Here Are Your Favorite Automotive Collaborations

Special things happen when two companies get together and collaborate on a vehicle. One of my personal favorites is the Ford/Yamaha relationship with the Taurus SHO. Beginning in 1989 and ending in 1999, the two companies worked together on three generations of Ford's hot-rod family sedan, spanning three different engines. The original and excellent 3.0-liter V6 will always be best.

We asked readers what they thought were the best automotive collaborations were. Here are their answers.

Diamond-Star Motors, the joint Chrysler/Mitsubishi plant that gave us the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, and Plymouth Laser.

Suggested by: 4Motion

GM owned a stake in Fuji Heavy Industries (then the name of Subaru's parent corporation) at the time.

The 9-2X was a Subaru WRX with some interior upgrades. Funnily enough, it qualified for GM's generous employee pricing and rebates at the time, so you could often get the 9-2X for less than its Subaru equivalent. And it was nicer, too!

There were other collaborations between GM and Saab. GM sold the Forester in India as the Chevrolet Forester.

There was also a stillborn crossover, the 9-6X. The 9-6X was supposed to be a Saab version of the Subaru B9 Tribeca, but was canceled at the eleventh hour, when GM sold its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries. Funnily enough, after the B9 Tribeca flopped (largely due to its controversial front end), Subaru used some of the 9-6X tooling to facelift it and rename it the Tribeca.

It took GM another four or five years to release an actual Saab midsize crossover, the 9-4X...which was a sister to the second-generation "Theta-Premium-platform" Cadillac SRX. But by that time, GM had sold Saab and was building Saabs under contract. Of course, fewer than 1,000 units of the 9-4X were built before Saab defaulted on its contract with GM, was no longer able to procure cars, and went under. Had the midsize Saab crossover come out a little sooner, the brand might have been saved. Probably not, but perhaps.

Suggested by: Kyree S. Williams

Also, as long as people are mentioning collaborations with Lotus, let's not forget one of their greatest works: The C4 ZR-1 Corvette.

Suggested by:JEM

Personally I'm a fan of the McLaren-BMW collaboration that produced the greatest sports car of the 20th century – the McLaren F1.

In addition to the mouth-watering design and technical specs of the car, perhaps its' most astounding achievement was winning the 1995 24h of Le Mans outright. This is notable because the F1 was primarily designed to be a road car and was not a purpose-built endurance racer.

Suggested by: Stephen

The 2000 Opel Speedster/Vauxhall 220 based on a Lotus Elise chassis.

It was a bit heavier than an Elise, the 2.2l NA made 147hp with only 1929lb and was already quick but with the 2.0l turbo 220hp it was a blast , 0 to 62mph in 4.7sec !

Suggested by: Ben Lowrider

As most people know, both MINI and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW Group. And Goodwood is the site where Rolls-Royce is headquartered and where all its models have been assembled since BMW officially took the brand over in 2003 and divorced it from Bentley/Crewe.

The Cooper S Inspired by Goodwood was essentially a standard Cooper S that had been given Rolls-Royce interior details, including leather all over everything, a Rolls-Royce-like headliner, and even Rolls-Royce instrument cluster typography. Rolls-Royce also did the color and wood trim designs.

Oh, and it cost $50,000, or thereabouts.

I love it because was pointless and self-indulgent.

Suggested by: Kyree S. Williams

J35A3Easy. Saturn VUE Redline. Powered by the Honda V6 and I believe their transmission too. Would love to find a lightly used one but most have been ragged out.

Suggested by: Hooker

A lofty, and potentially awesome, idea...poorly executed. Not that the Allante was a bad car (it certainly wasn't 'great'), but the whole 'coach built' thing was just a bit silly the way they did it. It didn't result in great 'handbuilt quality', nor did the involvement of Pininfarina result in a truly beautiful car, though it was pretty in a rather crisp way. If it had had the Northstar from the beginning, it would have been hailed as truly great.

Suggested by: Osmodious

No love for the Aston Martin Cygnet? Is it too ugly for anyone to love, or is it just too obviously badge engineering.

Suggested by: Arolpin

Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix resulted in an excellent vehicle in both trims.

Suggested by: JayFra