There are some cars that could have been born under a certain flag and that instead, in some cases, thanks to the short-sightedness of the top management of that House have had a lot of luck in other shores. In some cases, however, they were presented with other brands for marketing reasons. Or they are models born only to solve contractual situations with suppliers that have become delicate to manage.
Here we summarize in a quick summary the most sensational cases.
NSU K 70 - Volkswagen K70
In 1966 the NSU started the project of a medium saloon to be included among its small cars Prinz 4L, Prinz 1000 and 1200 the big Ro80 with rotary engine Wankel. The car was to be presented at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show, but the project was shelved for the financial collapse of Neckarsulm, which was later absorbed by Volkswagen. Initially the K70 was set aside also to not create competition to the rear engine 411 (yet another evolution of the Beetle). But the limited sales of the latter led the top management of Wolfsburg to fish out the K70, which was presented in 1971. However, the line was exceeded also because of the years of freezing of the project and despite some updates it went out of production in 1974 after having been produced in little more than 200 thousand units.
Fiat X1/20 - Lancia Beta Montecarlo (in the picture the prototype)
It was supposed to be a Fiat sports car, a mid-engined dry two-seater coupe and its code name was X1/20. But then Fiat's top management decided to market it under the Lancia brand and so it was that in 1975 the Lancia Beta Montecarlo was presented, which in the USA would be proposed as a Scorpion since the Chevrolet had already registered the name Montecarlo. From this model the 037 Rally that in "racing" version would have won the world rally would be derived. In 1979 the second generation of the series model was presented, with slight aesthetic and mechanical changes: after losing the name Beta, it was simply called Montecarlo. A total of 7,595 units were produced.
Chrysler Voyager
The first minivan in history born in 1983 was supposed to be a Ford model when Lee Iacocca worked for the blue oval brand under Henry Ford II. However, the latter did not consider it a model worthy of being produced and when Iacocca was forced to leave Ford and was called to Chrysler he remembered that project of minivan giving birth to the Voyager under various brands of the group: the first minivan was born in history.
Renault Espace
More or less at that time in France, the Matra, which was part of the Peugeot group and specialized in sports cars (Bagheera, Murena) came up with the idea of proposing a minivan. Also in this case, however, the idea was not approved by the PSA top management and the management Matra went to present his project to Renault, which welcomed him. Thus was born the Espace, the first European MPV. It was the year 1984.
Alfa Romeo SZ - Alfa Romeo RZ
Presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1989 and immediately nicknamed "the panettone" for the shape of its pavilion, it wanted to be a super sports Alfa. Produced in collaboration with Zagato, it was less successful than expected and production was stopped in 1991 after just over a thousand units had been produced, also because of its particularly high price. Since Zagato had signed a contract with a few hundred more units, it was decided to create a spider derived from the SZ and named RZ. Of this two-seater dry car, such as the SZ, only 278 were produced from 1992 to 1993, of which 241 directly from Alfa and 37 directly from Zagato. Due to various sales difficulties, the car remained on Alfa Romeo's lists until 1996, three years after the end of production, and the company took a lustre to exhaust the entire stock of cars made.
Daewoo Matiz
In 1992 at the Italdesign of Giorgetto Giugiaro was presented a three-door prototype based on Fiat Cinquecento called Lucciola. It was exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show in 1993 as a hypothetical heir to that Fiat model, but was rejected by the top management of the Turin-based company. At that time Giugiaro had already worked for the Korean Daewoo. His management visited him in Moncalieri and saw the prototype of the firefly in the Italdesign museum. The Koreans asked Giugiaro if it was possible to slightly lengthen the pace to create a five-door that was missing from their range. Having received a positive response from the designer from Garessio, his production began in 1998, literally invading Europe with the Matiz.
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