What Car Brand Would You Bring Back From The Dead? Autopian Asks

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Automotive history is littered with brands that didn’t make it. Some of these marques remain cherished today, which is why you’ve probably read so many articles about how Pontiac was kinda maybe but really not actually coming back. That’s still pretty sad and the Big Three remain shells of what they used to be. But if you were in charge of a company, what car brand would you bring back and why?

If you have no idea what I’m talking about in that lede, I’ll explain. The GMnternet, that’s the Internet for GM fans, lit ablaze when May/June’s issue of Car and Driver hit the shelves. At the end of the 104-page issue was a story involving an Alfa Romeo Milano. Past that is the magazine’s back cover, which would normally host some advertisement that you’re going to ignore.

This time, Car and Driver printed something on its back cover that nobody could ignore. Just take a gander at this:

Pontiac Back Page Ad Car And Dri
Car and Driver

Now, at the very bottom of the “ad” is fine print stating: “Do you need to be told that this advertisement is fake and not to be taken seriously? Our lawyers think you do.”

Despite that, the rumor mill went from 0 mph to 100 mph in an instant. People began dreaming about what a future Pontiac could be like. Eventually, GM pumped the brakes and confirmed that it had nothing to do with that back cover advertisement. Still, the ad may have been fake, but it showed that the enthusiasm is still out there.

Similar enthusiasm is out there for other brands. Sticking with General Motors here, I’d love to see Saturn brought back. Wait, hear me out.

Pictures Saturn S Series 1990 1
Saturn

Long before Saturn meant a European car with an American badge, the brand was ahead of the curve. Saturn got to play with experiments that would have been too spicy for stodgy Chevrolet or the other brands. The cars weren’t just Chevys with new badges, but their own designs that tried to solve real problems. Saturn was right there with the likes of CarMax with the so-called “no haggle” model that buyers loved, and Saturn dealers tried to build rapport with its customers rather than just sell them a car and kick them out of the door.

We got a glimpse into a possible future for Saturn when it was Saturn dealerships handling the leases for the GM EV1. But that future didn’t happen. Instead, the brand just withered on the vine, burning piles of cash. I’d like to think that GM’s electrification efforts from the Chevy Volt to the Ultium platform would have been perfect fits for Saturn.

Of course, I’m not a corporate executive or a business major, so I have no idea if making Saturn the techy brand could have saved it, but a woman can dream, right?

Here’s where I turn this to you, dear reader. If you were in charge, what brand would you bring back? While I have you here, why would you bring it back? Give me any answer, no matter how silly!

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181 thoughts on “What Car Brand Would You Bring Back From The Dead? Autopian Asks”

  1. You all do realize that at this point any zombie car brands back from the dead will be owned by the Chinese? See: MG, Volvo. SAAB is the next most likely to see such a resurrection. GM might resurrect a brand for it’s own purposes, but again, will be built in China (or largely Chinese). The only brand I’d like to see resurrected is an honest to goodness former American maker with the new ones being made in America, and at this point it’s going to be an EV, so how about Studebaker, Duesenberg, Packard? Or take your pick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States

    1. Hey. If I am going to fantasize about a modern Saab 9-3 hatchback that (somehow, magically) has a manual transmission and is an EV with 600 miles of range, I’m not concerning myself with details like country of origin.

    2. Saab turning into a craptacular brand resurrection to shill Chinese EVs is a top ten nightmare for me. Seriously, I shouldn’t care so much, but that would be downright depressing.

      1. Already done and gone. See NEVS.

        Rumor has it that SAAB Aerospace won’t let anyone else have the name for cars after that fiasco.

  3. I’ve mentioned this before…
    Saab as an independent brand again with just one car in coupe, convertible, and wagon form all as PHEV and EV only. Maybe a Macan-style crossover in the Swede style, Maybe… PHEV/EV.

    Pontiac and Olds, each with just 1 – 2 cars… Pontiac – a modern Fiero and a modern GTO convertible. Maybe the Solstice. All low volume but fun, sports cars. Olds: An Aurora updated and a 442 Crossover because I have to acknowledge reality. I’d collapse GMC and Chevy Trucks–either have one or the other but not both. Move the Denali line under Chevy, IMO. Keep the Suburban nameplate. Then BRING BACK THE GMC CAMPER BABY!!!

    1. …and a 442 Crossover because I have to acknowledge reality.

      • 4 wheel drive
      • 4 tons
      • 2 4K touchscreens per passenger seat

      The 442 Crossover. Coming fall 2026.

      How’s this for your youngmobile, beyotch‽

  4. How about just real model names in general? The whole part number thing has run its course now that the numbers don’t mean anything anymore. The big brands have some great heritage to mine. I am glad to see an about-face with Lincoln and the Integra name coming back is great, but I’d like to see more. Looking at you, Kia, with the whole “EV#” thing. Pretty lame.

    1. I used to think the same thing, but Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Hyundai, Toyota, Honda, VW, Nissan, and Subaru all still have real model names for most of their lineup. Sure, there are some exceptions like the Toyota bZ4X (that’s the correct capitalization, btw) or the F-series trucks, but overall real model names are still very strong in the market.

  5. Saturn’s demise did sting. My family had a ‘95 SL1 that I learned to drive on and I later bought a ‘95 SL2 with a manual I drive for many years. The ‘95 sedan is the best in my opinion, having the 1st gen styling with the second gen interior. Now, I wouldn’t kick a ‘97 coupe out of my garage, but yeah.. The original non-Opel models were excellent cars and those polymer panels took some real abuse!

  6. Desoto. Chrysler is wallowing so either replace the luxury lineup for Stellantis in the states with Desoto or do the Mercedes Maybach thing where Desoto represents an uber luxury lineup of Chrysler vehicles. Of course, this would require actually building some Chryslers….

    2. I really want Mazda to bring back Mazdaspeed. Though it’s becoming clear that them ditching it was the a telltale of the direction they were heading in general.

    2. OK let’s do this.

      * merge RAM back into dodge
      * kill off Chrysler
      * merge DS back into Citroen and reserve the brand 100% for badass quirky designs
      * retire Alfa with option to bring it back for special occasions
      * kill off Maserati
      * kill off every British brand except Rolls and Bentley
      * kill off Audi
      * merge Dacia into VW

      Bring back Autobianchi for EV-only city cars. Bring back Simca and give it all the offroady and SUV type vehicles from Peugeot and Citroen.

  9. Pontiac. Just as they were starting to make interesting things, they were killed. Meanwhile Buick, which produces utter dogshit, was left to live because Chinese people don’t realize they make dogshit.

    The G8, the Utes, etc… all cool, and would be a perfect competitor to Dodge.

  12. #1: Saab – This is the one true correct answer. My dream as a teenager was to buy 9-5 wagon new (weird kid). GM took that dream away from me (never forgive, never forget). Saab, I miss you. To be clear, I do not want Saab back as some sort of Chinese zombie brand bullshit.

    #2: Saturn – In the northeast, there are somehow many pristine bodied Saturns rolling around looking like they’re damn near new. I would pledge allegiance to Saturn for my economy car needs.

    #3: Suzuki (they’re dead in my American world at least) – My SX4 was an excellent car. And I would 100% buy a Swift or a Jimny if they were available here.

      1. Probably should have put some extra emphasis on “body”.

        Yeah, I would bet a lot of those 90’s Saturns are about to snap in half. But it’s 2024 and somehow a lot of them haven’t yet! That’s good enough for me.

        1. Same by me (mid-atlantic). I’m always surprised at how many I see on the roads still. In my mind, I immediately contrast them with the Neons, and how completely uncommon those are now.

          1. When I see a Neon around here, you’d think I just laid my eyes on an Aston Martin DB5. Complete shock, surprise, and oddly enough, excitement. Especially if it’s a coupe. And even more so if it’s green.

            I see similar vintage Saturns around here weekly.

            1. In the late ’90s, I worked SO HARD to convince my then-girlfriend to order hers in nitro yellow-green. But no, she had to get black b/c mature. Sigh.

              1. I’ve been promoting purchasing cars in actual colors for ages. I almost always lose and the person who is in car buying mode buys it in greyscale. And it makes me sad.

  13. I don’t really understand what the point of that ad was. If it was supposed to be a joke, it wasn’t very funny, or maybe I just don’t get it.

    I’d bring back Holden. We need that Australian hoonage spirit again.
    Can we do Yugo as a (really, really) cheap electric car?

    1. The irony of the ad is that it was published in a dying zombie publication such as Car and Driver.

      Do not get me wrong, I am a big fan of Car and Driver (especially Ezra Dyer) but their business model (great stories, shootouts, comparisons) just does not make sense with today’s auto media landscape of blogs and video (youtube/tiktok).

      It is a damn shame but the times have changed for them much like it did for these dead auto brands we reminisce about with rose color glasses.

  14. Plymouth.

    Chrysler would be luxury.

    Dodge would be balls out performance.

    Plymouth would be the economy brand with BEV and hybrids.

    1. The problem with this is that Chrysler and Dodge are both already low on models. If you take the Pacifica away, Chrysler will have nothing left. If Dodge kept just the Charger and Challenger, the only models they could spare would be the Durango and Hornet.

      Splitting 5 models between 3 brands doesn’t seem like an effective strategy. Even if you just shifted new models to this revived Plymouth brand, Dodge & Chrysler would still have pretty slim offerings.

      1. Do we need both the Charger and the Challenger? They’re both big obnoxious American muscle and except for the number of doors I can’t think of a reason for both to exist.

        1. That’s a fair question. I’m not arguing that all of these models are needed, just that they’re too few to justify splitting into yet another brand. Of course, consolidating the muscle cars together would only make this problem worse…

    1. Tangentially, I’d love it if Ford Performance became Ford Special Vehicle Operations again. That’s my favorite name for that group.

    2. In before the “What SRT? All I see are Dodge’s” comments come out, like they do for any post 2009 Ram comments.
      I’m in full support of this though! It just makes more sense to have the high-performance vehicles under the high-performance moniker.

  16. Mercury, but only as a special trim line within Ford.

    The Mercury edition of a given Ford model would come with the uplevel luxury stuff that’s currently (and confusingly) contained in “Platinum”, “Titanium” and (for all I know) “Iridium” trims levels. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to rank them against each other, so having a single “Mercury” edition across the lineup would both simplify and be a nice nod to the past.

    3. FoMoCo has been sitting on Mercury being the performance brand or at least performance trim name for way longer than it should have. It’s right there.

  17. The weird 2 year brand that was Asuna in Canada. They ended up changing them over to Geo I believe.

    The people behind me growing up had an Asuna Sunrunner (Sidekick). The main difference was a way cooler looking tire cover. Don’t ask me to describe what made it cooler, I just liked it more as a teen.

  18. Saturn, but not the company that went out of business. The Saturn of the 1990s that shook up the car industry and made good cars that people wanted. Between the UAW insisting on a standard contract and GMs ham fisted management, that company probably never stood a chance in the long run. I think Saturn actually died in 2003 when they went to the standard UAW contract.

    1. I’d argue Saturn started dying in MY2000, when the L-series was unveiled. Standard Cavalier drive train, standard crummy Cavalier gas mileage, and and less reliability than the S-series. “An (un) different kind of car, from a (formerly) different kind of car company.”

      Turns out that plastic-clad Cavaliers with no notable innovations don’t fly off the dealer lots.

      Then the S-series died in MY2002. So by 2003 there wasn’t much left for the UAW contract to kill.

      2. There was always much intramural competition for capital in GM and by the late 90s as the General was slouching toward bankruptcy Saturn (and Saab for the most part) was only allowed to order from the corporate powertrain menu.

  19. Dino. I like Ferrari styling but they are far too expensive. Also, I’m a right lane driver who rarely exceeds the speed limit (I think James May drives like a maniac), so I don’t need Ferrari capabilities. Given this, a Ferrari Jr. with exotic Italian styling and base-model Porsche Cayman performance (and price tag) sounds very appealing. Bring back Dino with a modern version of the 246.

      1. Not in 2024. The 4C fits that description, but that has been dead for several years. Alfa doesn’t even sell a sports car at this point. Their current lineup includes two SUVs and a 4 door sedan. I’m not interested in a sports sedan, but if I were, there are several I would pick over the Giulia. Plus, “Giulia” is a dumb name for a car.

  22. Eagle.
    Make it a subdivision of Jeep like Lamborghini is to Audi, and you can have the off-road SUV brand and then sell anything else that isn’t an SUV as an Eagle. You wouldn’t “hurt the image” of Jeep while also competing with Subaru more directly with Crosstrek and/or Forester like models.

    1. This is fascinating and worthy of discussion!

      It sure seems to me that Jeep is on the verge of/actively diluting its brand equity, so an Eagle subbrand would be a nice way to avoid that by putting the aspirational vehicles there and have Jeep be just the best, most iconic stuff.

      I can see the “capability by jeep” badging now.

      1. To be honest, I only thought of it because I liked the idea of a new Talon and some sort of WRX competitor…. but yeah, it’d help keep the name alive and healthy!

  24. Not to beat a dead horse: Saturn.

    No haggle pricing is the way to go.

    Plastic body panels are the way to go.

    As for changes I’d make to the brand I’d have them be BEV only (to ensure the no haggle pricing), with molded in color panels, and build the cars so there is no “exposed” paint, that way you can paint all the cars the same color and during final assembly the plastic body panels in the color of your choice (if custom ordered) will be added.

    With basically every panel being plastic they’d survive tons of abuse, in a hailstorm you’d only need to replace the broken glass, as the body would be damage free.

    1. Saturn would absolutely become tiktok famous.

      While we love ’em, they were originally the perfect car for people who don’t care about cars. That’s probably even more of the population these days, and many of those people would love a fair deal on a low maintenance ride. And they’d be all over social media not shutting up about it.

      1. Well you’re welcome to shop elsewhere, where they’ll most likely hold your order for ransom, and or sell it to someone else for a massive markup, and they’ll face no repercussions for doing so.

      2. None of the refinement? Never been my experience. Complex engineering? Eh…maybe. Saabs made me smile because (in the ones I drove, 9-3, 9-3 aero, 9-5) the fit and finish was good, but not flashy. Comfortable, but not cushy. And they have a personality, without having to try. First car I drove that was a turbo too, and I think about it every time I drive my current A4.

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