We think of them as “American” car companies, but GM, Ford, and Chrysler are multinational corporations with interests or alliances around the world. That means that, when car-buyers’ preferences change, a carmaker can commission an offshore partner to help fill a niche for the home office.

Those cars are known as “captive imports,” and, while they’ve often been used to shore up a carmaker’s small-car business, some captives have helped raise pulse rates and dealer traffic. Here are ten of the most exciting captive imports—and what made them so special.

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10 Geo Storm GSi

The Storm was one of the flashier products of GM’s longtime association with Japan’s Isuzu. When Chevrolet decided to group its captive and near-imports under the “Geo” brand, it picked up this two-door front-drive hatch based on the third-generation Isuzu Gemini/Piazza.

The GSi’s twin-cam 1.6L four-cylinder engine gave it performance roughly comparable to other small hatches of the day, but Chevy’s half-hearted marketing efforts and Isuzu’s decision to get out of the global passenger car business meant the Storm passed relatively quickly.

9 Dodge Stealth

The Stealth may be best remembered for something that never happened. In 1991, Chrysler announced that the twin-turbo 3.0L V6, all-wheel-drive Stealth R/T would pace that year’s Indianapolis 500. The United Auto Workers union took note of the Stealth’s status as a badge-engineered Mitsubishi 3000GT built in Japan and protested. Loudly.

As a result, Chrysler downgraded the Stealth to “festival car” status and paced the race with a prototype of the all-American Viper. The Stealth was a worthy and stylish competitor to the Toyota Supra and the Nissan 300ZX but went out with a whimper after 1996.

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8 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo

Built by Suzuki, of which GM owned five percent, the bonkers little Sprint Turbo was only available for two years, with a turbocharged 1.0L three-cylinder engine producing 70 horsepower, specific tri-toned interior, and any exterior color you wanted… as long as it was red or white.

Seventy horsepower sounds like just about enough to run a decent riding mower, but it acquitted itself well in a 1,700-lb hot hatch. When GM shuffled all its captives into the Geo sub-brand, the Sprint became the Metro, and its single-minded focus on economy left the little Turbo on the sidelines.

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7 Dodge/Plymouth Colt GTS Twin-Stick

With the current focus on eight-and ten-speed automatic transmissions in the industry, it’s a good time to note that Chrysler’s frequent dance partner Mitsubishi got there first with what in essence was an eight-speed manual gearbox. The “Twin Stick” had four forward speeds and a choice of two selectable final-drive ratios, which in the gas-strapped late ‘70s and early ‘80s was a useful parlor trick.

The Japanese company was kind enough to offer Chrysler a turbocharged 1.4L four-cylinder variant of its Mirage hatchback. One hundred and two horsepower in a lightweight package made for an entertaining—if torque-steery—drive, but they’re all but impossible to find now.

6 Merkur XR4Ti

Ford

Much like Madonna when she married Guy Ritchie and moved to London, fellow Michigan native Ford had something of a European accent for much of the 80s. Exhibit A: the Merkur (mare-COOR) XR4Ti, a federalized version of Ford Europe’s Sierra, with the Thunderbird Turbo Coupe’s 2.3L turbo-4 and the aero-mazing “biplane” rear spoiler style shared with the Mustang SVO.

Aimed at BMW’s 3-series, the XR4Ti was sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers and probably looked like it came from another planet on a lot full of Marquis sedans and Town Cars. Ultimately, it only lasted a few years... much like Madonna’s marriage to Guy.

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5 Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler Conquest

Chrysler

Mitsubishi’s hot Starion hatchback was passed around three of Chrysler’s divisions in the mid-to-late 80s, all aimed right at the contemporary Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, and Nissan ZX. Its turbocharged 2.6L V6, inter-cooled on later models, wild fender flares and upscale interior appointments made it a credible alternative to those coupes.

Eventually, the Conquest wound up as a Chrysler after Dodge brought out the K-car-based Daytona. Its high price relative to the competition kept it out of the fast lane from a sales standpoint, and it was replaced by the 3000GT-based Dodge Stealth in 1991.

4 Opel GT

It looked like stylists at GM’s German subsidiary had been cribbing from Chevrolet’s notes when its Kadett-based GT came out in 1968. Its low nose with hidden headlamps, fastback rear end, and chopped-off Kamm tail looks like the Teutonic translation of “Corvette.”

In the U.S., it was an exciting addition to Buick showrooms, but its 1.1L (later 1.9L) four-cylinder engines were quickly being outclassed by new competition from Asia, including the sensational Datsun 240Z. In an ironic turnabout in 2007, GM’s U.S. operations supplied the Saturn Sky to dealers in Europe—badged as the Opel GT.

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3 1970-77 "Mercury" Capri

In Europe, the Ford Capri was the homegrown answer to the American Mustang, replete with sleek lines covering a powertrain derived from the top-selling Cortina compact. In the U.S., Lincoln-Mercury dealers sold the Capri as a “sexy European” sports coupe, with an assortment of four- and six-cylinder engines and—in its late-cycle facelift—a hatchback.

But the strength of the German mark relative to the U.S. dollar eventually made the Capri prohibitively expensive to import and sell. Ford would continue to offer the “original” Capri in the U.K. well into the 80s, but its American run ended when it was replaced by a badge-engineered Fox-body Mustang in 79.

2 2004-08 Chrysler Crossfire

The Chrysler Corporation’s brief “merger of equals” with Germany’s Daimler brought an infusion of new products to the American divisions, including this two-place sports coupe. Underneath Chrysler’s Art Deco-inspired design language was the handed-down platform from the first-generation Mercedes SLK, assembled in Germany.

Eventually, a convertible was introduced, along with an “SRT” version featuring a supercharged engine from Mercedes’ AMG division. But the Crossfire’s arrival came as the DaimlerChrysler marriage was breaking up, and it was done in just four years.

1 2004-06 Pontiac GTO

This left-hand-drive variant of Australia’s Holden Monaro sports coupe arrived in the U.S. with the Corvette’s 5.7L V8, an exhaust system tuned to resemble the original ’64 GTO, and an eye-watering list price of $34,000. Future editions would pick up twin-nostril hood scoops that created a visual link to past Goats, as well as a stronger 6.0L V8. Still, that high price doomed the new GTO to also-ran status.

GM would tap its Oz connection again with Pontiac’s G8 sedan, which was based on the Holden Commodore, and, several years later, the Chevrolet SS sedan and police-only Caprice. But it all started with this captive coupe, which is something of a used-muscle bargain today.

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