A Chevrolet… Cutlass… Eurosport? What? Why, that looks like just an Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera with some ground effects!
Well, that’s what it was. The Eurosport wasn’t quite a Chevrolet. It still wore Oldsmobile badges and advertising material avoided labelling it as a Chevrolet. But much of that advertising material was conspicuously emblazoned with Chevrolet logos as Chevrolet was the only GM brand officially sold in Mexico from the 1960s until the early 1990s. The Eurosport was sold in showrooms alongside real Chevrolets like the Cavalier and Cheyenne pickup.
Apparently this odd branding exercise was because of some arcane taxation law in Mexico, which also led to Mercury Grand Marquis models being sold as Fords (and for a while, decorated with both Ford and Mercury badges). If any of our Mexican Curbsiders can shed some more light on this, it would be much appreciated. ¡Muchas gracias!
I had to chuckle at this rather charming 1994 television commercial for the Eurosport. James Bond would never drive an Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, and neither would Santiago Enlace or whatever a Mexican James Bond would be called. Still, it’s a fun little ad.
In the late 1980s, the Mexican car market didn’t have many exciting vehicles to offer; the spiciest offerings were cars like the Dodge Magnum. But by 1994, with the Mexican government finally removing tariffs and barriers to entry for foreign automakers, the Eurosport was quickly finding itself with more and more competition. When it had first launched, there were only five automakers in Mexico and most of the Eurosport’s rivals were, well, other A-Bodies (the Chevrolet Celebrity and Buick Century).
The Eurosport enjoyed moderate popularity because of its – I hesitate to say ‘sporty’, so let’s just say ‘sportier’ – styling. The standard engine was the fuel-injected Chevrolet 2.8 V6, later replaced with the 3.1 V6. All Eurosports came with bucket seats and console as well as the aforementioned ground effects.
During my travels in Mexico, it seemed like almost half of the GM A-Bodies I saw were Eurosport sedans. And while it seems like “sporty” and “Cutlass Ciera” go together like oysters and waffles, it’s worth recalling how the front-wheel-drive A-Body (and related X-Body) could be moderately entertaining if a little rough around the edges. The “Chevrolet” Cutlass Eurosport was really just a successor to the Chevrolet Citation X-11, after all. And if you lived in a market with only 5 automakers, no Mustangs, no Porsches and no BMWs, a V6 GM A-Body is a little more appealing.
Eurosports photographed in Mexico City, Mexico.
Related Reading:
CC Capsule: Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera – Official Car Of The Chelsea Projects
Cohort Capsule: 1985 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport Wagon – A Lesson In Popularity
Curbside Classic: 1989-96 Buick Century & Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera – Sheer Frustration
I had no idea such a thing existed down south. After growing up with four product lines of A-body, this just seems bizarre. But its interesting how drastically things like badging can change country to country. I suspect GM may have had a lot of cladding in stock in the parts bin as well. They may have needed a way to unload.
God help us.
It looks like someone put an assortment of A-body parts in a dark room and through production line workers in there to assemble it against their will.
+1
I actually like it, the ground effects fill out the lower body area which look clunky on the US equivelants and probably obscure the A-body’s low hanging beam axle from the rear view nicely.
It’s a parallel universe down there….
Reminds me of the export-only Chevrolet Alero.
(I sure wouldn’t want to be in traffic with cars running tires as bald as the one shown in the 2nd picture of the Mexican car)
There was also this little number for the Mexican market.. a Chevrolet Century SS…tried to post a picture but looks like it didn’t work.
Another one of the parallel universe cars that I saw as a college student in southern New Mexico in the mid 90s. There were so many of them, it was fun to spot them on the road and “be in the know” of what weird bastardizations they were from the US cars.
Why was this sold as a Chevrolet Oldsmobile Cutlass? What was this obscure law?
Here in Canada we had Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera sedans (used to see quite a few around Burnaby).
That said… I did see only one of these, parked in Vancouver center, had some numberplate saying BAJA CALIFORNIA on it… didn’t manage to get a photo but it was surprising enough to see one!
No Mustangs in Mexico? Might want to double check that.
The early Fox Mustangs south of the border were the most interesting. The Hatchbacks used Mustang fascia on Capri bodies and the Notchbacks used Mustang bodies with Capri fascia.
And the hatchback.
I actually photographed a bunch of Mustangs in Mexico and used them in this article:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1979-1982-ford-mustang-a-clean-break/
My point was that by the time the Chevrolet Eurosport came out, there were no Mustangs or BMWs available for sale new. The Mustang was discontinued in Mexico around earlier in the 1980s – from memory, around 1984?
I guess it’s the same as Chrysler selling the Voyager as Chrysler Voyager (which, according to Wikipedia is/was Mexico’s luxury minivan, rather than a budget/non-existent Plymouth) or in Canada, Chrysler selling the Dynasty as a Chrysler rather than a Dodge as what apparently happened during that time. It’s the parent company that has the final say and is ultimately culpable I suppose (Audi TDI?); and since GM markets its products in Mexico, then why not a GM Cutlass (Ciera) Eurosport which is what I got out of the provided YouTube video. Still an oddity though much like the M body Dodge Magnum which is clearly a black-eyed “Diplomat” to people in North America other than, at least, Mexico.
At the very minimum, the owners manuals (which has all the legalese) the parent company is always mentioned (at least in my experience, anyway).
Very interesting indeed.
This was only before NAFTA came into place, before 1994 ALL cars had to be built in Mexico (how ironic is that?), prices were high and people were used to pay the same money you paid for a E class and get a Ford Taurus during those years, that enviroment led to a lot of badge engineering and marketing, where many cars were either rebranded or marketed as a higher spec equivalent.
SO, it was just easier to rebadge, instead of intruducing a brand that was already familiar to begin with to mexicans, sure, you could buy a Cadilllac in a Chevrolet dealership but that didnt mean you had the same treatment if you purchase a Deville to the ones that got a Cavalier.
I remember how “enthusiast” were the Ford dealership nearby my grandmother town, every new car that was introduced included a visit from the Ford Zamora (which was 1 hour drive) showing the brand new Grand Marquis, or the Town Car or whatever, and when they sold you one, they surely made sure you felt special, I still have some memorabillia from them which included tapes and letters that were very formal.
The owner manual for instance, for the FORD Grand Marquis I inherited from my grandma, was all in spanish and included a cassette to show you all the goodies, included with some music to test your JBL/10 CD Changer system if equipped (mine was).
So keep in mind, the vast majority was assembled in Mexico, so their marketing was more polished than you are implying.
I used to watch some of the Telenovelas [a challenge to my Davenport IA High School Spanish ] on Univision and happened upon a movie where a guy had purchased a new Olds Ciera. It was the main plot anchor in the movie.
From what I remember, the car caused the guy a lot of grief with family and friends either because of his obsession with it or he’d purchased something way above his lot in society.
I wish I could remember the name of it.
Saw another movie on that channel that was a scream: “Santo Y La Hija De Frankenstein”. [ Santo and The Daughter Of Frankenstein ].
I’ve seen a lot of unusual cars from familiar makes coming up from Mexico here in Tucson.
I am delighted about all these articles from Mexico City, I always wanted to write myself but I feel my english is not up to it. But, I don´t enjoy the comments that much without getting my nationalism hurt, some of the comments actually show how much USA ignores foreign markets…
Anyhow… Coming back to this, my dad had a 1989 Cutlass Eurosport, manual, without the trunk spoiler and the tailights without louvers, the grounds effects were smaller and most of them were two tone with the exception of the Formula ES that was monochromatic, specially the white ones that had body colored rims. I remember it had a sticker in the back with the year and believe it or not, the heartbeat logo too, ( by the way we only had FWD Oldsmobiles during this era, by the means of the 88, the Silhouette and the Cutlass with or without the Eurosport treatment).
The only difference between the regular grammy car, was the bucket seats, ground effects and spoiler, sporty rims, stiffer ride, the trip computer and the full intrumentation package, and during early years, a manual transmission with the 3.1 V6. They had a somewhat open exhaust because I remember very vividly that this car was LOUD comparing to the Taurus/Sable my mom used to drive back then.
They proved to be somewhat reliable, unlike the Ford Ghia ( Topaz) or the Ford Topaz (Tempo) we also had.
They were bland to drive too, all the sporty was only the looks, this car was not fast or handled very well, but that was the norm back then, the sunroof was big if equipped, good but a forgettable car.
Our marketing I think was very comparable to Canada, when the big three were masters of rebadging cars from different brands. My first car was a 1992 Ford Grand Marquis ( no Crown Victoria, since this full sizer was aimed to luxury niche), the wheelcaps, grille, quarter panel and tailight had the Mercury logo, but the airbags, trunk lid, and the fan shroud had Ford in it.
And by the way, the Mustang was present since the beggining, my grandmother had a 63 1/2 blue mustang, all the way thru the Mustang II, coming back with again mixmatch of front end clips and tailgate combinations from the Capri, was ONLY absent during the late 80´s until 1995 when they brought it back with the SN Mustang (have all the brochures from the 1995 Mexican Ford lineup)
Greetings from Guadalajara, Jalisco!
Bienvenido, Daniel!
I was hoping someone actually from Mexico would comment on this article. I imagine you’ve seen the other articles I’ve written recently about Mexican market models, like my Mexican Mopars series. I went late last year and very much enjoyed my visit to your country, even if I was too shy to really use it as an opportunity to practice my Spanish.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I enjoyed reading it 🙂
“Apparently this odd branding exercise was because of some arcane taxation law in Mexico, which also led to Mercury Grand Marquis models being sold as Fords (and for a while, decorated with both Ford and Mercury badges). If any of our Mexican Curbsiders can shed some more light on this, it would be much appreciated. ¡Muchas gracias!”
The fact is as follows, in that moment the Mexican government was a nationalist one so it decided that all cars sold in Mexican soil should be built there. If you imported a car the taxes were so high that made very costly for automakers to bring other cars. That is why the automakers had one line per each segment. For example, Ford had for the economy line the Mexican version of the Fairmont, for the sporty line the Mexican version of the Mustang, for the luxury line the Mexican version of the Grand Marquis and in the truck side the Mexican version of the F-150. Also the government in that time thought that amenities such as power windows were a luxury that could not be offered in the cars or they will be highly taxed. That is why you will find, for example, a Grand Marquis with manual windows. The power windows could be installed later as an aftermarket.
All this matters came to an end when the NAFTA started.
We didn’t have much options in Mexico in the 80’s and early 90’s. GM, Ford, Chrysler, VW and Nissan were the only options and the features were limited. We would only fantasize about the Fox Mustangs in Twins or the Firebird in Knight Rider. Or whenever we would see American tourists in Central Mexico. I remember seeing a then-new Toyota Celica in the streets of Guadalajara in the late 80’s. People were in awe as if they had seen a Lambo or Ferrari.
I’ve come across this site several times, always when I’m lookigf for Cutlass Europort. I was a happy driver of a 1989 Cutlass Eurosport and Buick Century, plus Cutlass and Chrysler K Cars, in order of preference, back in the day. All these were Mexican editions, between 1983 and 1993. The Eurosport was with us for over 13 years. Incredibly reliable car actually.
The Mexican government at the time, due to all sorts of exchange rate issues, did not allow cars to be imported. A majority of the parts had to be produced within the country as well, to enable the Mexican car industry to move beyond a mere assembly point place. Nissan, VW, and just until the latter half of the 80s, when they quit the country, Renault (and the divine R18 2.0), pretty much produced everything in house within Mexico. And, cars were limited to 6 cylinders, to avoid ‘excessive’ gas consumption
Back to the Eurosport, a visceral pig to drive on bumpy roads. That, and because the 3.1 FI engine was not really ‘Eurosport’, you had your plan your moves in advance. Miss it to this day.
Living in San Diego in the late 80’s and early 90’s and travel to Mexico extensively, I would notice down there how Mexicans appreciated cars like the Cutlass Ciera, Dodge Spirit and Chevy Cavaliers were down there. They are favored by the Mexican Elite at the time, while in the US they were seen as “old people cars” and run of the mill economy cars. They sure stand out on Mexican streets and roads, but once in the US, they would get drowned out by the bigger GM and Chrysler vehicles and imports.
Not the Dodge Spirit, but the Chrysler Spirit in Mexico—see here and here.