Isuzu Gemini
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The Isuzu Gemini was a compact car built by Isuzu and sold from 1974 through 2000. It was never marketed under that name in the United States, but was sold under many other names.
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[edit] 1974
The first Gemini was the 1974 Bellett Gemini. It was based on the third-generation Opel Kadett on the General Motors T-car platform and came in four-door sedan and two-door coupe body styles. The Gemini was Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 1975.
The coupe was replaced in 1981 by the derivative Isuzu Piazza, which was introduced in the United States in 1983 as the Isuzu Impulse.
Sold as:
- 1975-1984 Holden Gemini - Australia
- 1982-1984 Holden Gemini - New Zealand
- 1975 Opel Gemini - Malaysia, Thailand
- 1975 Opel Isuzu/Buick Opel - United States
- 1981-1984 Isuzu I-Mark
- 1981-1990 Isuzu Piazza
- 1983-1989 Isuzu Impulse
[edit] 1985
General Motors sought a replacement for their world car T-body Kadett / Gemini, and this time, instead of building one design on several continents, they decided to build a world car in one location and export it to several continents. As T-body manufacturing had been turned over to Isuzu in Japan for economic reasons, so would the manufacturing of the replacement. In 1984, Isuzu again commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro who was responsible for the 117 Coupe and the Piazza. This time, he was to design an economy car on the new front-wheel drive R-body platform. The R-body featured a MacPherson strut front suspension and beam axle rear suspension, which foreshadowed most of GM's offerings through their current model lineup. Giugiaro's design followed the Piazza design very closely in shape and detail, though the proportions made the Gemini appear shorter and taller in its three door version, and a four door sedan (notch back) was also designed.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, Isuzu presented the designs to GM prior to freezing the design, and GM ordered a number of detail changes to the design without ever consulting the designer, Giugiaro, which was taken as an insult, and ended the long relationship between the noted Italian designer and Japan's oldest car builder. The insult was serious enough to Giugiaro that he denied the car was his design until a decade after the vehicle went out of production.
The R-body Gemini was introduced in 1985. In Japan, the vehicle was available with a 1.5 liter SOHC engine, 1.5 liter turbocharged engine, and 1.7 liter diesel engine. A 1.6 liter DOHC engine was introduced in late 1987. Trim levels were widely varied, from basic models to Irmscher and Lotus Tuned versions, and plenty of optional equipment and dealer options were available.
In the US, the vehicle was available from Chevrolet (and later Geo) as the Spectrum, or from Isuzu themselves, as the I-Mark. For GM, this was an entry level vehicle to attract young buyers and to compete with the flood of Japanese compact cars flooding the US market. This was the birth of rebadging, whereby GM buys cars overseas, puts their badges on the grill and tailgate, and presents the vehicle as if it were a domestically produced vehicle, leading many to believe that the Spectrum was actually built by Chevrolet. Meanwhile, Isuzu was held to strict import and sales quotas for their own products, and prohibited from advertising their own badged version of this vehicle in any market that they might compete with the GM badged product. The Spectrum lacked many of the options and equipment of the I-Mark, though both were available with the 1.5 liter SOHC non-turbo and turbo engines, but no diesel engines were offered in the US. The turbo model I-Mark was called the RS model in 1988 and then changed to the LS model in 1989. The I-Mark was available with the 1.6 liter DOHC engine in 1989 only, as the RS model. In 1988 and 1989, the LS and RS models were offered with Lotus Tuned Suspension, the sportier suspension featuring more rigid dampers, alternate spring rates, and bigger sway bars.
Sold as:
- 1985-1989 Isuzu I-Mark - United States
- 1985-1989 Isuzu Gemini - Japan
- 1985-1988 Chevrolet Spectrum - United States & Canada
- 1989 Geo Spectrum - United States
- 1985-1989 Pontiac Sunburst - Canada
- 1985-1989 Holden Gemini - Australia
- 1985-1989 Chevrolet Gemini - Chile
[edit] 1990
A new Gemini arrived for 1990. The coupe version was now called the Gemini Coupe, and its last model was produced in 1993. The Isuzu Gemini Coupe was the basis for the Isuzu Impulse and Geo Storm in the US and Canada, and for a 1993-only model in Canada - the Asüna Sunfire. A 4-door sedan with similar mechanical components was sold as the Isuzu Stylus in the United States and Canada. The Geo versions lacked some of the more expensive and advanced features of the Isuzu (and Asüna) versions.
[edit] 1994
Isuzu halted production of the Gemini and replaced it with a rebadged version of the Honda Domani.
[edit] 1997
The next-generation Gemini replacement was a rebadged Honda Civic sedan. Production of this model ended in 2000.
[edit] Safety
In Australia, the 1982-1984 Holden Gemini was assessed in the Used Car Safety Ratings 2006 as providing "significantly worse than average" protection for its occupants in the event of a crash.[1]
