.
A Canadian was the vice president of the
world's largest automobile corporation.
Well, it's 1916.
Ford's still king?
So not yet.
But we're getting there Because of this.
In 1916, with Sam McLaughlin as vice
president of General Motors' board,
McLaughlin begins making Chevrolets in
Canada, alongside building their own
(07:43):
McLaughlins, which their father, robert
McLaughlin, didn't want to give up because
he knew he built some of the best cars in
the world.
From 1918 to 1942, mclaughlin Buicks were
made by GM Canada before officially
becoming just the Buick moniker in 1942.
Sam originally stayed on as the vice
president of GM Canada until his death in
(08:03):
1972.
He was 100 years old.
Yes, even the vice president of GM Canada
until his death in 1972.
He was 100 years old.
Yes, even the vice president of GM Canada
was the original vice president of GM from
back in the days, sam McLaughlin.
But they eventually relinquished control of
McLaughlin Motors to General Motors.
Gm of Canada still holds their largest
automotive producing facility in the
country of Canada, in Oshawa, ontario, on
(08:29):
the original hollow grounds of McLaughlin
Motors, where McLaughlin originally set up
to build Chevrolets.
Now there are other vehicles that would
have Canadian monikers go along with them
come out of that plant down the road.
But for now we're going to move on to the
competition From 1946 to 1961.
Introduced in March 23rd of 1946, monarch
became a new division for Ford-only dealers
(08:50):
in the country of Canada.
Essentially, monarch was just the Mercury
division for Ford-only dealers.
You have to remember, back in those days
you were a Ford dealership or you were a
Mercury dealership.
Occasionally some of them would throw in
Lincoln with it as a top-tier luxury brand.
But they also wanted the premium brands.
Well, ford at its own standard dealerships
a Ford Motor Company only selling Ford
(09:10):
products wanted a premium brand product and
because they couldn't get Mercury they had
to go with something else.
So in Canada the dealerships demanded a
premium vehicle and with that in March 23,
1946, they created the Monarch brand for
Canada only, running from 46 to 61.
Like I said, it essentially was just
mercury, sold in four dealerships.
(09:30):
So you'd have the ford monarch and then you
would have the mercury and we'll get to its
other brand later on.
They had a sedan, a coupe, a hardtop, a
convertible and a wagon.
It was marketed as its own brand with its
own vehicles richelieu, lucerne and scepter
products.
Yeah, has even had its own one with its own
vehicles.
Richelieu, le Cern and Scepter products.
Yeah, it even had its own one.
Now the second one should be kind of a
little reminiscent the Buick Le Cern from
(09:51):
Canada.
Yeah, it was originally a Buick name but it
was originally owned by Monarch, based on a
contemporary Mercury with Canadian-specific
trim, unique grills and taillights.
Both Monarch and Meteor which was Mercury's
Ford division we'll get into that after
this one were used to sell full lineups
from single dealers.
(10:11):
So small towns would either have a Ford or
a Lincoln Mercury dealer.
They couldn't have a full lineup if you
only sold Fords because you had no premium
or luxury products and at the Mercury
Lincoln dealerships you didn't have
entry-level products.
And when it's a small town with only one
dealership you need to sell a full line of
vehicles.
You need to cater to everyone in that town
because if you don't cater to them, general
(10:32):
Motors and Chrysler down the road are going
to cater to them because they had full
lineups.
So the Monarch division was created for the
Ford Motor Company.
So Monarch, like I said, was essentially
Mercury product.
So if the small town only had a Ford
dealership you would have Ford Monarch.
Meteor was essentially utilized as Ford's
product for the Mercury product lineup.
(10:54):
Now see, the Monarch nameplate kept going,
like I said, from 1946 all the way up to
1958.
It was discontinued only because of the
entry of the Edsel brand.
But remember, the Edsel brand was a failed
brand from Ford Motor Company.
So much emphasis on this and when it came
out people looked at it and said no, that's
not going to fly.
(11:14):
There was so much money and so much effort
put into making the Edsel brand so cool.
The next wave of automobiles is going to be
for everything that people want, but its
design did not suit that time.
Even by today's standards, when you take a
look at an Edsel and a Ford or a Mercury
from the same time, you just see a major
difference between them.
Now, with Edsel brand being dissolved in
(11:36):
Canada only within one year, monarch
returned in late 1959 to pick up where
Edsel had lost its sales.
A drop in medium-priced cars in Canada in
the 1960s eventually led to the end of the
Monarch brands.
Monarch, over its time from 1946 to 1961,
sold 95,450 cars across 15 years of
(11:59):
production.
But eventually, by this time Ford didn't
see a need to have a medium-priced vehicle
because they knew people were going down
the road and since all the money was going
into Ford Motor Company of Canada by the
1960s and not the Ford division or the
Mercury division, ford didn't really care
if it had two different dealerships selling
two different products.
They didn't need to sell a Mercury and a
Ford dealership to keep you from going down
the street to purchase from the Mercury
(12:20):
dealership.
They wanted you to buy the Ford products
and Ford only Now, like we said, the
Monarch brand came as the Mercury
distinguished brand for the Ford Motor
Company.
But Ford started entering more of the
premium marketplace by the late 50s and
into the 60s With big vehicles like the
Crown Vic.
Ford was moving up and they did not need
the Monarch brand.
(12:41):
So Ford was able to fit the table, just
like they are now, from entry level to
premium price range, all with one product
lineup.
By having a full lineup.
To begin with they didn't have to worry
about the Monarch brand being kept around,
so they decided to discontinue it in 61.
Mercury, on the other hand, waited three
years after the Monarch brand came out
before they finally said we need Ford
(13:03):
products within our lineups because we're
losing the entry-level sales from our
Mercury Lincoln dealerships.
Like we need to get all those regular
people who buy regular vehicles to come
into our dealerships as well.
We don't want them going down the street
and going to every Ford Hell.
The next Ford dealership isn't for 100
miles down the road.
We need Ford products being sold in our
small town.
(13:23):
We don't care that you're only going to
sell, like you know, maybe like 50 a year.
We still need to make those sales.
So June 25th 1949, a rebadged Ford product
for Canada only was introduced to the
Mercury dealerships and then became the
Meteor Mercury Lincoln dealerships.
Meteor was brought in to be the entry-level
(13:45):
products for the Mercury Lincoln dealers.
This was due to the dealer structure in
Canada and was used to carry a full lineup
of vehicles for small single-dealer lots.
So if big cities like Toronto or Ottawa or
Montreal or Vancouver or Calgary at this
point in time didn't have to worry about
this thing because they had a four-dealer
ship down the road from a Mercury Lincoln
dealership.
(14:05):
But if we're talking about my neck of the
woods, a small town like the town of
Espanola, sturgeon Falls, hell, even to
miscoming shore would either have a Ford
dealership or a Mercury Lincoln dealership
and the next major town for a dealership
being between 45 minutes to over an hour
away.
People weren't going to make that long
drive, they were just going to buy from
whatever was in their town.
And trust me, even in my home city there's
(14:27):
a couple dealerships in the smaller
outlining communities that have kept around
and basically held on to those points only
because it was actually too far to drive
into town to purchase a vehicle.
But now that we don't care.
We got bigger roads, we can move a lot
quicker.
We don't care about traveling.
That 45 minute drive has now turned into 20
minutes.
But back in those days the Mercury Lincoln
dealerships needed to have their own
(14:47):
product and they were given the Meteor
nameplate.
From 1949 to 1959, meteor ran fourth in
sales behind Chevrolet, ford and Pontiac in
Canada.
Yes, fourth in sales.
They were essentially a Ford product, ford
cars being sold by Mercury dealerships and
they were fourth in sales.
(15:08):
So technically, if you put Meteor and Ford
together, ford would be top of the game,
making all the sales in the country of
Canada at that point in time.
They had a sedan, a coupe, hardtop,
convertible, a wagon, sports edition.
They even had a Ute which utilized the
Ranchero platform and if you didn't know
this, the Alcamino wasn't the original ute
from the North American marketplace.
Studebaker actually had a vehicle in there
(15:29):
long before anyone else back in the 40s.
But if you're talking about the actual ones
that look more like cars and less like a
smaller pickup truck.
That would be the Ford Ranchero, who
originally started up the ute marketplace
in North America.
And yes, we actually had the Meteor
Ranchero.
Now, meteor shared full size bodies,
chassis and powertrains with Ford.
(15:50):
They were built on Ford platforms and built
in Ford production facilities.
So Oakville, ontario, that was built.
Ford products would also build Ford
products and Meteor products.
The Meteor products would be shipped out to
the towns that only had Mercury and Lincoln
dealerships and the Ford products would go
to every otherhip.
That's for Ford.
They had unique trim taillights to
differentiate them from using the standard
(16:10):
Mercury.
Essentially, they were the bottom end of
the Lincoln Mercury lineup or the Ford
product of that lineup, before they merged
everything together.
Now, if you want to get back into this, if
you've ever listened to our podcast about
the divisions of the Big Three, you'll
understand how many different car companies
each one of the big three had at the
beginning of their point in time.
They had tons and tons of them and you
(16:30):
can't have dealerships for every single one
of them, so you started conglomerating
multitude of them together.
Well, mercury was essentially created as a
separate model and they were put into more
premium marketplaces and because Ford
wasn't added to everywhere, you still
needed to sell those Ford products.
And remember, ford was the bottom line of
products from the Ford Motor Company.
(16:52):
Mercury was mid-tier and Lincoln was top
tier and if you want to go one step further
than that, you got to go to Continental,
which eventually became the top top tier,
but we'll talk about that in a future
podcast.
We talk about the Continental product and
Continental name over its history.
Trust me, it's got a pretty good history.
Stay tuned, it's going to be a great
podcast when it comes out.
In 1961, the Meteor name was used for a
(17:15):
Mercury product dissolving.
The brand.
Mercury came down in price due to the low
loss of the Edsel brand.
378,463 cars were produced in 1961 for the
Meteor nameplate.
So Mercury, because of the Edsel lineup
being brought in, the Meteor product, was
(17:35):
moved into the Mercury nameplate as the
Mercury Meteor.
Now we all know the Mercury Meteor existed
other places in the world, but in Canada it
was its own brand, falling under the
mercury product lineup, and for this,
because of the introduction of the edsel,
it got bumped to being a product, not a
brand.
But in 1964 the meteor nameplate came back
(17:58):
and this time they weren't based off of
ford products, they were based off of
mercury products and from 1964 to 1976, the
Meteor brand sold 255,000 vehicles in
Canada.
Meteor eventually returned due to the loss
of the entry-level 400 in the Mercury
lineup.
By 1965 to 1968, the Meteor had a full
(18:20):
lineup with the Redux, the Redux 500, the
Montclan and the Montego.
Montego Lame was later renamed Le Moyne due
to Mercury utilizing the Montego nameplate.
By 1969, meteor started using Mercury
Badget.
It eventually was becoming labeled as a
Mercury Meteor.
So the fall of the Meteor nameplate
essentially started with the Edsel brand
(18:42):
coming in.
They went back to being their own product
by 1964.
But, like we said, eventually by 1969, the
name was also being utilized on entry-level
Mercury products.
By 1976, the name completely dissolved and
the Mercury Meteor was moved right into
being a Mercury-only product.
There was no entry-level Meteor car company
anymore.
(19:02):
The brand was gone by 76.
But from 1977 to 1981, the, the redo 500
and montcalm names returned to mercury as
canadian trim levels only.
Now we all know the meteor nameplate
actually kept around until 1981, but it
wasn't its own brand.
It was used as the entry level for the
(19:24):
Marquis model, the Marquis Meteor.
So by 1981, the end of the entire Meteor
nameplate and brand was completely gone
from history.
Never to return.
But by that time most of those dealerships
had merged altogether and now everything
was either Ford, lincoln, mercury
dealerships or it was just a Ford
dealership.
You didn't need all those different brands.
(19:44):
Now, in 1959, general Motors decided to
give the pontiac dealerships something else.
They needed chevrolet products because
pontiac was more of the sport model and it
was a little bit higher up than general
chevrolet products.
Kind of remember, chevrolet was the
entry-level product for general motors and,
like we said, it was pontiac, buick, gmc
(20:05):
dealerships.
They needed something a little bit more
entry level for the Canadian marketplace.
So, by utilizing Chevrolet full-size
chassis, drivetrains and other parts in
similar body shells, we got the Laurentian
nameplate.
Now, laurentian is actually a mountain
range just north of Montreal.
It is an amazing, amazing mountain range.
Okay, the only mountain range in the
province of Ontario that comes close to
(20:26):
that, being that close to a major city,
would be the La Cloche mountain range.
Have you ever seen the La Cloche mountain
range?
Pure white mountains, and they're actually
about an hour and 15 minutes from where I'm
recording this podcast right now.
Yeah, I can literally drive through white
mountain ranges that close to my house.
But Laurentians is in Quebec, so highly
known of Mountain Range.
(20:46):
Now they were marketed as more of a premium
product, but just under the Paris scene.
They looked a lot like a Catalina but had
more in common with the Bel Air product.
They were also available in Bel Air body
styles, hardtop, coupe sedans all the way
through to 1962.
After 1963, only the Paris scene and the
hardtop models were kicking around.
But it eventually returned in 1969 when the
(21:08):
Catalina was discontinued in the United
States.
But you have to remember the Laurentian
product line wasn't just for Canada, it was
also sold in Australia, built in Canada,
sold in Australia as knockdown kits for GM
Holden, replacing the Parisine in 1964 for
the Holden Manufacturing Corporation.
So General Motors of Australia kind of neat,
(21:29):
because you know, canada kind of gave
something to Australia as well.
We had our own brand, the Laurentian brand,
entry level for Pontiac.
They also sold the Laurentian products in
Europe because Canada was part of the
Commonwealth.
We had the Commonwealth status so you
couldn't get specific vehicles that were
built in Canada.
But if Laurentia was built on Pontiac
platforms being sold in Pontiac dealership
(21:49):
and manufactured here, we could sell them
in British Commonwealth countries.
So it was better adapted to the American
products.
For narrow streets it was more affordable
due to their economy status in the Pontiac,
buick, GMC dealership lineups.
So Laurentia was kind of here for 20 years,
59 to 79.
They really didn't have a heck of a lot of
different models from what Pontiac or
Chevrolet had at that point in time.
(22:11):
They used a lot of the Bel Airs and
Catalinas.
But there were specific options entry-level
product for the Pontiac, buick, gmc
divisions.
Dealerships need to get everyone else in
the door to make sales right.
Well, this wasn't going to fly over at
other dealerships as well Because, to move
up, pontiac was realizing they're at
premium level with the Laurentian product
but they also need an entry-level as well.
(22:32):
So Acadian was brought out from 1962 to
1971.
It's created so that the Buick, pontiac
dealerships would have a compact car to
sell.
You have to remember the Laurentian was
more of an entry-level product but it was
big, full-scale products like the Catalina,
the Paris Saint, the Paris Saint and the
Bel Airs.
They were all big, full-size products.
They needed entry-level products and
(22:53):
instead of giving Laurentian an entry-level
product because people still saw them as
entrylevel but a little bit higher up than
a Chevrolet they needed something else.
If they want to create a small new product
to get sold under these dealerships.
To get people into the Pontiac Buick
dealerships they needed entry-level
vehicles, compact and mid-sized vehicles.
So in 1962, the Cadian company was created.
(23:16):
It was used to promote the APAC automotive
manufacturing in Canada.
It utilized the Chevrolet 2 platform which
basically underpinned the Chevrolet Nova.
Now it uses Chevrolet 2 base, invader
mid-tier and Beaumont top-tier trim levels
with both a four-cylinder, six-cylinder and
a V8.
Now, acadian used a lot of Pontiac styling
(23:37):
cues but they wanted to differentiate
themselves from Pontiac because they don't
want to bring the Pontiac nameplate down.
See how Porsche created the Cayenne and the
Panamera.
They kind of brought their image as a
sports car company down a notch and became
more of a luxury car company.
Now that they have sedans and SUVs, pontiac
at this point in time between the 60s and
70s, didn't want to do that to their image.
They were considered a muscle car.
(23:58):
You've got to remember.
Pontiac created the muscle car era with the
GTO.
If you didn't know this, the GTO was
created and spearheaded by none other than
John Zachary DeLorean yes, the man behind
the DeLorean from Back to the Future, the
DMC-12.
That man created the muscle car era,
shoving a big block V8 underneath the hood
(24:21):
with a tiny little Beaumont.
Yeah, power in a small package.
Well, pontiac was known for power and had
the GTO.
It was big, it was powerful and it's what
people wanted.
They didn't want it to be associated with
this entry-level product.
So the Acadian was brought out to
differentiate the Pontiac's entry-level
vehicles from the rest of its product
(24:42):
lineup.
But you have to remember the gas crisis in
the 70s and people's taste and change of
muscle cars in the 70s started changing
Eventually.
In 1971 it was phased out and eventually
became the Pontiac Ventura 2.
Yes, the Ventura 2 is essentially the
Acadian second generation.
I have to say Acadian is kind of neat.
Gm's ones right now, like Canadian and
(25:04):
Laurentian, were kind of made to fill these
tiny little slots in the marketplace that
the main companies didn't want to fill.
Well, general Motors had other car
companies that they wanted to do this with
as well and with the rise of the Acadian
platform, chevrolet wanted to get in on the
action as well.
They wanted something for their Chevrolet,
oldsmobile, cadillac dealerships.
So from 1962 to 1965, a very short life the
(25:25):
Acadian was also sold as a Beaumont for the
Canadian marketplace, based on the Chevy II
platform 62 to 64, and the 64 to 65 is
based off the Chevelle platform both
entry-level little vehicles.
The Beaumont logo was essentially a Pontiac
logo, very similar to it, and it was
originally used to promote Canadian
manufacturing by General Motors by having a
(25:48):
dedicated Canadian brand name with it.
The base model Beaumont convertible was
available in Canada but never on a Chevelle
in the US market.
So really, if you want a convertible
Chevelle from 1964 to 1965, gotta remember
there's only two production years you gotta
come to Canada and find a 1964 or 1965
(26:09):
Beaumont convertible, because that's the
only way you're getting a Chevelle
convertible Sold in bam Canadian
marketplace.
Only Woo, but not totally.
No, they were sold in Chile and South
Africa from knockdown kits until 1971.
And it was also sold in Puerto Rico.
Now we get it.
Puerto Rico is very tied into the American
(26:30):
marketplace but they still didn't sell them
in the American marketplace.
Puerto Rico was still its own country.
It wasn't really associated but it was
associated, you know bam.
It eventually was phased out in favor of
the Chevelle and Le Mans models.
The Beaumont eventually reappeared between
1981 and 1985 on Canadian-only
Pontiac-branded Acadian vehicles.
(26:52):
So it was the Pontiac Acadian Beaumont or
the Pontiac Beaumonts.
Yeah, they've returned, but only available
in Canada.
The Pontiac T1000 or Chevrolet Chevette
sister also had the Beaumont nameplate for
specific models.
It only really sold five years alongside
the T1000.
Yeah, I know that sounds like a Terminator,
but it was a vehicle.
(27:13):
Go back and look at it.
Pontiac really only had two compact cars
for those five years and by utilizing the
old Acadian and Beaumont names they managed
to keep it kicking around, but only in the
Canadian marketplace.
Now, if you didn't know this, gm overseas
actually sold cars in Japan and Europe
under GM nameplates.
But from 1987 to 1991, they realized, when
(27:36):
the creation of Saturn was about to come
out, they needed something for their Isuzu
Saab dealerships.
You've got these two car companies and
there's no entry-level products.
We get Isuzu's entry-level trucks but
there's no entry-level vehicles.
Well, general Motors was reusing the Opel
Kadett for the GM Passport product overseas
(27:56):
In Canada.
They decided to bring the Passport as its
own nameplate to the Canadian marketplace
for the Isuzu Saab dealerships by utilizing
the Opel Kadett E, either sedan or
hatchback.
We had the new Passport Optima for the
Canadian marketplace.
Essentially they folded in 1991 as Isuzu
and Saab were brought into the Saturn
(28:18):
dealers dealerships and the Optima was
rebranded as the Pontiac Le Mans for the
Canadian marketplace.
So it was very short-lived.
But Passport was here to give Zuzu and Sab
something until they decided to join the
likes of Saturn.
And with that we get to our last dedicated
Canadian brand by one of the big three.
This one was actually had a lot of vehicles
(28:39):
and one of the most famous vehicles built
in Ingersoll, ontario, at the Cami plant, a
production facility built between Suzuki
and General Motors.
Like we originally talked about, that
original Sunrunner, sidekick and Trackers
came from that plant.
But in Canada we didn't get Gio as an entry
level product range for the General Motors
Corporation.
No, canada was given its own nameplate.
(28:59):
Get Gio as an entry-level product range for
the General Motors Corporation, no, canada
was given its own nameplate.
So Gio was the big brand for the American
marketplace.
In Canada we had a car company which had a
car I almost bought when I was in college,
the Asuna.
So instead of the Gio Tracker it was the
Asuna Tracker.
Yes, the Asuna Now tracker.
(29:24):
Yes, the asuna now asuna survived from
april 12th 1992 to july 1st.
So canada day, 1994 is when we said goodbye
to it.
Only two years yeah, two short years of
having asuna around.
They sold azuzu, daewoo and suzuki products
under the brand.
They didn't sell their own products.
So everything they had either came from
azuzu, daewewoo or Suzuki.
So it was all either Korean or Japanese or
Asian marketplace small entry-level
vehicles built to service the Canadian
(29:46):
marketplace.
They were created for the Pontiac Buick GMC
dealerships.
Now we get it.
Pontiac was starting to use their own tiny
little Suzuki Swifts which became the
Pontiac Fireflies.
But in Canada we didn't have the Fireflies.
No, we had the Asunas.
Chevrolet, oldsville and Cadillac
essentially had Geo nameplates, but in
Canada they didn't really have much of the
(30:08):
Geo name to go off of because Chevrolet was
utilizing some of those things.
We sold more Chevy Metros than we did Geo
Metros in this country.
Asuna was made for all those other dealer
units and it had some pretty amazing
vehicles.
The vehicle I was talking about, that I
almost bought, was actually an Isuzu
Impulse but it was the Asuna name.
It was the Asuna Sunfire, a little sports
(30:29):
coupe built for the Canadian marketplace.
Well, essentially built for the Japanese
marketplace but sold under a Canadian brand.
Here they also had the Sunrunner SUV, which
was chevy tracker, or suzuki sidekick, the
segt, which was either the sedan or hatch
which came off the daewoo lamont or the
former passport optima platform.
But eventually asuna gave way as geo became
(30:51):
a bigger nameplate.
All thanks to the very beginning of this
entire podcast.
Our talk about ned flanders and his little
geo homer comes after netty.
Netty, help me, dad, he's getting faster, I
can't.
It's a geo because of that saying on the
simpsons, which is so funny.
Even today, like today, when I was out and
(31:12):
I was coming home, I passed by one of those
old geo metros and that's the first thing
that came by to my head.
Well, actually the first thing that came by
my head is is that actually a geo?
And the second thing that came by to my
head, well, actually the first thing that
came by my head is is that actually a Geo?
And the second thing when I saw the Metro
written on the back, I'm like, oh my God,
it is.
Was Ned Flanders in that Simpsons episode.
I guess he didn't want to go to the pigeon
putt.
Oh well, I'll go by myself.
Yeah, so in a full circle we get back to
(31:33):
that original Simpsons episode, beginning.
Gio is the reason why the Asuna brand
disbanded in Canada.
Pontiac Buick GMC dealerships eventually
picked up Asuna products, but only with the
Pontiac Sunrunner and the Pontiac Firefly.
They took over for where Asuna originally
came in, that little Isuzu Impulse sports
(31:53):
car that I almost bought way back in
college.
That didn't exist.
Okay, that went to becoming a straight
Isuzu-only product for Canada, and Gio
became the entry-level economy nameplate
for the Canadian marketplace, only sold at
Chevrolet dealerships and eventually
falling in line with the Saturn, isuzu,
saab dealerships, giving them even more
(32:13):
market share as Chevrolet and Pontiac
picked up for what Asuna originally gave
the Canadian marketplace entry-level
economy cars that were fun, chic and were
just made to get you around, all built
off-platform from the Asian marketplace.
But back in those days we were allowed to
do that.
We didn't have to worry about so many damn
tariffs killing us.
So all in all we've had a lot of different
(32:34):
select brands.
Now some of them came to be from actual car
companies that eventually became sub-brands
and other ones were dedicated brands to
fill slots in product lineups for
dealerships.
Like we said, the Eagle car company was
essentially created so that the old
American motor dealerships that were now
only selling Jeep products would have
sedans to sell.
(32:54):
They knew they needed vehicles and if you
go back and listen to that podcast, eagle
had tons of vehicles at a point in time in
history and they were there for a reason,
but when Chrysler was starting to do good.
And right before the Daimler days,
everybody had forgotten about the American
Motor days and Chrysler started dissolving
either those dealerships or merging those
dealerships into becoming part of the
Chrysler Corporation.
(33:15):
So in the end, canada's had a lot of its
own dedicated brand.
It's been kind of cool and going back in
history finding out about Asuna, beaumont,
laurentian, acadian, monarch, meteor.
It's pretty cool that we actually had our
own dedicated brands for a country.
At the point in time they were selling
these only had just over 20 million people.
You've got to remember, at the turn of this
(33:35):
century, 25 years ago, canada had just
surpassed 30 million people.
Just last year we crossed 40 million.
In 20 years we managed to add 10 million
people and before that it took us nearly 40
years to add that much population.
We were a small country with a small
marketplace, but a growing marketplace.
We still needed all these divisions.
All these small towns had tons and tons of
people.
You've got to remember the Trans-Canada
(33:56):
Highway in Canada was not finished until
the mid-60s, so this country wasn't even
fully connected.
Until the 60s, around the whole time that
all of these divisions started coming out,
when all these towns became connected, our
country started demanding more vehicles.
More of these people started getting money
and were being able to purchase the first
vehicles they were ever able to get,
because delivery services were more
(34:17):
plausible to those small towns.
Yeah, that highway opened us all up and
maybe again, with now our country trying to
push through and become its own dedicated
nation and not have to worry about
depending on our neighbors to the south
anymore, maybe, just maybe, they'll finally
finish that highway across this great
country of Canada.
Until then, all these brands from the past
you never know Some of these brands might
(34:38):
come back because you got to think about it.
Gm still has ties in with Korean
marketplace.
They might bring some of the Korean
products over here and start selling it as
a brand new Asuna brand for the Canadian
marketplace, because we don't have tariffs
on stuff coming over from those
marketplaces.
Hell, european products coming in, you
never know.
Ford might utilize some of their old brand
names to bring some of those products back
(34:58):
here.
Remember the Merkur brand?
Yeah, come on.
They've had a lot of different divisions
over these years and Canada, although being
small in population but big in landmass,
wasn't like the rest of the world.
We weren't left out of the loop of having
our own dedicated brands.
We didn't have our own dedicated car
companies like Australia with Holden, but
we did have our own nameplates and for that
(35:20):
Canada has had its own part in the
automotive world.
Now, like I said in this podcast, if you
want a convertible Chevelle, come to Canada,
because they were never sold in the States
and only sold here under the Acadian
nameplate.
So if you like this podcast, please like,
share or comment about it on any major
social feeds or streaming sites that you
found the Autol podcast on.
Like, share, comment and send this podcast
(35:40):
out to all your friends, your families,
your well-wishers.
Tell them about it, ask them about some of
the cars that they've owned in the past.
Do they remember any of these dedicated
canadian brands, even if you didn't live in
the country?
Do you remember seeing any or hearing
anything about any of these?
Like we all remember the mercury meteor,
but did anybody ever actually see the
meteor logo anywhere else in the world?
It's pretty neat.
(36:01):
It actually had its own physical logo.
It had the GM passport.
Did anyone ever else see GM branded
vehicles?
And remember the EV1 wasn't the only GM
branded vehicle in history.
Gm actually did have vehicles built off
Opel and Honda platforms sold elsewhere in
the world.
If you really want to know something.
Toyota also had a Chevrolet Cavalier
(36:21):
branded as a Toyota product for Asian
marketplaces as well.
So you know the whole automotive
marketplace.
There's so many amazing stories within it
and this being Canada and my home country,
well, we just thought we'd spread a little
bit of our automotive ingenuity and our
specific brands that we've had from this
country to you, the world, the listeners of
the AutoLooks podcast, and after that, stop
by the website, read some of the reviews,
(36:42):
check out some of the ratings, go to the
Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all, car
companies from around the globe, all
available on the AutoLooks.net website.
The AutoLooks podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
Podbean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over to email@autoloos.net.
So for myself Everett Jay, the host, the
Ecomm entertainment group, podbean.com and
(37:03):
our host website at autolooks.net, strap
yourself in for this one fun wild ride that
AutoLooks and the Canadian brands are going
to take you on.
Thank you.
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