Isuzu Gemini
Encyclopedia
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
sought a replacement for their world car T-body
GM T platform
The General Motors T-car was an automobile platform designation for subcompact cars. It was the 1970s' most prolific world car program. The original T-cars were all rear-wheel drive unibody cars....
Kadett
Opel Kadett
The Opel Kadett is a small family car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel between 1937 and 1940, and then again from 1962 until 1991 , when it was replaced by the Opel Astra.-Original model :...
/ Gemini, and this time, instead of building one design on several continents, they decided to build a world car in one location and export it to several continents. As a considerable portion of the T-body manufacturing had been turned over to Isuzu in Japan for economic reasons, so would the manufacturing of the replacement. In 1984, Isuzu again commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro
Giorgetto Giugiaro
Giorgetto Giugiaro is an Italian automobile designer responsible equally for a stable of supercars and several of the most popular everyday vehicles driven today...
who was responsible for the 117 Coupe and the Piazza. This time, he was to design an economy car on the new front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
R-body platform. The R-body featured a MacPherson strut
MacPherson strut
The MacPherson strut is a type of car suspension system which uses the axis of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in modern vehicles and named after Earle S. MacPherson, who developed the design.-History:...
front suspension and beam axle rear suspension, which foreshadowed most of GM's offerings through their current model lineup. Giugiaro
Giorgetto Giugiaro
Giorgetto Giugiaro is an Italian automobile designer responsible equally for a stable of supercars and several of the most popular everyday vehicles driven today...
's design followed the Piazza design very closely in shape and detail, though the proportions made the Gemini appear shorter and taller in its three door version, and a four door sedan (notch back) was also designed.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, Isuzu presented the designs to GM prior to freezing them, and GM ordered a number of detail changes to them without ever consulting the designer, Giugiaro, which was taken as an insult, and ended the long relationship between the noted Italian designer and Japan's oldest car builder. The insult was serious enough to Giugiaro that he denied the design was his until a decade after the vehicle went out of production.
The R-body Gemini was introduced in May 1985 as the Gemini FF. In Japan, originally with chassis code JT150, it was available with a carburetted 1.5 liter SOHC engine. A newly developed 1.5 liter inline four
Straight-4
The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....
diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
(JT600) was added to the lineup in November. At the other end of the lineup, a 120 PS fuel injected and turbocharged version of the 1.5 liter 4XB1 engine ("Irmscher") was added in May 1986. The FF Gemini underwent a facelift in February 1987, receiving a more aggressive front styling with wraparound headlight as well as other minor changes. At the same time the "FF" moniker was dropped, as parallel production of the preceding RWD Gemini came to an end. In March 1987 the Gemini saw its European premier, at the Geneva Salon. European sales of the already somewhat dated Gemini were disappointing, and Isuzu soon withdrew from the European passenger car market entirely.
A 1.6 liter DOHC engine with 135 PS was introduced in February 1988. Export versions were also available with a smaller 1.3 liter four to suit taxation systems based on displacement. Trim levels were widely varied, from basic models ("C/C" in Japan, "LT" in general export markets, and "S" in the US) to Irmscher, ZZ, and Lotus Tuned versions, and plenty of optional equipment and dealer options were available.
North America
In the US, the vehicle was available from ChevroletChevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
(and later Geo
Geo (automobile)
Geo was a brand of small cars made by General Motors as a subdivision of its famous Chevrolet division from 1989 to 1997. Its original slogan was "Get to know Geo." Originally formed by GM to compete with the growing small import market of the mid 1980s, the line continued through the 1997 model...
) as the Spectrum, or from Isuzu themselves, as the I-Mark. GM's Pontiac division sold the I-Mark as the Pontiac Sunburst in Canada from 1985 to 1988. GM Canada announced that the Sunburst's replacement would be the Passport Optima in 1989. For GM, this was an entry level vehicle to attract young buyers and to compete with Japanese compact cars in the US market. Chevrolet's Spectrum lacked many of the options and equipment of the I-Mark, though both were available with the 70 hp 1.5 liter SOHC non-turbo and 110 hp turbo engines, but no diesel engines were offered in the US. The turbo model I-Mark was called the RS model in 1988 and then changed to the LS model in 1989. The I-Mark was available with the 125 hp 1.6 liter DOHC engine in 1989 only, as the RS model. In 1988 and 1989, the LS and RS models were offered with Lotus Tuned Suspension, the sportier suspension featuring more rigid dampers, alternate spring rates, and bigger sway bars.
Sold as:
- 1985–1989 Isuzu I-Mark - United States
- 1985–1990 Isuzu Gemini - Japan, Europe, and Central AmericaCentral AmericaCentral America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
- 1985–1988 Chevrolet Spectrum - United States & CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
- 1989 Geo Spectrum - United States
- 1985–1989 Pontiac Sunburst - Canada
- 1985–1990 Holden Gemini - AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- 1985–1990 Chevrolet Gemini - ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
1990
The Isuzu Gemini Coupe was the basis for the Isuzu Impulse
Isuzu Impulse
The Isuzu Piazza is a small sporty 3-door liftback coupé that was manufactured by Isuzu from 1981 to 1992 in two generations...
and Geo Storm
Geo Storm
The Geo Storm was a sport compact car manufactured by Isuzu and sold in the United States by General Motors from 1990 through 1993 as part of GM's Geo line of inexpensive automobiles. The same vehicles, with minor variations, were sold in Canada in the 1992 & 1993 model years only. The Storm was...
in the United States and Canada, and for the Asüna Sunfire which was sold for the Canadian market for the 1993 model year only.
A 4-door sedan with similar mechanical components was sold as the Isuzu Stylus in the United States and Canada. The Geo versions lacked some of the more expensive and advanced features of the Isuzu (and Asüna) versions.
All these variations were used on the last of the Geminis -- Isuzu Impulse, Isuzu Piazza, Isuzu Gemini MkII, Isuzu Stylus, and Asüna Sunfire.
1993/4
Isuzu halted production of the Gemini and replaced it with a rebadged version of the Honda DomaniHonda Domani
The is a car made by Honda and marketed in east Asia, including Japan. It was introduced in November 1992, replacing the Concerto in Honda's lineup, although that model lasted until 1995 in Europe...
.
1997
The 1997 Gemini generation was a rebadged Honda DomaniHonda Domani
The is a car made by Honda and marketed in east Asia, including Japan. It was introduced in November 1992, replacing the Concerto in Honda's lineup, although that model lasted until 1995 in Europe...
sedan. Production of this model ended in 2000.
Safety
In AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the 1982–1984 Holden Gemini was assessed in the Used Car Safety Ratings 2006 as providing "significantly worse than average" protection for its occupants in the event of a crash.
Related information
Isuzu Geminis and I-Marks were the most popular taxicabTaxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
models in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in the 80s and early 90s. Models were phased out and gradually replaced with newer models from Toyota and Nissan.