Filed under:
Convertible,
Coupe,
Government/Legal,
Buick,
GM,
Opel
General Motors has toyed with a variety of ways to sell
Opel products outside of continental Europe, sending them to the UK as
Vauxhall products, to Australia with
Holden badges, and even back to North America as
Saturn models. But these days, Opel has been cozying up to
Buick. That's how models like the
Insignia (rebadged as
Regal) and
Mokka (sold here as
Encore) make their way to American showrooms, but it doesn't look like GM is about to stop there.
Recent filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
unearthed by Motor Trend reveal that GM has applied to register the nameplates
Cascada and
Calibra here in America. Intriguingly, it has filed the trademarks through the Opel division itself, and not through Buick or one of its other North American brands, but it's more likely that the General is trying to cover its tracks rather than contemplating relaunching the Opel brand in the US.
The Cascada name is currently in service on a four-seat cabriolet which Opel sells in Europe and Vauxhall does in Britain, and which Buick has long been rumored to
possibly sell in North America. But the Calibra name hasn't been used in over a decade. It previously referred to a coupe based on the Opel Vectra, and was also sold by Holden in Australia and
Chevrolet in South America. Just what (if anything) GM plans to do in America with a nameplate that isn't even in use overseas remains to be seen, but the prospect of a Buick coupe (whether based on the Cascada or otherwise) doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. Of course, GM could simply be protecting its intellectual property with no intention of actually selling any two-door Buicks in North America, but we'll just have to wait and see which way the wind blows.
Opel files trademarks for Cascada, Calibra... in the US originally appeared on
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07-01-2014, 03:30 AM
