The first wave
07/30/2023
A plague of SUVs threatening to wipe out the ordinary passenger car is not a new phenomenon. As long as 30 years ago, the demand for SUVs made suitable for the boulevard rose so rapidly that some manufacturers only knew how to help themselves with hastily re-labeled models from other brands in order not to fall completely behind in the eyes of buyers.
In Europe, for example, we were presented with the Opel Monterey, which seemed so un-opulent to us mainly because it was a second-generation Isuzu Trooper in disguise. The Americans, who knew little about the German GM offshoot, were served it as an Acura SLX from Honda's luxury brand. The Australians were delighted with their Holden Jackaroo.
At that time, the comfort crawlers were still the domain of the US manufacturers. Apart from Isuzu, hardly any Japanese brand had its own SUVs in its range. In order to be able to offer something "local" in the domestic market, Honda concluded an agreement with Land Rover and marketed the Discovery in Japan as the Honda Crossroad. The Mazda Navajo was actually a Ford Explorer.
At least the luxury manufacturers stayed out of it back then, some may object now in view of the Bentayga, Cullinan and Cayenne - and they would be wrong. In the mid-1990s, the Bentley Dominator was built in Crewe, of which all six examples built were delivered to the Sultan of Brunei - at a price of 18 million pounds. That doesn't make the Bentayga any prettier, but it is still a nice contribution to the popular "Been there, done that" category.
