Car manufacturers often use their own engines in their vehicles, but there have been times when an American brand used an engine from an international company.
For those in the United States, there is always a debate when someone is looking to get a new car: deciding between a vehicle made domestically or abroad. Each side of the debate has its preconceived notions, such as American cars being able to deliver power and muscle, with internationally made cars leaning towards reliability. As technology evolves, the dividing line between domestic and international vehicles has certainly lessened, but when it comes down to it, the buyer must choose what they want to invest thousands of dollars in depending on their needs and preferences.
However, the two sides are not always mutually exclusive. Over the years, many American automakers have made deals with international brands. Usually, this sort of collaboration results in an opening in the marketplace for a company that doesn’t have a natural foothold in an international territory. For example, Ford and Mazda had a partnership for many decades that helped establish the Japanese company in the United States. Sometimes, that partnership runs even deeper, and companies start exchanging parts, such as engines. You may expect this between Chevrolet and Dodge, both being General Motors brands, but there have been plenty of instances of internationally made engines inside an American vehicle. We are going to spotlight seven different occasions over the years where, for one reason or another, two competitors decided it was a good idea to utilize the same engines.
[Featured image by Elise240SX via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]Chevrolet Nova
Our first stop alphabetically is Chevrolet. The Nova — originally dubbed the Chevy II — debuted for the 1962 model year and had a solid first run through 1979. Over that time, the Nova evolved with three different generations, but amongst them, Chevrolet was always using domestic engines underneath the hood. The Chevrolet Nova name was resurrected for the 1985 model year, but it was not just Chevy deciding to return to one of its older names. This time, the Nova was made in collaboration with Japanese automaker Toyota.
Much like Toyota’s Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. partnership, General Motors and Toyota joined to form New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI), a company that opened in 1984 to operate a manufacturing plant in Fremont, CA. The reason for the partnership was GM wanting to make smaller, more efficient vehicles in the aftermath of the oil crisis and newly implemented emissions restrictions. The American company thought Toyota would be a good partner for this initiative.
Though it would later make the Toyota Corolla and Tacoma, the first vehicle that NUMMI created was the new Chevrolet Nova, which was essentially a rebadged Toyota Sprinter and shared the same platform as the Corolla. Not only that, but it utilized a 1.6L I4 engine that was part of Toyota’s A Series of engines, particularly the 4A-GE I4. Though it could only generate 74 hp, it had a combined mileage of 29 mpg. The Nova ended production in 1988, where it would be succeeded by the Prizm.
[Featured image by Joe Haupt via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 2.0]Ford Probe
Toyota was not the only Japanese car company making deals with American automakers in the mid-to-late 1980s. During this same period, Ford and Mazda worked together on the Ford Probe coupe, which hit the market in the 1989 model year. Like with the Chevrolet Nova, Ford was trying to find ways to make small vehicles that focused on efficiency. The Probe was created on the back of the platform that Mazda had been using for a few years and served as the base of vehicles like the Mazda 626.
