If you're General Motors, and you're losing the youth market to Volkswagen and their everything-to-everyone Mk1 Golf, how do you get the market back?

Easy. Cheat!

General Motors commissioned a new car from Isuzu and used it to get a price-undercutter on dealer lots. GM called it the Geo Spectrum, and Isuzu was allowed, per the agreement, to sell the car under their own banner as well. Isuzu called it the Gemini, and they made a performance model designated the Isuzu I-Mark RS in North America.

Here is how sales-lot-fishing works. Mr. and Mrs. Fixed-Income wattle onto Sam Schwank's GM & Honest Dollar Auto Sales on an overcast March Wednesday in 1988. It is time to retire their 1976 Chevrolet Vega.

When you sell a car, camera, or clothing, never recommend a product at the customer's preferred price point—always start higher. Start as high as you can. You can always acquiesce down in price to other cheaper units in your inventory, but you can never go up.

The salesman presents Mr. and Mrs. Fixed-Income a loaded Chevrolet Caprice.

"Nope, that's too much car," Mr. Fixed-Income says.

The salesman moves on to a moderate Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra or Buick Century.

Mr. Fixed-Income still hems and haws.

The salesman then presents the ubiquitous, even for 1988, Chevy Cavalier, but Mr. Fixed-Income is relentless in his objection.

Now, at this point, the salesman would have been out of luck because the Cavalier was previously the cheapest car GM made for Mr. and Mrs. Only-Buy-Baked-Goods-From-The-Day-Old-Discount-Rack-Because-They-Are-Just-As-Good. Customers, if not satisfied with the budget Cavalier, would leave the GM dealership and walk into Volkswagen's open arms. Oops, another Golf sale.

But, OH! Oh, ho, ho—not anymore! With the GM-Isuzu deal, there was one more rung to descend below the Cavalier. Say hello to the Geo Spectrum! Say hello to 70 horsepower! Say hello to a 1.5 single-jingle! How wonderful—a cheap-as-gum car you can send Mr. and Mrs. Penny-Pincher home in.

Geo existed so General Motors could swipe cars from other manufactures and then sell them at GM dealerships as if they were American cars. Geo's badge wasn't the GM logo or Chevy bowtie, it was a Pseudocylindrical Eckert IV map projection, a globe. In other words, Geo was a catch-all brand for cars that GM yoinked, with wits or fists, from around the world.

Think of the Geo Spectrum/Isuzu Gemini as the gum packs for sale at the bottom of the vending machine.

Think of the Geo Spectrum/Isuzu Gemini as the gum packs for sale at the bottom of the vending machine. Who buys those? People who don't have money for Ho Hos, that's who. You have 50 cents for Doublemint Isuzu but not 60 cents for a Cavalier or Golf Juicy Fruit. If you have more money, you'd tell gum to go pound sand and punch D-9 Caprice Twix, because Twix trumps everything!

What about the Isuzu I-Mark? There always needs to be Performance Gum. For every Doublemint, there's the superior Bubble Yum—that's the Isuzu I-Mark RS, which Isuzu could sell under its own name. It was not for Mr. and Mrs. Store-Brand-Tomato-Soup. It was for someone who wanted a Golf GTI but didn't want to pay for the hype. The I-Mark RS had a light body, a suspension gone over by Lotus, and a turbocharged version of the 1.5-liter SOHC making 110 hp. This number might be underrated, however. A more expensive 120-hp-ish DOHC 1.6-liter transverse-four was available as well.

I-Marks never had the cultural impact that Golf GTI's enjoyed. This was due to limited availability and distribution. Isuzu and GM only sold I-Marks on the East and West Coasts. Sorry, Midwest, enjoy your Geos.

For your enjoyment, attached below is a video of a surviving I-Mark RS, complete with intact mesh headrests! There was just a little frame repair to do. Shine on you crazy GTI hunter!

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