Toyota Matrix (CDN) equals Pontiac Vibe (US)

I was watching our Canadian GlobalTV's Driving - Road Tests of new sub-compacts and compacts under $18,000 this Sunday and they mentioned that the Matrix is a Toyoto brand in Canada, and co-op deal with Pontiac as a Pontiac Vibe. They are the same and are supposedly a Cross Over Vehicle.

It caught my eye, because I grew up in a GM town, when the Canada-US Autopact legislation was passed (1965). That was supposed to ensure that models would be identical in both countries. Somebody got creative to get around that one.

 

So endeth the question. Thanks.

 

Car companies have been doing that for decades. Rebadging cars differently for export.

The late 1980s Canadian Pontiac Tempest was sold here in the States as the Chevrolet Corsica.

The Dodge Magnum is sold overseas as a Chrysler 300 wagon.

And we'd all like to forget the Toyota Corolla that was also a 1986 Chevy Nova. Ugh.

 

I knew that, but I thought that the American Big Three were constrained under the Auto-Pact (1965 legislation) to sell US models in Canada, under the same name. We never saw a Canadian Pontiac Bonneville until 1967 after that law was passed. And ours never got the wide rear-end axle like the Bonneville either, even after the law. It really was a carrot for the public to accept some features (Catalytic Converters, Air-pumps) and be swooned by our politicians that it was all benefit and no loss.

At the end of the day, there never was enforcement anyway, and we got the ugly, not the good and bad. We built the Hemis here for both markets and Chrysler made the same cars for all markets here. Ford did. GM didn't.