These Are The Worst Automotive Rebrands Of All Time

“Infiniti was on a downward spiral and Cadillac was struggling anyway but, Anything the infamous Johan de Nysschen touched:

“*Rename existing lineup to confusing alphanumeric, preferably starting with Q

“*Move HQ to NYC to reinvent brand as a lifestyle and fashion-inspired company

“*Collect fat check, rinse and repeat.”

If it happened once, it can happen again.

Suggested by: kngt

“I still don’t know what this is. Is it K I A all weird? Is it KN? Is it KV with a tail? what is this, wrong answers only.”

The new Kia logo is actually an automotive Rorschach test.

Suggested by: darthspartan117

“Remember Tesla? It was a brand that offered cutting edge, high performance cars that cost little to run and would possibly help save the environment. Then it became the go-to car for incels, racists and people that just seem to hate everyone that doesn’t look and think just like them.”

And it didn’t even require a million dollar check to a consultancy firm.

Suggested by: floridaman2020

“I would say the painful death and rebrand of the Mitsubishi Eclipse from an awesome 2dr icon to a crossover blob. RIP”

Is it a rebrand or is it a relaunch? Either way, it’s a waste of a good name.

Suggested by: -d-morgan33

“Implementing the Ram sub-brand. Most folks still call ‘em Dodge Ram trucks.”

I genuinely didn’t realize they weren’t Dodge Ram trucks anymore until I started working here.

Suggested by: jimmyzzzzzzz

“Any company that changes their logo from a long standing traditional one, that is usually a symbol or coat of arms, and replacing it simply with the brand name in a stylized font.

“Here’s Dodge for example. In the late 50s / early 60s they had a stylized pair of arrows to denote speed and forward motion.

“Now, it’s simply a name.”

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Suggested by: knyte

“1. Rebranding Mustang to basically be anything, including a blob of an EV CUV

“2. Lexus predator grille

“3. BMW rebranding to a company that makes ugly cars and replying OK Boomer to anyone who calls them out on their terrible design choices.”

OK, Boomer.

Suggested by: give-me-a-manuel-alpha-romero-you-cowards

“The disappearance of the ducks from the Cadillac logo. We used to be a proper country.”

Justice for the ducks.

Suggested by: FistFullofNeutral

“My vote is for Rover rebranding themselves as Sterling in the U.S. after being away from the U.S. market for over a decade. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.

“To add to the massive fail, the Rover 825 was a Honda (or what we in the U.S. knew as the Acura Legend) but built to the standards of the UK Auto industry in the ‘80s. Yeah, it was that bad.”

New name, who dis?

Suggested by: earthbound-misfit-i

“GM just lazily transitioning Saturn from a unique platform with it’s own engines to just rebadged Opel/Vauxhalls. Saturn used to be pretty independent and set itself apart from the rest of the GM lineup. In the 2000s they just decided Saturn should be a vessel to bring over European GM products instead.”

Those pesky Europeans always find a way to sneak in.

Suggested by: klone121

“Chrysler.

“The move from the familiar logo to an uglier version of the Bentley logo…yeah, it’s a historical logo, but it was part of the whole attempt to rebrand Chrysler as a premium brand. It has failed about as resoundingly as anyone could have imagined. Who would have thought that if you were positioning ‘premium’ that the cars actually had to be ‘premium?’ And now the company is probably better to just disappear.”

“An uglier version of the Bentley logo” is an interesting way to describe it.

Suggested by: dolsh

“Pontiac LeMans ftw”

Sure, it’s another redesign of an old model, but what an awful redesign of an old model it was.

Suggested by: michaeljordanshitlermustache

“Citroën as a Dacia-level budget brand. I get that the cheapness of the 2CV is core to Citroën DNA and that DS is the ‘luxe’ brand now, but to forcefully remove the DS and SM from Citroën history and call them ‘DS’s while the modern Citroën lineup looks like this....well, it kind of hurts.”

Honestly, we just don’t talk about Citroën over here.

Suggested by: amoore100

“When I first joined, Jalopnik had a Chrome badge that displayed elegance, class, and a bright future. Soon after it changed to a more modern, race and perhaps safety inspired orange font, those were the best and boldest years. Attention grabbing, pushing the envelope of journalism and an, perhaps like a log in a fire place, the logo’s color was meant to invoke inviting and warmth, welcome to all, and let’s share some stories by the old fireplace.

“Now, Jalopnik has a very bland green logo, which could indicate their lust for money, and secret agenda towards pushing ‘green’ electric SUVs toward the ICE loving crowd that their fan base was built upon. The only hint of freedom is the suggestion of an open road in the letter ‘a,’ but there being no hole in the ‘o’ insinuations that there is actually no way out, or around this future.

“Wait, what site it this? Oh, this is Jalopnik... then I change my answer to Chevy changing the bow tie’s color. Even though I prefer the gold one on my Camaro’s nose, because of history, I guess.”

Having a chrome logo in this day and age would be ridiculous. I mean, yeah what’s up with that Chevrolet logo?

Suggested by: rocknroll-jeph