What are Twinned Vehicles
If you happen to read automotive publications, chances are that you will stumble onto the term: twinned vehicles. Alternate names may include corporate siblings or simply sister cars. Just what is meant by this? Do two different vehicles share common biological parents? Well, not literally. But figuratively, they do. It's just not a biological process that's going on here. It is rather a situation where two differing models will share the same chassis, engine, and virtually all mechanical parts, yet have different exterior and/or interior styling.
Ford Motor Company is especially known for this practice. Their Mercury division is exclusively comprised of twinned Ford models. The Mercury Sable; for instance, is built with the exact components of the Ford Taurus, but has a different body style and a slightly more appointed interior. As a result, this model will be priced a bit higher than its Taurus sibling.
Other examples within Ford's lineup; past and present, include the Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan, Ford Escort/ Mercury Tracer, Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz, and Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer. General Motors also has adopted this practice; not only with other domestic models, but also imported badges as well. For example, the Chevy Aveo and Suzuki Aerio are essentially the same cars with different nameplates. In the past, a car known first as the GEO Prizm and later the Chevy Prizm was actually a less-expensive Toyota Corolla! Two examples of exclusively domestic models that are actually twinned in the GM family are the Saturn Sky/Pontiac Solstice and the Chevy Malibu/Pontiac G6. In the past, General Motors was so oversaturated with models that there were even triplet vehicles! The Pontiac Grand Am, Buick Skylark, and Oldsmobile Achieva all had three distinct body styles, but were the same cars under the skin.
In other cases, automakers will pair with another manufacturer in a one-shot deal to share costs of production. The aforementioned Toyota/GEO (and later Chevy) is an example of such collaboration. In more recent times, Volkswagen has partnered with Chrysler to produce the Routan minivan. The result? A VW Routan is really a Chrysler Town and Country with a beefed-up German suspension and an upgraded interior! Such consolidation saves money and therefore increases profitability on the part of the automaker who borrows technology from a competitor. In this era of economic turndown, such odd pairings could possibly become more commonplace.
On the other hand, the American auto industry has begun a massive downsizing in an effort to survive this crisis. As a result, it's a safe bet to predict that corporate pairings under the same roof (such as the Ford/Mercury cloning) will soon become a thing of the past.
However, for the educated car shopper, it can be wise to become familiar with just which models are twinned with others. If styling and/or plusher interiors are not at the top of your list of must-haves, there is the potential to save thousands of dollars by selecting the less-expensive model of the two.
And in these times, saving money is a smart thing to do.
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