Passport Optima
It becomes a problem when a large corporation decides that the solution to falling market share is not to build better cars, but to create a nonsensical brand, dealer network, and marketing in order to…sell imported cars.
Passport International Automobiles was General Motors’ attempt to do just that, offering a small but nearly completely unchanged selection of global GM-Daewoo, Isuzu, and Saab models to Canadians who had been confused by commercials (or the logo and brand name that suggests passport photo services would also be offered.)
Passport dealer commercial from 1988, where they don’t really bother to even show the cars? What?? • Passport
With the Isuzu and Saab offerings, original vehicle branding was still present, but with the Optima sedan and Optima hatchback, exterior and interior badges were updated with Passport’s orange ‘P’ charm badge.
By not hiding where the cars came from, I can understand how being upfront and honest with consumers may seem positive from a top-floor boardroom.
But this is General Motors we’re talking about, and specifically the pickle it put itself in at that time, however, where it would also launch Geo and Asüna around that same time in North America, shortly after the Passport experiment.
1989 Passport commercial, focused on Isuzu • Passport
Various Passport marketing materials • Passport, wikipedia, source unknown
And all three experiments were dead shortly before cars from General Motors’ wholly owned subsidiary, Saturn Corporation, hit the streets to critical and consumer acclaim. GM invested in American products, and it paid off big time, for a time.
Then, the lessons of these failed captive import brands were tossed aside after bright minds realized it was possible to do the captive import thing, but on more of an à la carte basis. Instead of building a new brand from scratch, introduce a Buick in China and import a version of that. Why invest in a new Saturn Vue when an Opel (Antara) will do?
Also from 1989, a commercial about the Isuzu Pickup • Passport
A Passport Optima (sold in Canada from 1988) is a Daewoo-built version of the Opel Kadett E…one that was, according to automotive media of the time, not built very well.
As a kid, while other countries had Top Gear or Best Motoring, Canadian viewers had Motoring and Driver’s Seat. While Motoring has had a much longer run, I remember Driver’s Seat having a much bigger impact on me.
Driver’s Seat on CBC was a unique idea for a car show, filmed and hosted in Vancouver by Ted Laturnus and Tony Whitney.
They were remembered as “the Siskel & Ebert of car critics” whose “collective experience in automotive journalism set this show above all others. They were kind to manufacturers who produced good products and highly critical of those whose products they considered inferior,” according to a Foundation dedicated to preserving Canadian broadcasting history.
When the show first aired, I was five years old, and it ran until I was 11; with several years of reruns and syndication (rebranding to Inside Track) I can visually, even now, place a particular set or a host’s attire within a specific time frame. This is typical behaviour for a child, naturally, to watch the Siskel & Ebert of car critics ranting and raving about the automotive industry.
I used to watch Driver’s Seat, and while I can’t remember ever watching this Passport Optima review, in my research for this car I felt I would be doing everyone a disservice to not include Ted Laturnus’ 1991 review of the Optima, just before Passport expired.
Most Passport cars have — good luck and godspeed to anyone reading this who has a need to collect and preserve one. Also, get in touch because I want to hear all about your rare and possibly life-altering condition of liking weird cars.
Yes, the audio quality ebbs between static nightmare and perfectly fine VHS tape, but do at least skip ahead to the end when Ted and Tony are in the studio bantering to hear exactly what Canadian car reviewers of that era thought about the car.
Side note — consider the analog filmmaking and editing that went on in order to produce an episodic car show filmed partly on the open road(!)
I’ll leave you with a few quotes from Ted’s review, in no particular order:
“It’s not even close to the Honda Civic”
“Things don’t fit properly”
“Not a bad car per se, but it’s not a good one”
“What can I say but don’t buy this car”
Additional sources…
Tom Appel
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
GM's Canadian arm created some unusual marketing mix-ups. This Optima is the only car to be sold under the brand Passport, the name of a short-lived Isuzu dealer network. The Optima was actually a Daewoo although its German Opel roots are the sales asset. #Carbrochure #Daewoo pic.twitter.com/PCgyt8Yu4c
— Car Brochure Addict (@addict_car) November 25, 2019
Corey Lewis
