All About Geo Vehicles
Geo was a subdivision created and marketed by the American automobile manufacturing company General Motors, which lasted a mere 10 years on the market. Established in 1998 as one of the many American brands producing smaller vehicles in order to combat the growing popularity of Japanese vehicles, Geo became nearly defunct as of 1998 as it was taken over by Chevrolet. Actually, the few Geo models that were still in production merged into the Chevrolet line and continued to be produced without the Geo brand. As the early nineties in the United States proved to be an era of rapidly decreasing interest in economy compact cars by the average consumer, the final remaining model, the Tracker, was discontinued once and for all.
The Geo line is seen by many financial analysts as a brand that failed, so let’s take a look at its short lived history. The first slogan used by GM to market this new line of miniature-sized cars (at the time some of the smallest cars on the road) was “Get to know Geo.” The Geo models on the Michigan based GM factory were produced as a joint ventures with competing Japanese import companies. GM’s strategy was “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” The Prizm was a joint venture with Toyota, while the Metro and Tracker models were produced as a joint effort with Suzuki, another Japanese giant in the worldwide market. Finally, the Spectrum and Storm models were sold in the US under the Geo brand, but were actually entirely manufactured in Japan by one of the leading auto manufacturers Isuzu.
The Geo line was simple, with only a few models that each had two main features: Compact size and fuel economy efficient. The most popular model in the history of Geo was the Metro, a tiny, hatchback, fuel saving machine. It was featured in three trim levels: Xfi, Base, or LSi. The amazing high gas mileage was the dominating factor leading to its popularity: an astonishing 53 city miles per gallon and 58 highway miles per gallon. The Geo was available in two types of transmission, five-speed manual or three-speed automatic. The Prizm, Spectrum, Storm and Tracker, were the other models produced by Metro that did not see nearly as much success as the Geo.
If you are one of the few that still own a Geo, here a few things that you ought to know about Geo auto insurance. By contacting many companies for price comparison, buying Geo insurance online, and asking which discounts you qualify for, you can save significantly on you Geo car insurance.
